The most unusual Irish name you ever came across

mattjack · 24-06-2011 07:55PM

wild_cat wrote: »

Dance music?

Child was born to pill heads.

I,ll see your Dance music and raise ya a"Dutch Gold "

filthymcnasty · 24-06-2011 08:01PM

I knew a Sarbhreathach (justin... i think) who was a sound enough bloke.
got tricky after a few though

starlit · 24-06-2011 08:07PM

fiachra
feilim
micil
aleish
aideen
dearbhaile
neasa
nolliag
ultan
kerrigan
turlough

ballsymchugh · 24-06-2011 08:14PM

doovdela wrote: »

fiachra
feilim
micil
aleish
aideen
dearbhaile
neasa
nolliag
ultan
kerrigan
turlough

you really find some of those names unusual??
aleish = eilis
micil = micheal
aideen = anglicanisation of eadaoin
nollaig = noelle
feilim = philip

while they wouldn't be popular irish names, i wouldn't class them as unusual. except for kerrigan. that's a feckin surname!!

hairyfairy00 · 24-06-2011 08:15PM

watna wrote: »

Having any Irish name living overseas is a nightmare.

I spend a large proportion of my day spelling out my name on the phone while my colleagues piss themselves laughing around me. Conversation always goes like this:

"N.I.A.M.H - Neeve, yes N I A M for mother H and it's pronounced Neeve. Yes N for Nelly I A M for mother H. Yes it is an unusual name, it's Irish. Yes, there's no letter V in the Irish alphabet, like the name Siobhan? Yes, I am actually from Irelend. I'm from Dublin. Yes it's a beautiful place. Yes, it is an unusual name, it's from an Irish Myth. Yes, it is very rare in NZ but quite common in Ireland. Thank you - I quite like it myself"

on and on and on all day. It gets old really fast. I totally get why somone wouldn't know how to pronounce it but it does annoy me.

It's becoming more common here though, with babies and younger kids. People seem to really like it, although half the time they spell it Neeve which although from my experience I completely get it still annoys me for some reason.

I feel your pain, i have to spell and pronounce my name over and over again almost on a daily basis. When i do tell people my name (Síofra) i normally get the response "Arra sure that can't be your real name"
I've been called anything from Sheeva, Sophia, Sheefa, Sy-oife, Sy-ofra etc.

fichillie · 24-06-2011 08:23PM

hairyfairy00 wrote: »

I feel your pain, i have to spell and pronounce my name over and over again almost on a daily basis. When i do tell people my name (Síofra) i normally get the response "Arra sure that can't be your real name"
I've been called anything from Sheeva, Sophia, Sheefa, Sy-oife, Sy-ofra etc.

I love the name Síofra!

RainbowRose81 · 24-06-2011 08:27PM

Sabia is a unusual name and i am surprised its not used more often because it is a beautiful name. Pronounced 'Say- bia'
it's suppose to have originated from ulster from the word 'Sive' it's suppose to mean 'sweet' and 'goodness'

ElleEm · 24-06-2011 08:29PM

I once heard of a Tiarnoch- not a pretty name.
And also heard of a girl called Blais (pronounced Blaze). Irish for flavour or taste, I think. It sounds cool but the meaning is fairly silly.

Scarinae · 24-06-2011 08:36PM

daysleeper wrote: »

Mine's a bit awkward too - Ailbhe...
Why oh why couldn't I be a 'Sarah'!?

I feel your pain, that's my name too!

galwaybetty wrote: »

Iseult -(Irish for Isolde)

I didn't even realise that was an Irish name, it was the middle name of one of my schoolfriends

I think the most unusual Irish names I've encountered are Caoilfhionn, Maol Íosa, Iarfhlaith, Órnait, Saileog, Bláthmhac or Ríonach

iamwhoiam · 24-06-2011 08:37PM

doovdela wrote: »

fiachra
feilim
micil
aleish
aideen
dearbhaile
neasa
nolliag
ultan
kerrigan
turlough

Aideen and Neasa are not unusual ! Nor is Dearbhaile !

