Irish name pronunciation :)

[starsarefixed]

Just noticing that Irish names tend to be spelled and pronounced wrong- understandable of course, I'm sure they look mad outside of Ireland! In case anyone is considering them, I'll put the most common ones and ones that are only becoming popular now. There's a difference between names that are IN Irish and names that are derived from them- Ashlynn and Kieran being good examples. If anyone wants help in pronouncing one not listed I'll help.

Girls

Aoife- Ee-fa- very common- beautiful, joyful
Sinéad- shi-nayde- Jean in english, god is my oath- common
Siobhán- shuh-vawn -common- god is gracious. comes from Joan
Áine- awn-yah -Anne in english- less common now- splendour, radiance
Aisling- ash-ling -meaning is dream,vision- very common
Cáit (this is THE most difficult one!) cawtch- comes from kate, from catherine, meaning pure- common
Róisín- row (as in boat, not fight!) -sheen- from Rosaleen, little rose -very common
Emer/Eimear- ee-murr-unclear, in the legend Cúchulainn -very common
Aoibheann- ee-veen -only common recently-pleasant beautiful radiance
Aoibhe- ee-va -only common recently
Sadbh- rhymes with I've -one of the Irish translations of Sarah -only common recently
Mairéad- murr-aid- Margaret in english-meaning unclear- less common now
Síofra- sheef-rah -only common recently
Caoimhe- kwee-vah. not keeva, the 'caoi' produces a kwee sound-gentle, beautiful- very common
Sorcha- sore-kah -a version of sarah in english, bright, radiant- only common recently
Niamh- neeve -lustre, brightness-very common
Maebh- mave -famous queen, she who intoxicates-common
Saoirse- seer-sha- meaning is freedom- common
Gráinne- grawn-yah -Grace in english-grain, corn- common
Orlaith- orla -golden princess-common
Caitríona- cah-treen-ah -Catherine in english- pure-common
Eilish- eye-lish- not that common- meaning god is my oath
Ailish- ay-lish -not that common meaning god is my oath
Ailbhe- al-va -Olivia in english- not that common
Eithne- et-nah -little fire-not that common
Muireann- mwir-in -sea fair-not that common
Bébhinn- bay-vin -Eleanor in english- common- fair lady
Bláthnaid- blaw-nid -flower- only common recently
Clíodhna- clee-nah -shapely-not that common
Dearbhail- durr-vil -daughter of Ireland-not that common
Chlodagh- clo-dah- river clody -common
Réaltín- ray-ul-teen literal translation=little star- only common recently
Caoilfhionn- keel-in (prononuciation different to Caoimhe because the l is soft..) Anglicised as Keelin-slender, fair, pure- common
Iseult- ee-zult- pretty sure this is an Irish version of Isolde- only common recently
Nóinín- no-neen- literal translation Daisy- only common recently
Deirdre- deer-drah-famous beauty in legends- common
Ciara- keer-ah- dark- common
Darcy- dar-cee- dark-haired one- only common recently
Etain (unisex)- ee-tun-object of jealousy- not that common
Regan (unisex)-ree-gun/ray-gun- child of a king- not that common
Sibéal- shi-bail- from Sybil, god is my oath- not that common


Boys

Ciarán- keer-awn -dark-very common
Cian- kee-un -ancient-common
Oisín- ush-een-little deer- very common
Daragh- darr-ah -fruitful, fertile-very common
Eoghan- o-un -born of the yew tree-very common
Séan- shawn -John in english- god's gracious gift-very very common
Ferghal- fur-gull -brave, courageous-not that common
Fionn- fyunn -blonde-not that common
Caoimhín- kwee-veen- gentle child-Kevin in english -not that common
Cathal- coh-hull- great warrior- common
Naoise- nee-sha (can be unisex) not that common
Diarmuid- deer-mud- without enemy- common
Dónal- doh-null- ruler of the world- common
Niall- nile- Neil in english, passionate -very common
Padraic- poy-ric -Patrick in english, nobly born- common
Padraig- pod-rig -another version of patrick -common
Cillian- kill-ee-un- associated with the church- common
Cormac-kurr-moc- son of the charioteer- common
Éamonn- A-mun- guardian of the riches- common
Finbar- finn-bar- fair haired- not that common
Liam- leem- from William, strong protector- extremely common
Séamus- shay-muss- James in english- common
Tadhg- I dont know how to spell it phonetically- if there was a word I'g, they woul rhyme!- timothy in english, poet- common

 

[Little Rose]

Hey Starsarefixed,
Irish names are lovely. Are you thinking of using any of them?

