Baby names!

Little My

On a bit of a side note...

I lived in America for a short while and I got chatting to a girl in my class. She was really enthusiatic about my being irish as her family were of irish descent, and they had given her an irish name.

When she said it, I didnt want to be impolite but I had never heard it before. Her name was, and this is how she pronounced it, Sigh - 0 - ban.

I was a bit confused but just kinda said I hadnt heard of it. When I seen her write down her name a few moments after it was spelt Siobhan.

I couldnt believe she had been called Siobhan and was gonna spend her whole life pronouncing it Sigh-o-ban.

carolinespring

adrieanne__x wrote: »

I am aware that it's primarily a male name, but it is also widely accepted as a female name. Many names are unisex Taylor, Ashley, Robyn/Robin, Chris (Christopher/Christina). I've even heard of people calling their female babies Charlie.



I am also aware of what the name Addison is derived from. I didn't just name my daughter blindly because I like a character from a TV program.



Hi Jimbob! (Thank you by the way! I was never really a fan of it when I was younger but have grown to love it!!),

I'm sorry you thought I was aiming that at you, I was more aiming it at the thread in general.

I am not a mum but everyone likes different names and it is up to the parents who do all the hard work to get the little darling in the first place to have the wonderful, exciting honour of picking the name.

Like every one I have names in mind that if I am every lucky to be blessed with a child and a lot of people might not like them but so be it.

I agree with the above post a lot of names work for both sex. I have a wonderful friend called Paul-anne and it so suits her and is lovely. One of my husbands close friends have just named a little girl Emma-James again I think it is lovely. I also know another girl called Gerri-ann.

One of my good friends had a 18mt old daughter called Jane. Again I think it is a beautiful name but she is so hurt by the reactions she has got from meople as in "oh, its very plain" or silence. Not on and very unfair. As well as lots of Jamie's.

I run a pre school and have kids with all sorts of names from old fashioned to irish, polish, to more "newer" but each was picked with love by the parents and suit all the children. Maybe some will grow up to love them or others hate them but that is life!

I love my name as my parents picked it with love and loved telling me as a child the story of why they did. It might be fairly common but the story behind it was just for me.

Anyway if I get lucky (and please pray I do) I would like to call my daughter Tyne Delia-pearl (again because it is a personal story to my husband and myself)

A son, well I would like to call him after my dad who died but my father believed each child should have its own name for it own future and not to share it with family so maybe as a 2nd name.

So guys, well done on picking all the beautiful names and congratulations. I am sure they suit your child and family,

C x

January

Melion wrote: »

Anybody want to tell me whats happened over the last few pages? Am i now a bad person for naming my daughter Caoimhe? Its the only name me and her mother could agree with and was first mentioned when she was in the labour ward. We went through about 20 names first and we couldnt agree on any until i said Caoimhe.

Apparently... I'm also a bad person and a chav for naming my daughter Addison. And I'm even worse than you because I named my other daughter Saoirse! (It's the only name me and her father could agree on, she was originally to be Phoebe but he hated it, picked it when she was born!).

deisemum

deemark wrote: »

Please tell me you meant 'The Snapper'!:pac::pac::pac:

Yeah that's the one :D:D

Big typo but maybe it was more apt after all :D

?Cee?view

chatterpillar wrote: »

It's a long time yet until I have to think about baby names (hopefully!! :eek: ), but my favourites are Conor or Aidan for a boy, and Sadbh or Aoibhe for a girl.

For what it's worth (but it appear here that I'm some sort of dinosaur for expressing an opinion), those are beautiful names. I'd say you should stick with those ones if one of them is what you want.

?Cee?view

Melion wrote: »

Anybody want to tell me whats happened over the last few pages? Am i now a bad person for naming my daughter Caoimhe? Its the only name me and her mother could agree with and was first mentioned when she was in the labour ward. We went through about 20 names first and we couldnt agree on any until i said Caoimhe.

Don't be daft (and I mean that in a friendly way!). Caoimhe is a beautiful name with a beautiful meaning.

Squiggler

Little My wrote: »

I'm not trying to be cheeky - but why are these names suddenly traditional irish names?

How many of our grandparents and great grandparents had names like this?

Traditional irish names are more like the Patricks and the Marys, the Josephs and the Margarets. "Good catholic names" if you will.

