The most unusual Irish name you ever came across

citizen_p · 28-06-2011 12:38PM

Connor o'connor
just down right cruel

I know an alibhe, everyone who dosn't know her prenounces it ale-va
rurai
fionn
fiachra

Salty · 28-06-2011 01:00PM

iamwhoiam wrote: »

There isnt always an English equivilent of ancient Irish names . Look at , Cian , Orla , Niamh , Grainne , Oisin , etc all from folklore and all uniquely Irish .

Gráinne translates to Grace in English..the rest are uniquely Irish though:)

iamwhoiam · 28-06-2011 01:06PM

_meehan_ wrote: »

Gráinne translates to Grace in English..the rest are uniquely Irish though:)

As far as I know Gráinne is an old Irish name , it is called Grace and Grace is used to translate it .But its meaning has nothing to do with Grace and its only a very loose comparision .I think alot of old Irish names were tagged with a name that sounded similar but in fact where not the same name .

GRÁINNE

Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology Pronounced: GRAWN-ya [key]

Possibly derived from Gaelic grán meaning "grain". This was the name of an ancient Irish grain goddess. The name also belonged to the fiancée of Fionn mac Cumhail and the lover of Diarmuid in later Irish legend, and it is often associated with gráidh "love".

robman60 · 28-06-2011 01:12PM

I know a guy called Aichlinn. Supposedly it's an Irish name and is pronounced E-clin

.Ellie. · 28-06-2011 02:40PM

Guy who was in my year named "Eanna". Teacher who taught at the school named Mac Dara Mac Lochlainn. One aspect they had in common: both were the hottest from student/teacher categories in the entire school.

Coincidental?... I think not! :P

rainbowtrout · 28-06-2011 03:01PM

.Ellie. wrote: »

Guy who was in my year named "Eanna". Teacher who taught at the school named Mac Dara Mac Lochlainn. One aspect they had in common: both were the hottest from student/teacher categories in the entire school.

Coincidental?... I think not! :P

Eanna wouldn't be that unusual. It's Irish for Enda.

watna · 28-06-2011 10:41PM

Came across the Irish name for Robert the other day, Roibeard (with a fadas on the e which I can't do on this computer!). That's one I hadn't seen before.

poppyvalley · 28-06-2011 10:50PM

Gugnet O'Lunacy

Acoshla · 28-06-2011 11:04PM

Gobnait is my most hated name of all time. I know a Clíodhna, she went as Clio when she was travelling because nobody could pronounce it. When I worked abroad I was so glad I don't have any Irish name, I correctly called a girl Siobhán at work in America one day and she just gawped at me, said I was the first person not to call her See-o-ban from seeing it written down. Aoife, that's another name other countries can't grasp.

There was an Aedamar in my class in school, I know a child whose parents called him Darrach because they thought it was a nice Irish name, turns out it's German or something?

I have a relative called Neil....she's a girl. Apparently her parents maintain that her name is the Irish spelling of Nell...yeah, that doesn't help when she gets called "Neel" all the time. Her actual name is Neil Noinín, so Nell Daisy, weirdos.

Scarinae · 28-06-2011 11:49PM

iamwhoiam wrote: »

There isnt always an English equivilent of ancient Irish names . Look at , Cian , Orla , Niamh , Grainne , Oisin , etc all from folklore and all uniquely Irish .

This whole 'equivalent' thing is immensely irritating. There doesn't have to be an equivalent of every single Irish name! Those baby name books always say that Ailbhe is the Irish version of Olive :mad: Like fcuk it is. That is assuming that they realise that it is mostly a female name, I've also heard that it is the Irish for Albert, or the Irish for Elvis. Agh! It's an old enough name, there was an Ailbhe in the Cúchulainn legend and in the Children of Lír, and they were both female.

ash23 wrote: »

I know an Ailbhe who is already planning on changing the spelling of her name to Alva when she's old enough.

Noooo!

Tilt Gone · 29-06-2011 12:03AM

Dublin579 wrote: »

Heard of a kid called Realtín.

Thought it was cute at first- Little Star

Heard then it was cos his parents were off their head on a type of acid called little stars when he was concieved!

I know a girl call this aswell, but it's spelled Reiltin

iamwhoiam · 29-06-2011 11:56AM

Fishie wrote: »

This whole 'equivalent' thing is immensely irritating. There doesn't have to be an equivalent of every single Irish name! Those baby name books always say that Ailbhe is the Irish version of Olive :mad: Like fcuk it is. That is assuming that they realise that it is mostly a female name, I've also heard that it is the Irish for Albert, or the Irish for Elvis. Agh! It's an old enough name, there was an Ailbhe in the Cúchulainn legend and in the Children of Lír, and they were both female.
!

It does my head in too , Or that silly question when you say your name , an ancient Irish name from Celtic Mythology, and someone asks "Whats the English for that ? " God sake , can it not just be simply an old Irish name .

