Surviving Oz with an Irish name

hi from sydney

This may seem a random question but we’re about to have a baby and are in the middle of the great name debate.

Background: My ‘worse half’ is Irish, I’m Australian (I did live in Ireland for 5 years). The child will most likely be raised in Sydney, but will have an Irish passport and will spend many a holiday in Ireland. My husband’s family are close, so I envisage that this child will consider itself part of an Irish family.

So my question is about Irish names. I really love them and would like my child to have something that reflects their father’s heritage. But, of course, we are being bombarded by people who tell us that if we name the kid anything but John or Jane its life will be ruined. Do any of ye have any opinions on what it’s like to live in Australia with a ‘very Irish’ name?

Our shortlist is:

Boys
Declan
Cormac
Donncha
Finnian
Seamus

Girls
Orla
Saoirse (I love it but the Irishman may veto it based on political connotations)
Laoise
Donncha (yeah, I know it’s a boy’s name)
Seoirse (another boy’s name. And one that’s obscure enough even in Ireland)
Naoise (noticing a trend here?)

blinding

Whats wrong with Silé/Sheila

I feel kind stupid now as i cannot think of anything mildly amusing for a boy

How about Ned Kelly.........

Jumpy

Dont name it something that can only be known in Ireland unless you change the spelling. They wont like you for it when they are older, and its all for your own pride. All they boys names there are ok (except Donncha), but only one of the girls names will be pronouncable by 90% of the population.

Zambia

Welcome to the Aus/Nz forum

Hmm I think you should really look at the last name you have as 90% of my mates once they got to high school where called by a Cut of their last name. Hansen becomes Hano..

As the wife said to me when I asked her, she said you have never had the experience of having a name no one can spell.

I think the names are really cool but if you dont live in Ireland they could be a pain

unreggd

Who told you the kids life will be ruined with an Irish name? I bet they have borin names themselves!

Oz has a serious amount of clones, so I say go with the Irish name you like

Sure lots of people I met there had Irish/American names anyways

Cú Chulainn FTW

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

I'm a Declan and I've never met an Australian who had a problem with my name.

Please don't call your daughter Donncha.

denismac

When I lived over there 20+ years ago a friend was in a similar type of dilemma. They had a baby girl and wanted an Irish name and my wife suggested Orna which wont be shortened or mispronounced and means green or golden, depending on where you look.

unreggd

denismac wrote: »

When I lived over there 20+ years ago a friend was in a similar type of dilemma. They had a baby girl and wanted an Irish name and my wife suggested Orna which wont be shortened or mispronounced and means green or golden, depending on where you look.

Orna?

Gold = Org
Green = Glas

Declan is the safest bet, only because he's on Neighbours :P

Norinoco

I absolutely love Irish names but it will be changed from the original if she/he's going to grow up in Australia.

One of the guys here in work (Sydney) name his child Siobhan ... already been shortened to Vaun and she's only a couple of months old!

Travelled Oz with 2 Niamh's, an Aine and a Sinead ... my name always got used in bookings (not irish name!) ... they enjoyed being different but will be frustrating.

For god sake, dont name a girl with a boys name ...
ever hear of the song "A Boy named Sue"?!

Zambia

Norinoco wrote: »

For god sake, dont name a girl with a boys name ...
ever hear of the song "A Boy named Sue"?!

"So I gave you that name and I said goodbye,
I knew you'd have to get tough or die"

me_right_one

What about:

Sean = John
Peader = Peter
Eoin = Owen / Ian

Aoife = Eva
Catriona = Eh, Catriona
Aine = Ann

Thats all I can think of now, early hours!!!

Rulmeq

Children with normal names are less likely to grow up to be criminals, and also probably less likely to hate you in their teenage years.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1874955,00.html

I'll never understand why parents want to put their kids through the torture of having a cr@p name.

Mackman

It wont ruin their life, it may be an annoyance though, just because of the pronunciation. Irish names are pronounced totally differenly here, more phonetically, e.g. Seamus = Sea - mus

ARGINITE

Ah just call it Seamus. He or she won't mind

Xavi6

Irish names are pretty shocking in general and best off not to give the kid a bad start in life, especially if it's a girl called Donncha :eek:

chughes

I have a brother living in Australia who is married to an Australian and their grown up daughter is called Eilis (Elizabeth).

Eilis has grown up being used to having her name mispronounced. She has been called everything from Ellis to something that sounds like Eye Leash.

If you are going to choose an Irish name, I would suggest you keep it short as it definitely will be mispronounced so the shorter the name, the less mistakes that can be made. It can be very frustrating, especially for teenagers, to have their names constantly being pronounced wrong.

Jumpy

me_right_one wrote: »

What about:

Sean = John
Peader = Peter
Eoin = Owen / Ian

Aoife = Eva
Catriona = Eh, Catriona
Aine = Ann

Thats all I can think of now, early hours!!!

Yeeeeah. Call him Peader. That wont cause him any issues in school.