Little Rose

 

[starsarefixed]

I'm WTT Probably for a few years..OH wants to be a bit older. But yeah, Sadbh, Oisín, Maeve and possibly Réaltín on my list (bit TOO cute?). OH only likes Sadbh out of them...definitely my favourite. Think Sadbh Madeleine for a girl

 

[FebMum2Be]

My LO is Odhrán; pronounced and can also be spelt "Oran".. x

 

[Eilishnbean]

Im Eilish pronounce A-lish love my name lol, met a woman at my antenatal and after she heard my name decided that it was the one for her! Im having a girl and I think I'm gonna call her Aoife but wont decide really until i see her face!

 

[starsarefixed]

Lovely names I forgot Odhrán, it's not very common I suppose

 

[nmf1987]

we are pretty stuck on caoimhe at the mo. beautiful. will be caiomhe mae. xx

 

[Heulyn]

These are lovely, and it's a really useful list, thanks!
I quite like Irish names, but the OH is dead set against one unfortunately

 

[AislingC]

My Name is Aisling pronounced Ashling, i love irish names i am thinking of calling my little one Aoife but all the people i have told say it sounds like ether the stuff that puts you to sleep so it has started to put me off.

What do u girls think?

 

[Little Rose]

Aoife Lilly is a lovely name combination

 

[Mrs N]

Thank you sooo much for this post, OH family are irish and we have an irish sirname and if we have a boy its middle name is going to be Patrick which is oh middle name and a big family name and it seems to go better with irish names that english ones!! Got a few now to discuss with DH!
xxx

 

[starsarefixed]

we are pretty stuck on caoimhe at the mo. beautiful. will be caiomhe mae. xx

That's lovely. Will you use the pronunciation kwee-va or kee-va? Kwee-va is the 'right' one and is the one that's common here, but kee-va is much easier to say and it's the one that's most common outside of Ireland. Most noticeable on that last big brother ha.

 

[starsarefixed]

My Name is Aisling pronounced Ashling, i love irish names i am thinking of calling my little one Aoife but all the people i have told say it sounds like ether the stuff that puts you to sleep so it has started to put me off.

What do u girls think?

I would never have thought that? It's quite a strong sound, ee-FA, whereas ether is not. It's a beautiful name, very popular. If it's the name for you, don't let anyone else put you off!

 

[starsarefixed]

These are lovely, and it's a really useful list, thanks!
I quite like Irish names, but the OH is dead set against one unfortunately

That's a shame, what about an anglicised spelling? A lot of them have one, even Sadbhbh, my favourite which is not common- Saive.

 

[starsarefixed]

Thank you sooo much for this post, OH family are irish and we have an irish sirname and if we have a boy its middle name is going to be Patrick which is oh middle name and a big family name and it seems to go better with irish names that english ones!! Got a few now to discuss with DH!
xxx

Oh lovely. My friend's LO is called Séan Patrick. I also like Liam Patrick, Oisín Patrick (maybe too many syllables though depending on surname..) and Cian Patrick. It's a great middle name, works with them all ha.

 

[Heulyn]

These are lovely, and it's a really useful list, thanks!
I quite like Irish names, but the OH is dead set against one unfortunately

That's a shame, what about an anglicised spelling? A lot of them have one, even Sadbhbh, my favourite which is not common- Saive.

It's not the spelling, I think it's just on principle....
He's very strongly Protestant, you see

 

[starsarefixed]

These are lovely, and it's a really useful list, thanks!
I quite like Irish names, but the OH is dead set against one unfortunately

That's a shame, what about an anglicised spelling? A lot of them have one, even Sadbhbh, my favourite which is not common- Saive.

It's not the spelling, I think it's just on principle....
He's very strongly Protestant, you see

Oh right I see! Good luck with naming!

 

[nmf1987]

it will probably be keeva. like you say just as it's easier. quite like it pronounced like that aswell. it is a lovely name. looking at your list though its hard to find one i dont like, xxx

 

[FebMum2Be]

A friend of mine is Seosamh - Irish for Joseph, and pronounced "Shaw-su" x

 

[tinytoes]

I love irish name - being irish My name is Sinèad , MY daughters name is Aoibheann . Im thinking about number two now and am bursting with ideas