If a Russian tells you her name is Tsvetlana do we all ask Oh whats the English for that .

rainbowtrout · 29-06-2011 12:12PM

Acoshla wrote: »

I have a relative called Neil....she's a girl. Apparently her parents maintain that her name is the Irish spelling of Nell...yeah, that doesn't help when she gets called "Neel" all the time. Her actual name is Neil Noinín, so Nell Daisy, weirdos.

Ya, I know a girl called Eimear. Her parents maintain that the correct pronounciation is Emmer, so that's what she's called, but it's meant a lifetime of

Eimear: 'Hi, my name is Eimear (pronouncing it Emmer)'
Random person : 'How do you spell that?'
Eimear - E-i-m-e-a-r
Randomer: But that's Eimear
Eimear: My parents pronounce it......

greenet · 29-06-2011 12:21PM

Heard of a child called mo chara the other day! as in my friend...strange

ImpossibleDuck · 29-06-2011 12:39PM

greenet wrote: »

Heard of a child called mo chara the other day! as in my friend...strange

You were watching Man About Dog. Admit it!

angel01 · 29-06-2011 12:40PM

My friend's name is Kela

sensibleken · 29-06-2011 12:48PM

Gubnet. by far and away the cruelest thing to call a child

Fozzydog3 · 29-06-2011 12:48PM

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Ya, I know a girl called Eimear. Her parents maintain that the correct pronounciation is Emmer, so that's what she's called, but it's meant a lifetime of

Eimear: 'Hi, my name is Eimear (pronouncing it Emmer)'
Random person : 'How do you spell that?'
Eimear - E-i-m-e-a-r
Randomer: But that's Eimear
Eimear: My parents pronounce it......

wasn't she on come dine with me a few weeks ago ?

kfallon · 29-06-2011 12:53PM

Gotta love Eamonn as an Irish name!

I like a lot of the female Irish names, Niamh, Aoife, Siobhan, Sinead but I don't think I could ever call my son Cormac, never liked it.

Lustrum · 29-06-2011 01:02PM

abelard wrote: »

One I forgot to mention - Maolsheachlann.

No idea what that is in English - closest I can guess is Malachy?

My mother maintains she was going to call me this, luckily enough I got something a bit less unusual, but just as unpronouncable to the majority of foreigners - there's been many a time abroad when I just became Kevin, it's way easier!

The rest of the family have unusual enough Irish names too, but the missus probably wins with Aoileann. We met an english couple while travelling who loved her name (they've absolutely no Irish connections whatsoever) who have since had a baby and named her Aoileann too! They said they've had to spend a bit of time with the family teaching them how to say it but they just love it!

greenet · 14-07-2011 02:49PM

ImpossibleDuck wrote: »

You were watching Man About Dog. Admit it!

Was Not!! its my friends nephew!

fontanalis · 14-07-2011 03:37PM

doovdela wrote: »

fiachra
feilim
micil
aleish
aideen
dearbhaile
neasa
nolliag
ultan
kerrigan
turlough

Has the same origin as Ulster: Uladh, a tribe the province was named after. It basically means Ulster man.
Some of the old names from mythology are very unusual by todays standards. Nuadha, Setanta, Bres, Banba, Sreng, Dagda
I guess it comes from the more common names being irish versions of Norman names.

Ghost Buster · 14-07-2011 03:40PM

Came across a 'Sean' the other day with the most convaluted "Celtic +" spelling ever. new to me...
'Seaghan' with a fada over both A's

secrecy_ie · 14-07-2011 03:50PM

Finghín (fin-een) was my grandads name. Also, my friends name is Etaoin (ee-thawn) not to be confused with Etain, she spends half her life explaining her name (how to pronounce it, spell it, nodding and smiling when people go on and on about how unusual it is etc).

bnt · 14-07-2011 04:14PM

Since I'm not Irish, you might find it hard to imagine what I thought when I saw some of the names on Election posters. In 2002, Niamh Bhreathnach stood for TD in Dún Laoghaire, trying to get her old seat back. I saw that name on the poster and burst out laughing ... I didn't know you had Klingons running for office?

There' another current TD, Brendan Howlin. Oh, the jokes he must have endured on his first day at school ... and on his first day in the Dáil too. "Howlin? What orr ye Howlin a' eh?"

Warm Panda Cola · 14-07-2011 04:16PM

Gobnait. What a horrible, horrible name.

LordSutch · 14-07-2011 04:32PM

Bosco (1980s puppet on RTE), I don't know if it really exists as an adult name

Surely it was just made up for the show?

tallaghtmick · 14-07-2011 04:37PM

I named my son kiernan,whats worse is everyone always thinks kieran and whats even worse is my surname is french and people always get it wrong.......hes gonna hate me when hes older:D