The most unusual Irish name you ever came across

fontanalis

iamwhoiam wrote: »

Amanda Brunkers son is Setanta ., Not sure if that a good or a bad thing !!!!

Oh yeah, it's times like this you wish Ferdia win.

marcsignal

Naomi and/or Jemima Izevbekhai :pac:


...well, almost. So near and yet so far, eh Pamela ?? :P

*sigh*

JessicaRabbit

Di O'Bolic

annascott

I know a guy called Udo Nwanko he is an Irish citizen, although his name doesn't originate from here..

beagle001

I also know a guy called oto-obong owolabi he is also an Irish citizen but from a different country but his mum came here to have him as she preffered the after care in Ireland to her own country and now the whole family have joined the celebration by relocating because he was born here.

ComerCat

Me sisters name is Giollaíosa.

snubbleste

Warm Panda Cola wrote: »

Gobnait. What a horrible, horrible name.

I concur.

df1985

Murphy as a first name....i actually quiet like it!

phasers

Maolruáin (pronounced MwaleRooawn) is probably mine, it's feckin horrible. I think it's a saint's name or something.

Dionysus

ComerCat wrote: »

Me sisters name is Giollaíosa.

Giollaíosa was a very common name in the old days. It, Máel Muire (devotee of the Virgin Mary) and Giolla Phádraig (servant of St Patrick) were signs of respect to Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and St Patrick respectively. It was only (long) after the Norman invasion that Irish people began to call their children Pádraig rather that Giolla Phádraig.

Similarly in Spanish Dolores and Mercedes are, historically anyway, more respectful names for a child named after the Virgin Mary.

Suaimhneach

bubblypop wrote: »

went to school with a girl called 'fainne', cue many many jokes at school.........

couple of hippys in my hometown called their son 'ainm'!!!!
ainm is ainm dom!

Wonder if that's supposed to be 'Anam', which is the irish word 'Soul'.

Raic wrote: »

What I don't understand is the attitude some people in this thread have to traditional Irish names. Some people seem to think it's a crime to give a child a name which a monoglot English speaker has trouble pronouncing without prompting but I find this mentality troubling. What about people with foreign names? The pronunciation of foreign names often doesn't conform to the expectations of monoglot English speakers and yet should people with such names have to take flak over this? No, people should respect the way their names are spelt and pronounce them as such... the same principle should apply to Irish names with people unfamiliar with the language. You can't expect the same letter to play the same role in every language and the pronunciations of names minority languages deserve respect too.

I love the word 'monoglot', my lecuterer used it once and by god did she hurl it like an insult! I dont buy into the whole elitist irish speaker thing, but definitely agree that people are oversensative.

I've used this thread to collect names for my potential children, they're all girls names for some reason. These make the cut:

Abhainn
Síofra (Síobhra)
Sadhbh
Ailbhe
Siarlaith

Sadly I know a lot of Irish-named people and if you know someone with a name they can easily ruin it!

Teyla Emmagan

I was in school with a Saava. Her mother swore it was an old Irish name, but I'm not convinced (have googled). It's a lovely name though.

We also had a Shiofra, which I prefer to Siofra (I don't know how to write a fada).

I love Sadhbh as well. I seem to have a thing for the 'S's it appears!

Suaimhneach

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

I was in school with a Saava. Her mother swore it was an old Irish name, but I'm not convinced (have googled). It's a lovely name though.

We also had a Shiofra, which I prefer to Siofra (I don't know how to write a fada).

I love Sadhbh as well. I seem to have a thing for the 'S's it appears!

Sabha maybe? I found some similar names but no meaning. Similar in origin to Sadbhb maybe?

Teyla Emmagan

Suaimhneach wrote: »

Sabha maybe? I found some similar names but no meaning. Similar in origin to Sadbhb maybe?

It must be 'Sabha' alright. I have never seen 'Sabha' before, but it sounds the same. 'Saava' must be just a mis-spelling or an anglicisation or something.

It's a very pretty name anyway.

Pandora2

Maybe someone can help me with this.......... a little girl called Frances goes to N.S. in Dublin, her Mum is from Donegal and has always told her that, as Frances is a family name and there have been Frances' for generations in the family, it was always thought/and adhered to that the translation to the Irish was Fionnula if you were fair of hair, Nuala if you were dark. Within a short number of weeks a book arrived home with Proinséas on the cover, queue Mum mentioning the matter to the teacher who argued the toss that Mum was wrong and she was right??? Is this translation what we would know as "book Irish"?? Is there any basis to the Fionnuala/Nuala theory??

Sorry about the psychedelic post;) Cut and paste Proinséas and can't change the print back

wonderfulname

Frances means from/of France, the teacher is right in her version, the mother very wrong, as other people have said here every English name does not have a name of Irish lore to be equated with. I thought Irish people used it as it's a saints name?