The 'traditional' irish names are very much a current fad, since the gaelic revival we have been made aware of these very old names and perhaps only in last 20-30 years have children actually been given these names.

I'm waiting for viking revival and we will see Olaf rising through the most popular name rankings.

:rolleyes: I'm not Catholic, and I find the idea that Irish and Catholic are synonymous a bit old-fashioned, among other things. Your Catholic traditional saintly names are not ones that would appear in my family either. I meant traditional Irish in the way that watna explained.

watna wrote: »

A lot of Irish names come from old Irish myths. (e.g. Fionn, Aoife, Niamh, Oisin) I would desribe that as pretty traditional.

And, acutally, there are a number of Scandanavian names that I really love, maybe not Olaf, but Fredric, Sigurd and Sven are all nice boys names

?Cee?view

The Scandinavian influence in Ireland on daily words we use is interesting. Take Aer Lingus - that derives from the Irish word "Long" (pronounced Lung), which itself derives from an old Viking word for ship.

So if you like Scandinavian names, you've got a tangible link to Ireland, and Irish culture and history, more so that the poor Taylors, Jaydens or Ashleys of this world

Little My

Squiggler wrote: »

:rolleyes: I'm not Catholic, and I find the idea that Irish and Catholic are synonymous a bit old-fashioned, among other things. Your Catholic traditional saintly names are not ones that would appear in my family either. I meant traditional Irish in the way that watna explained.

And, acutally, there are a number of Scandanavian names that I really love, maybe not Olaf, but Fredric, Sigurd and Sven are all nice boys names

Im not saying Irish & Catholic are synonymous.

Traditional irish names, that is, names that have commonly used in Ireland, can generally be described as 'catholic' names.

The names that have come to us through the myths and others that have developed have only recently (in the last 20 - 30 years) become common throughout the country, therefore they are not 'traditional irish names' as they have not been traditionally given as names. It is a fairly recent phenomenon.

Squiggler

Little My wrote: »

Im not saying Irish & Catholic are synonymous.

Traditional irish names, that is, names that have commonly used in Ireland, can generally be described as 'catholic' names.

The names that have come to us through the myths and others that have developed have only recently (in the last 20 - 30 years) become common throughout the country, therefore they are not 'traditional irish names' as they have not been traditionally given as names. It is a fairly recent phenomenon.

If you think of traditions as being what happened last generation then ok, I don't.

We can agree to differ, but none of the names you listed - Patrick, Mary etc. feature in my very extended Irish family for as long back as one of my father's cousins has researched (over 400 years).

I like gaelic/celtic names. I have good friends called Eoin, Cian, Roisin, Aoife, Caoimhe, Siobhan, Sinead all Irish names in all senses of the word and most of them are over the age of 30.

Patrick was English(or Welsh, depending on which version you believe), Mary was a Jew and is a Hebrew name... they are names that come from a religious tradition, not a national one, and are just as common in any other mostly or ostensibly religious country. Nothing wrong with that, but they are not particularly "Irish".

implausible

Little My wrote: »

The names that have come to us through the myths and others that have developed have only recently (in the last 20 - 30 years) become common throughout the country, therefore they are not 'traditional irish names' as they have not been traditionally given as names

Naoise, Deirdre, Ruaidhrí, Gráinne are only found in Ireland and come from our ancient culture. That says 'traditional' to me.

lolli

My 7 year old sister is called Naoise. I love it!

deemark wrote: »

Naoise, Deirdre, Ruaidhrí, Gráinne are only found in Ireland and come from our ancient culture. That says 'traditional' to me.

PARARORY

I'm only 18 but might as well start planning.....

Girls...
Addison
Brooke
Eve
Jules
Taylor
Saoirse
Hazel
Sky
Summer
Autumn

** I will only accept girls for the timebeing...**

?Cee?view

PARARORY wrote: »

I'm only 18 but might as well start planning.....

Girls...
Addison
Brooke
Eve
Jules
Taylor
Saoirse
Hazel
Sky
Summer
Autumn

** I will only accept girls for the timebeing...**

You forgot Winter and Spring

Actually, seriously for a second, Saoirse really is a lovely name.

?Cee?view

Little My wrote: »

The names that have come to us through the myths and others that have developed have only recently (in the last 20 - 30 years) become common throughout the country, therefore they are not 'traditional irish names' as they have not been traditionally given as names. It is a fairly recent phenomenon.