Daithio

Caoimhe for a girl Caoimh for a boy. Pronounced kweeva and kweev

The_B_Man

my name is Eoin and i get called Ian, E-On, Edin. E-Oyn, and all other sorts. Rerely get called by my proper name. pain in the arse.

number10a

Gobnait would be lovely. :rolleyes:

Zambia

The_B_Man wrote: »

my name is Eoin and i get called Ian, E-On, Edin. E-Oyn, and all other sorts. Rerely get called by my proper name. pain in the arse.

Mine is spelt Owen , and there is never a problem

Mahatma coat

go for broke and give them a truly random name

Gieseppe
Yvgeni
Mboko
Svetlana

you can work on cultivatin the childs Irish accent the confusion should be amazing

ardmacha

The likes of Declan/Kevin or Orla/Una are easily pronounced even by Australians.

Mahatma coat

well you'd expect them to be able to handle 'Kevin' at this stage

it does depend on the surname tho, if you have a patently bog Irish surname then a foreign first name is the way to go

JohnnyChimpo

don't really see the "political" issue with Saoirse. it meant "freedom" in Irish for thousands of years before it had any Fenian connotations. plus its my baby niece's name and I everyone I say it to seems to think it's lovely. i don't think anyone's life has ever been ruined by having a mildly unusual name. at worst, it's a conversation starter

Sonnenblumen

It seems to me that alot of posters here are suffering what I would best described as an 'identity crisis'.

Some of the negativity around Irish names is surprisingly disappointing.

bob the bob

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

It seems to me that alot of posters here are suffering what I would best described as an 'identity crisis'.

Some of the negativity around Irish names is surprisingly disappointing.

Given that this is a forum about people who have left Ireland/are planning on leaving, why is that such a surprise?

Back on topic, kids names are a minefield alright. You can't please everybody, some will may not like non-traditional names, some will know someone they hate with the name that you choose.

But you can please the child (in their childhood and adult life) by giving them a name that can be fairly easily recognised, read and spelt.

I have a crappy surname and I sigh every time I am asked my name again and again, can you spell that please etc etc

paxo

hi from sydney wrote: »

This may seem a random question but we’re about to have a baby and are in the middle of the great name debate.

Background: My ‘worse half’ is Irish, I’m Australian (I did live in Ireland for 5 years). The child will most likely be raised in Sydney, but will have an Irish passport and will spend many a holiday in Ireland. My husband’s family are close, so I envisage that this child will consider itself part of an Irish family.

So my question is about Irish names. I really love them and would like my child to have something that reflects their father’s heritage. But, of course, we are being bombarded by people who tell us that if we name the kid anything but John or Jane its life will be ruined. Do any of ye have any opinions on what it’s like to live in Australia with a ‘very Irish’ name?

Our shortlist is:

Boys
Declan
Cormac
Donncha
Finnian
Seamus

Girls
Orla
Saoirse (I love it but the Irishman may veto it based on political connotations)
Laoise
Donncha (yeah, I know it’s a boy’s name)
Seoirse (another boy’s name. And one that’s obscure enough even in Ireland)
Naoise (noticing a trend here?)

I don't have a particular opinion on this subject as it's a very personal decision however I can tell you about my personal experience
I have lived in Australia for over 20 years and I have a very "Irish" first name.
Most people have been willing and able to pronounce it properly and are often interested in why I was called that name and what it means. However virtually no one can spell it so I do spend lots of time on the phone spelling it
And for better or worse people tend to remember me because of my name.
One of my kids has a fairly unusual first name ( scottish / Irish ) and he has not expeienced any problems

The Sweeper

If you give your child a name with Irish vowel and consonant sounds, like Caoimhe, Niamh or Sadhbh, for instance, all that will happen is every single time, for the rest of your child's entire life, when they meet someone, that person will pronounce their name wrong, and they will go through an exchange where the person reading their name will pronounce it phonetically, your child will correct them, they will ask for the correction to be repeated, your child will repeat it, they will then spell your child's name and ask where the hell the V sound comes from all those Bs and Hs, and your child will eventually say "My parents fancied an Irish name, don't even ask me, you can just call me Alex."

Or, in the case of my friend Sadhbh, she says "Sive, like Five, but with an S." At which point the particularly stupid will say "...Fives?"

me_right_one

Jumpy wrote: »

Yeeeeah. Call him Peader. That wont cause him any issues in school.

Whats wrong with Peader?

star-pants

When I was over there - they couldn't get the hang of my friend Aishlings name. It's not even in irish as such.
They'd say Ayesh ling? Ishling?
I called her Ash anyways, so I just told em to call her that and Ash they can do!

Mahatma coat

me_right_one wrote: »

Whats wrong with Peader?

Dont even get me started on the fvkker

Jumpy

me_right_one wrote: »

Whats wrong with Peader?

As often as not your names get shortened and an "o" added.

Damien = Damo
John = Johnno
Peader = Peado

Might not work out.

Jumpy

star-pants wrote: »

When I was over there - they couldn't get the hang of my friend Aishlings name. It's not even in irish as such.
They'd say Ayesh ling? Ishling?
I called her Ash anyways, so I just told em to call her that and Ash they can do!

Ash is a great nickname.