Babyblessed

our surname is very unusually but was well known in west cork in the 1800's.....Teachers are refusing to revert back to the the older un-anglicised, whic is ver annoying!

wonderfulname

But it's your surname, what say do the teachers have?!

Babyblessed

I mena in Irish class... my sons first names are converted but the (old) Irish surname isnt.... they are using the anglisised version!

syklops

wonderfulname wrote: »

But it's your surname, what say do the teachers have?!

My name is a mixture of Scottish/English/French. When I went to school, my teacher translated my name into Irish, which was pretty difficult to do, since there were no Irish equivalents, so they made up a few Irish sounding words to put as my name. They then crossed out my name on my Irish copy books and wrote my new irish-ized name. I took the books home, and my mother crossed out that name and wrote my name. The teacher crossed out my name and wrote the other. This went on for a few weeks and an argument ensued. Its **** like this that has half the population against the Irish language. Its amazing I dont have (more) identity issues.

Interestingly, I have a friend called Ilin, spelt Ilin, which I thought was like our Uilean. Though my friend is from Macedonia, so it aint the same.

wonderfulname

Ah you mean in Irish class, my own name has no Irish equivalent, thank god I had a teacher who was hugely against made up classroom Irish, I was just shown how my name would be spelt in the Irish alphabet.

Babyblessed

wonderfulname wrote: »

Ah you mean in Irish class, my own name has no Irish equivalent, thank god I had a teacher who was hugely against made up classroom Irish, I was just shown how my name would be spelt in the Irish alphabet.

The name was anglicised when my hubbys family left in the 1800s. I have proved its existance and its Irish (proper) version.. O'Caithain.... there are fada on it but cant rembmer where!
Its Keane or Keating in Irish!

Frogdog

Dardania wrote: »

Ulick. it's either unusual, or just downright pervetedly funny

That's my name. And God the slagging I've gotten over it. I've started using the Irish of it more recently, Uilleag. If I had a euro for everytime someone said "Ulick McGee" there'd be no bailout needed from the EU!

dlofnep wrote: »

I like looking at the 1901/11 census for the old irish names.. Don't hear much of these today.

Eudhmonn
Féilim/Feidhlimidh
Deasmhumha Pádraig
Conlaedh
Lúgaidh
Aodhgháin
Uilliam

The Irish of my name, Ulick (in English) - Uilleag, came from Uilliam, an old Irish/Celtic version of William.

I've the fourth generation Ulick in my family. My first born son, if I ever have one, will be Ulick or Uilleag too, despite the future mother's protests! He'll grow up with a thick skin like his father. Sticks and stones can break my bones..........

I wouldn't change my name for the world.

Swash

Probably Caoilfhaoinn (or something along those lines, think it translates to Kevin?)

Dionysus

wonderfulname wrote: »

Frances means from/of France, the teacher is right in her version, the mother very wrong, as other people have said here every English name does not have a name of Irish lore to be equated with. I thought Irish people used it as it's a saints name?

Not necessarily. While it is possible that Frances was used in Donegal to honour, for instance, the much-respected Franciscans, it could also be that the name Frances was used for an old Irish name like Fionnuala. This is certainly the case with Cathal, a name historically very common in Ulster which has absolutely nothing to do with the English name Charles other than the latter is used as an anglicisation of it (similarly Áine is an ancient Irish name with nothing to do with the English Anne except that people called Áine were anglicised Anne). 'Séarlas' would be the "Irish for Charles", but it would be very incorrect to use it rather than Cathal when the families would originally have used Cathal. Likewise with the above example; Frances could be an English version of an Irish name(s) and therefore the Irish name rather than a gaelicisation of the transliterated English name would be more appropriate.

In short, both parent and teacher could be correct.

LordSutch

My wife's surname came here in the 1600's from England, still that didn't stop her Irish teacher putting an O' before the name & inserting a few new letters (plus a fada), instantly making it Gaelic

Any name can be made into an Irish/Gaelic name, and it seems like it happens all the time!

eigrod

Feardorcha

Dionysus

LordSutch wrote: »

Any name can be made into an Irish/Gaelic name, and it seems like it happens all the time!

Not that your crowd would ever "make an Irish name into an English name" of course, Lord Sutch?

LordSutch

:rolleyes: "My crowd"

ouch.

Pandora2

Frogdog wrote: »

That's my name. And God the slagging I've gotten over it. I've started using the Irish of it more recently, Uilleag. If I had a euro for everytime someone said "Ulick McGee" there'd be no bailout needed from the EU!




The Irish of my name, Ulick (in English) - Uilleag, came from Uilliam, an old Irish/Celtic version of William.

I've the fourth generation Ulick in my family. My first born son, if I ever have one, will be Ulick or Uilleag too, despite the future mother's protests! He'll grow up with a thick skin like his father. Sticks and stones can break my bones..........

I wouldn't change my name for the world.

One of the nicest people I know is called Ulick...I really like it as a name:D