I would have thought that generations of trendy US parents had already poached all the Irish names, but turns out there are tons I'd never heard before, and frequently mispronounce when I see them in print. Many of them reflect Irish pronunciation, like "mh" and "bh" having a V sound. That's probably why we don't see these more. No one wants their daughter being taunted with "Grainy, Grainy, has no brainy." I've listed some new names we've encountered below.
Girls
| Grainne | graw + nya | patron of the harvest in Irish Mythology |
| Caithriona | ka- + rin + a | Irish form of Catherine |
| Mairead | mawr + aid | Irish form of Margaret |
| Niamh | neev | Daughter of Sea God in Irish Mythology |
| Orlaith | or + la | Princess in Irish Mythology |
| Roisin | ro + sheen | little rose; represents Ireland in traditional Gaelic poetry |
| Aoife | ee + fa | Female warrior in Irish Mythology |
| Aisling | ash + ling | From aislinge which means vision or dream |
| Siobhan | shiv + awn | Irish form of Joan, meaning "God is gracious" |
| Sile | she + la | Sheila; Irish form of the Latin name Cecilia |
Boys
| Padraig | paw + drig | Irish form of Patrick |
| Eoin | oh + an | Irish form of John |
| Colm | col + lum | Signifies the dove, a symbol of peace |
| Diarmuid | deer + mid | Irish version of Jeremiah, Jeremy |
| Ciaran | kee + rawn | From Saint Kieran |
It took me a while to learn how to pronounce the surname of one of my co-workers, O'Cinneide. O Cah-nay'-dah. I want to call him O Canada, but I don't think anyone gets it, so I've settled on O'Cyanide.
My apologies for not figuring out how to make the accents for many of these names. I spent all my blogging patience trying to make the tables display correctly. Remind me to hard code the table next time.
6 comments:
Only a trekkie would know Colm Meany!
I loved the name Roisin and it's meaning. Beautiful!!!!!!
Several years ago I read a book by Nuala O'Faolain. In my mind I had been calling her nu-ALA o-FAY-o-lain. I told my friend Margaret (Irish) what I was reading, and she about fell out of her chair laughing. Apparantly, it's NEW-la o-FWAY-lun. Having lunch with Margaret on Wednesday. Perhaps she can give me a quick primer on pronunciation before I come to visit!
I dearly love Colm Meaney.
That man can make me laugh!
Just the other day I was wondering how to pronounce Siobhan, and I was pretty sure my guess was wrong. It was.
Nathan had an Aoife in his class last year. Her parents are from Ireland (with strong accents.) That is the only time I have heard that name, it is interesting to see your lists!
Also, Nathan did a book report on o book by Eoin Colfer and we learned how to pronouce his name then. Let's just say I wasn't even close to correct before then :)
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