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but although that may be your experience, where you've lived and live, it's not an experience that's shared throughout the country.

PARARORY

You forgot Winter and Spring

Actually, seriously for a second, Saoirse really is a lovely name.

I knew I shouldn't have just bunched all the seasons together

Yeah Saoirse is an amazing name! I like Brooke alot as well!

perri winkles

I have to agree with the posters who dislike the jayden/kayla type names that seem to be popular now.

I was named after both my nanny's. Double barrelled name all the way up till 6th class. I HATED it, I thought it was such an old fashioned name, I even insisted for a while that people call me chloe (don't ask me why:o)

Now though, I love it. It's unique, and I love that it means something, not a name that my parents just picked out of a book.

Also, my name is becoming really popular now, which just goes to show, the names that may seem popular now, will just be dated in another 20 years and vice versa.

Just checked there and my name is now number 2 on the top 100 irish list !

mariaf24

perri winkles wrote: »

I have to agree with the posters who dislike the jayden/kayla type names that seem to be popular now.

I was named after both my nanny's. Double barrelled name all the way up till 6th class. I HATED it, I thought it was such an old fashioned name, I even insisted for a while that people call me chloe (don't ask me why:o)

Now though, I love it. It's unique, and I love that it means something, not a name that my parents just picked out of a book.

Also, my name is becoming really popular now, which just goes to show, the names that may seem popular now, will just be dated in another 20 years and vice versa.

Just checked there and my name is now number 2 on the top 100 irish list !

Ava?

lolli

I called my daughter Saoirse, it suits her so well. Had other names picked but they didnt suit her.

PARARORY wrote: »

I'm only 18 but might as well start planning.....

Girls...
Addison
Brooke
Eve
Jules
Taylor
Saoirse
Hazel
Sky
Summer
Autumn

** I will only accept girls for the timebeing...**

Little My

churchview wrote: »

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but although that may be your experience, where you've lived and live, it's not an experience that's shared throughout the country.

Yes I am talking from my own experience. Most people do. I don't have statistics of the most common names from the last 100 years at hand. Do you? I would like to see them.

But I have lived in a good few places in Ireland, North, West and East, and that is my experience.

I don't know why everyone is getting their knickers in a twist by my saying Irish language names arent traditional. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with them, or that they are not culturally appropriate, its just that they havent traditionally been used as names throughout the previous generations.

And statisically, it is probably more traditionally irish to call a child Mary than what is percieved as a traditional name like Deirdre.

I would love to hear from posters whose grandparents, greatgrandparents, and older members of family are still alive who have irish names. As I said, I can only think of one family friend over 50 with an Irish name (she is from Leitrim, her name is Finnoula, so thats an experience with an irish name outside of anywhere I have lived too.) And I can't think of any irish names in my family tree as much as we know it (Edit, just thought of another one, a Deirdre in her 60's)

?Cee?view

Little My wrote: »

I don't know why everyone is getting their knickers in a twist by my saying Irish language names arent traditional.

"Hello Pot, this is kettle"

It seems to me that you're the only one getting your knickers in a twist!

I've no statistics to hand - please do forgive me - and I'll keep statistics for a discussion on something serious rather than a lighthearted discussion on names.

Now, the point that's been made is that just because you don't have experience of a certain type of Irish name doesn't mean that plenty of others don't. There's a whole world outside your own experience and its existence doesn't need statistics to be proven :rolleyes:

lynski

i agree with little my, while oisin, oran, oisinach, fiach, fionn, naoise etc are irish names from antiquity and myth, etc, you would be hard pressed to find them in common usage prior to 15/20 yrs ago. I did not know anyone who had an irish name that was not also a catholic name until a few years ago. Names like padraig, daithi, deirdre, bridget were always popular, but are also saints names.
names like Caoimhe, Cliona etc were very unusual when we were growing up.
This is a good thing though, the strength of the history and the connection to place is appealing and i would love to be able to use them, but not with our surname.

perri winkles

mariaf24 wrote: »

Ava?

God no, I must be looking at a different list to you

watna

Little My wrote: »

Yes I am talking from my own experience. Most people do. I don't have statistics of the most common names from the last 100 years at hand. Do you? I would like to see them.

But I have lived in a good few places in Ireland, North, West and East, and that is my experience.

