Can anyone help me with my name?

dlofnep

My two irish teachers gave me two different name translations. One gave me Seán Ua Briain and the other was Seán Ó'Briain.. I understand that it means of Brian, in this case Brian Bórumha mac Cennétig (Brian Boru).

Something that gets me, Brian's name is clearly spelt with one I, but when I'm of Brian, it has two I's. Is this just irish grammar to have an i added? Secondly, which out of Ó and Ua is correct? Or are they just different in different regions of Ireland and both inherently correct?

Any light shed on this would be great.

Thanks.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

dlofnep wrote:

Something that gets me, Brian's name is clearly spelt with one I, but when I'm of Brian, it has two I's. Is this just irish grammar to have an i added? Secondly, which out of Ó and Ua is correct? Or are they just different in different regions of Ireland and both inherently correct?

Any light shed on this would be great.

Thanks.

To answer your first question:
It's called the Tuiseal Ginideach. It's the irish equivelant of the word of, and is used to denote posession, after ainmbriathra, after compound prepositions, after expressions of quantity, with the prepositions: cois, trasna, timpeall etc etc. It's one of the more difficult aspects of the language as most words react differently when being put in the tuiseal ginideach.
i.e.
deoch (drink) changes to dí (ag ól dí -> drinking a drink)
an bean (the woman) changes to "na mná"
an fear (the man) changes to "na fir"

Not too sure about the Ua/Ó question tbh, probably a dialectical thing

GaryOR

Ua is the earlier written form of Ó

dlofnep

Yeah I was thinking that - Just haven't studied irish in a few years now so I've forgotten the most part of it.

I think you may be right about Ua/Ó being a dialect thing.

dlofnep

GaryOR wrote:

Ua is the earlier written form of Ó

Ah ok - That explains why it's on all the older names from a few centuries ago. Is Ua still in use?

GaryOR

dlofnep wrote:

Ah ok - That explains why it's on all the older names from a few centuries ago. Is Ua still in use?

It could be still in use, but very rarely.

people who would be famous that used it are: Peadar Ua Laoghaire or Domhnall Ua Buachalla .

Gael

Gary has it spot on. Some people have a tendency to mix up the old spelling of Ó(Ua) with the modern genetive case 'Uí' which denotes posession or some form of relationship between two nouns.

Gael

dlofnep wrote:

Ah ok - That explains why it's on all the older names from a few centuries ago. Is Ua still in use?

Occasionally yes. If the person in question is a strict traditionalist. Older spelling for other names are sometimes still in use too:

Ua hIceadadha for Ó hIcí

Ua Murchadadha for Ó Murchú etc.

or the ridiculously long Ua Seaghdha for Ó Sé

Gael

Lastly, you don't need to use the apostrophe when you write your name in Irish, Ó'Briain. The apostrophe was introduced by the English because they believed the O' to be an abbreviation of 'Of'. So it's only used when writing an Irish name in English; O'Brien for instance.

Just spell it with a síneadh fada;Ó Briain

dlofnep

Ok, very much appreciated. Such a trivial question I know, but the least thing I can do is get my name right. Thanks guys

pog it

I have always translated my name to '... Nic an Bhaird' but some people have written it as '....ni Bhaird'.

Are both correct?
I'm presuming the ni in the latter is a shortened version of 'nic an'?
But which would be the more colloquial way to say it in the Gaeltacht?
And is it right to use capitals for the Nic and Bhaird??

(I know i'm all qs!)

Gael

pog it wrote:

I have always translated my name to '... Nic an Bhaird' but some people have written it as '....ni Bhaird'.

Are both correct?
I'm presuming the ni in the latter is a shortened version of 'nic an'?
But which would be the more colloquial way to say it in the Gaeltacht?
And is it right to use capitals for the Nic and Bhaird??

(I know i'm all qs!)

'Nic an Bhaird' is the female version of 'Mac an Bhaird'('Ward' in English). It would only be 'Ní Bhaird' if the male version was 'Ó Baird'(of which I know of no example). I can't be 100% since I don't know ever Irish name out there, but my initial impression is that those people are wrong to write your name as 'Ní Bhaird'.