Ceilidh

Girl Names
1

DISCLAIMER: This is traditionally not a name. A céilidh is a traditional Celtic party. [name_m]Just[/name_m] wanted to get that out there. :wink:

It is pronounced [name_u]KAY[/name_u]-lee. [name_f]Kailey[/name_f] et al are, as far as I am aware of, modern creations with little to no actual derivation. But Ceilidh seems a little more…refined? Tradition-based?

I wouldn’t use this- it would cause major pronunciation issues where I live. And, as I am not Celtic, it might seem a little pretentious. But Ceilidh does have a nice sound, and I’ve met a Latin-American girl named Fiesta (Spanish for “party”), so why not, if you liked it? Word names are already widespread, and now the idea of international word names is just beginning.

So…thoughts?

I am posting this because my little sister brought home a poem written in a magazine by a teenaged Ceilidh. My sister was very surprised when I knew how to pronounce the name… :smiley:

2

So, [name_f]Kaylee[/name_f] (etc) were fairly popular in the Irish dance community I grew up in, and the parents always chose it because we actually used the word ceilidh for our celebrations! I know the modern [name_u]Kay[/name_u]+lee derivation, but interesting enough, in at least this one little corner it was treated as an anglicized spelling of ceilidh.

In real life I don’t think it’s a great choice - sound wise it blends in with all of those kaylees, and spelling wise it’s confusing. But like you, I think it’s appealing in theory!

3

That’s interesting! I’ve heard that [name_f]Kaylee[/name_f]/[name_f]Kailey[/name_f] is a variant of [name_f]Katherine[/name_f], or [name_f]Kayla[/name_f], but who knows?