ElleEm · 24-06-2011 08:39PM

iamwhoiam wrote: »

Aideen and Neasa are not unusual ! Nor is Dearbhaile !

I've never met a Nease or Derabhaile.

byhookorbycrook · 24-06-2011 08:39PM

I know a Noinín, Róise,Faolán and Reailtín.
Seoirse -show er sha, the Irish for George is sometimes taken for Sorcha .
And I am always amused to hear of a girl called Naoise (It's a boy's name) but people think it sound feminine.

I am a friend · 24-06-2011 08:41PM

Have heard of a Faoileain (sp?) - n a s t y name...

iamwhoiam · 24-06-2011 08:41PM

ElleEm wrote: »

I've never met a Nease or Derabhaile.

I know a good many , but then again I know a lot of people with old Irish names so it may be simply geography !!

starlit · 24-06-2011 08:42PM

Sometimes the spelling maybe sounding of the names sounds unusual to me. Fiachara I'd associate that name with teeth? Feilim as in (fail...)
Turlough very strange name. Micil just sounds weird. Neasa (Nasa?!) Nolliag christmas. Aelish different name to eilish means same thing. I've heard of derville but find dearbhaile and unusual spelling thats all.

Feeded · 24-06-2011 08:45PM

watna wrote: »

Sometimes I don't bother correcting them either, my theory is though that if you tell people then when they come across another Niamh they'll know. I've had a few people know how to pronounce it straight away and I've been really surprised but they always tell me they know another Niamh.

Someone called me Nymph once - I wasn't going to let that slide at all . I'd just prefer if people said straight out "your name is really unusual, how do you pronounce it?". I do that with people now because I know I'd prefer it.

Also Siobhan is oddly common here, most people know how to pronounce it and when I compare the mh to the bh in Siobhan is seems to click. Makes me wonder why that girls name in particular caught on here. Sometimes people at work call me, read out a name for me and ask me how to pronounce it for them - I've been asked about Oisin, Tadhg and also Caoilfhionn (that is way worse than Niamh for the pronunciation!)

when i was in college i took first spanish. . There was a Siobhan in the class and the spanish native who was preparing our oral work pronounced it she'boom. . .great skittin' when the roll was taken.

byhookorbycrook · 24-06-2011 08:45PM

Dearbhile is a saint's name from outside Belmullet, there is a holy well in her name there.

byhookorbycrook · 24-06-2011 08:49PM

Micil comes from Micheal, so the guy in Ros na Rún Séamus Mhicil Tom would be Seamus, whose father was Micheal whose father was Tom, it's a way for people to distinguish different families of the same surname.
Micil would not be used as a name on it's own.

iamwhoiam · 24-06-2011 08:49PM

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

I know a Noinín, Róise,Faolán and Reailtín.
Seoirse -show er sha, the Irish for George is sometimes taken for Sorcha .
And I am always amused to hear of a girl called Naoise (It's a boy's name) but people think it sound feminine.

I knew a Noinín and a Reailtín ! And a Lasairfhionna and a Taimse . And Aifric and a Damhnait .

Aisling(",) · 24-06-2011 08:56PM

Siofra.

It's not a bad sounding name but it means changelling.It's what you call the evil fairy baby thats left behind after the fairys kidnap children in irish folkstories.

Why would you purposely name your child after an evil fairy creature?

hairyfairy00 · 24-06-2011 09:47PM

Hmmmm and Aisling means dream! Don't see your point really, the name also means mischief maker, i have never heard of a changeling being refereed to as 'an evil fairy'. What it means doesn't define who i am! But then again i can be an evil bitch sometimes! I love the name

Robbed from the net:-
Gearóid Ó Broin a noted Irish Scholar provides that the fourth colony of invaders who settled in ancient Ireland were known as the Tuatha de Dananns. They were endowed with extraordinary powers of magic, and their alluring strains of music were widely feared. After their defeat in Sligo (Battle of Moytirra) they disappeared under the ancient raths and forts and became known as the fairies. They had several kings and queens and Síofra was one of the fairy queens and reputed to be a Leannán Sí (Love Fairy) who often sought the love and dominion of mortal men. Through magic those who changed to gaze upon her "exalted in a burning desire to lover her" which ended up in disaster for many. May or Bealtaine is when she exerted her greatest influence. The pronunciation is Shee-Uf-Ra.