I don't know why everyone is getting their knickers in a twist by my saying Irish language names arent traditional. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with them, or that they are not culturally appropriate, its just that they havent traditionally been used as names throughout the previous generations.

And statisically, it is probably more traditionally irish to call a child Mary than what is percieved as a traditional name like Deirdre.

I would love to hear from posters whose grandparents, greatgrandparents, and older members of family are still alive who have irish names. As I said, I can only think of one family friend over 50 with an Irish name (she is from Leitrim, her name is Finnoula, so thats an experience with an irish name outside of anywhere I have lived too.) And I can't think of any irish names in my family tree as much as we know it (Edit, just thought of another one, a Deirdre in her 60's)

My granny, who is from Dublin and is in her eighties has an Irish name, as do a number of her siblings. I also know other elderly family friends with Irish names (Cait, Cathal etc)

My mum and two of her siblings have irish names. I also know a few family friends of their age (50s) with Irish names.

I think people are gertting their knickers in a twist because when you post it comes across like you are saying your opinion is the only one and it is how the world is. You say in your post above that of course it is only in your opnion or your own experience that irish names have only become common in the last twenty, your posts don't seem like you think that - they come across as if you think it is fact when really you have nothing to back it up.

Other people have different understandings of the word traditonal. That's where all this has come from. Most people posting here are using the term to mean names in Irish not "catholic names" as you've termed them. It's a thread were people are saying names they like. Why does it matter if you consider them traditionally Irish or not? People want to give their children irish names as a nod to their culture. Do you think they shouldn't because they have become more popular recently? Do you think if someone wants to give their daughter a "traditional"Irish name they should choose Mary over Maire?

deisemum

Boys names haven't really changed much since 1864 when the civil registration system was introduced.

http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-boy-names.html

GEMMABEAN

What do people think of the name Beau (pronounced boe) for a boy. It is my husbands family name, i really like it but have had one or two negative reactions.

What do you all think?????

lynski

re Beau: i love it and want it on my list, but dh is not so enthusiastic

deisemum

GEMMABEAN wrote: »

What do people think of the name Beau (pronounced boe) for a boy. It is my husbands family name, i really like it but have had one or two negative reactions.

What do you all think?????

If you really like it then choose it, it might not be everyones choice of name but equally their choice of name might not be your cup of tea, it wouldn't be my choice of name as I can think of plenty of nicknames or variations of it to be nicknames.

What about your family name? Does your husband's family expect you to go along with the family name?

Whatever names people choose for their child I like to see them choose individual names not go along with some vain ego stroking tradition of naming children after a parent.

Jimbob1977

GEMMABEAN wrote: »

What do people think of the name Beau (pronounced boe) for a boy. It is my husbands family name, i really like it but have had one or two negative reactions.

What do you all think?????

Hi Gemmabean,

If your husband is American and you lived in the U.S, then it would be quite normal and accepted. The actor Beau Bridges is one famous example!! I'd say it's commonplace in the South (Louisiana, Florida, etc).

In Ireland, it is in danger of being horribly mispronounced by fellow Irish people with no grasp of French. Boo or Bee-oh. Hence, your great effort might become mangled. It is also the Irish for "cow".

I've never heard of a French person named Beau. It seems to be American in popularity.

wolfpawnat

PARARORY wrote: »

I'm only 18 but might as well start planning.....

Girls...
Addison
Brooke
Eve
Jules
Taylor
Saoirse
Hazel
Sky
Summer
Autumn

** I will only accept girls for the timebeing...**

Adrieanne_x has 2 daughters with these names. All I can say is Addie is an Addison to the core, havent seen Saoirse in a while though! So I think both are lovely.

Your list consists more American names than anything Thats not a bad think, as long as a child isn't called Princess Tiamee and the like I think parents can call a child what they like.

I hate when family start pushing names on you. My father wanted us to
call a daughter Gabrielle, my childs father was told by his mother that Molly was the only nice girls name. We hated both (there is nothing wrong with them only we wanted Gaeilge names) He wanted Caomhlinn, I wanted Clodagh, we agreed on Aisling!

If someone loves the old Irish names like Senan and Bríd thats fine, if they like Taylor and Seth, which are becoming more popular from across the Atlantic then that is fine too. One persons opinion is not gospel in this!