Irish Names as first names

Skerries · 06-09-2013 12:45AM #1

The Americans are very fond of using Irish family names as first names but this list I found uses some names I have never heard of!

can you name the ones you know?

SusieBlue · 06-09-2013 01:55AM

When I was looking up names for my daughter I read a post on a name forum from a woman in the USA with a daughter called Fionnabhair which is allegedly a very common, traditional name for girls in Ireland

Planemo · 06-09-2013 02:00AM

IIRC, it's a thing in the south to give the first born the firstname of the mother's maiden name - bad example but i.e. Mary Burke and Tom Johnson have a kid called Burke Johnson. I think it sounds terrible but imo.

Peregrinus · 06-09-2013 04:01AM

Using surnames as forenames is not an exclusively American thing. In fact it's quite common among Ulster Presbyterians , which is how you get names like Seymour Crawford and Hamilton Moore and Crawford McCullagh and Wesley Pentland and many more besides. For all I know, this may be where the Americans got the surnames-as-forenames custom from.

ArnoldJRimmer · 06-09-2013 04:14AM

Peregrinus wrote: »

Using surnames as forenames is not an exclusively American thing. In fact it's quite common among Ulster Presbyterians , which is how you get names like Seymour Crawford and Hamilton Moore and Crawford McCullagh and Wesley Pentland and many more besides. For all I know, this may be where the Americans got the surnames-as-forenames custom from.

I've encountered a Wilson Lancashire and Kingsmill Prescott before. And in America, a girl called Hennessy. She had a lot of spirit

Rosy Posy · 06-09-2013 05:10AM

Here in NZ a lot of people choose random place names as first names. We've come across Kerry, Donegal, Galway, Derry, as well as some from the states- Dallas is very popular and there is a Detroit and an Indiana in my kids' class.

Banjo String · 06-09-2013 06:49AM

Rosy Posy wrote: »

Here in NZ a lot of people choose random place names as first names. We've come across Kerry, Donegal, Galway, Derry, as well as some from the states- Dallas is very popular and there is a Detroit and an Indiana in my kids' class.

Snap.

That Kerry girl was one goer. I remember her fondly.

Irish Names as first names

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