iamwhoiam · 24-06-2011 09:57PM

hairyfairy00 wrote: »

Hmmmm and Aisling means dream! Don't see your point really, the name also means mischief maker, i have never heard of a changeling being refereed to as 'an evil fairy'. What it means doesn't define who i am! But then again i can be an evil bitch sometimes! I love the name

I love the name Siofra , if we all went back to the origins of names who knows what we would find !A name is a name and the meaning is mainly long forgotten .

Babyblessed · 24-06-2011 10:04PM

Mongarra wrote: »

There's a Béibhinn or Béibhín in our parish. Only time I ever heard it.

Theres more than one Béibhinn in our parish....

conlufc wrote: »

remember dis photo from nationwide a few years ago. whoever da **** named him would wanna be imprisoned
http://www.fugly.com/pictures/11353/Willie_Stroker.html#comments

OMG.... I laughed so hard everyone in the house was wondering what was going on!

My OH has the surname 'Borer' in his ancient history..... one of the daughters was named 'Fanny'.......... I actually had to get the birth cert to believe it.

I love traditional Irish names and its great to see them making a come back.... my daughter has promised to use the name Tadgh if she has a boy! She loves Matthew too but hates the way its pronounced.... Matchew.....argh!

OH surname is Irish but when they left the country and went to the UK its was 'anglicised' and spelled as it sounds. It was fairly common in West Cork but now its extremely rare.

I get the pain of those who have to spell names... I have always had to spell my 1st name, got asked if my middle name is with or without an 'e' and both my maiden and married surnames have required some explaination........:p

flyaway. · 24-06-2011 10:06PM

ballsymchugh wrote: »

heard some little girl being interviewed on the radio from the hippy camp in offaly a couple of years ago called uisce. now that's definitely NOT a name.

I met a know named Uisce! She's about 12 now, I think. May or may not be the same girl :P

iamwhoiam · 24-06-2011 10:07PM

Babyblessed wrote: »

Theres more than one Béibhinn in our parish....

I love traditional Irish names and its great to see them making a come back.... my daughter has promised to use the name Tadgh if she has a boy! She loves Matthew too but hates the way its pronounced.... Matchew.....argh!

make sure she knows its Tadhg ! :P

Babyblessed · 24-06-2011 10:14PM

iamwhoiam wrote: »

make sure she knows its Tadhg ! :P

hahaha! Gives away the fact I dont have Irish eh!! Oh so wish I did! I can ask to go to the bathroom in Irish tho!

iamwhoiam · 24-06-2011 10:15PM

Babyblessed wrote: »

hahaha! Gives away the fact I dont have Irish eh!! Oh so wish I did! I can ask to go to the bathroom in Irish tho!

well thats vital to know !!!:D

abelard · 24-06-2011 10:25PM

I was going to post Síofra but it seems to have been mentioned a few times in the last few pages.

Naoise is another unusual enough one. As is Ornaith.

I knew both a Maedhbh and a Medb, not a particularly unusual name but the spellings (particularly the latter) were challenging to a lot of people.

Poutbutton · 24-06-2011 10:29PM

I grew up knowing a family with all of the children named in Irish.

Feargal
Ciaran
Finian
Mhuireann
Oireann
Feilim
Caoilte
Coilin
Another family close by named one of their girls Nollaig. I have come across the name Siofra twice now, once pronounced correctly, (Sheeufra) once pronounced incorrectly (Showfra!!) Rhymes with Cofra!

Babyblessed · 24-06-2011 10:32PM

I went to 2ndry school in the UK and had a Grainne in our class..... should have heard the teachers, they struggled enough with Siobhán!

Aoife is another one they struggle with,..... the usual comment 'you used every vowel except u'.............

The most unusual Irish name you ever came across

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