I’d love some feedback on these potential names. We have a 3 yr old son, [name]Darragh[/name] (pronounced Da ra) [name]Patrick[/name] and are due our second at the end of [name]December[/name]. We’re both Irish, currently living in Northern [name]Ireland[/name] and generally are drawn to Irish or Scottish names with Gaelic roots, but it can be difficult to find a middle ground between the really popular names (eg [name]Sean[/name], [name]Connor[/name]) and the less common but very complicated to spell names (eg Caoilfhionn). Here’s some I’m considering:
Girls
[name]Aoibhinn[/name] (pr. Eev-een or [name]Ave[/name]-een, means beautiful in Irish)
Ailidh (pr. Ailey, Scottish meaning noble/kind)
[name]Isla[/name] (pr. Eye-la, Scottish for island)
[name]Alannah[/name] (Irish means beloved child)
[name]Aisling[/name] (Irish means dream or vision)
[name]Niamh[/name]
[name]Sadhbh[/name] (pr. Syve, Irish means sweet)
Lile (pr. [name]Lee[/name]-la with fada on the I, Irish for [name]Lily[/name])
[name]Juliette[/name]
[name]Grace[/name]
[name]Aveline[/name]
[name]Sophia[/name]
Boys
[name]Rian[/name] (pr. [name]Ree[/name]-un, Irish means little king)
[name]Callum[/name]
[name]Finn[/name] (from Irish legend)
[name]Cathal[/name] (pr. [name]Ca[/name]-hull)
[name]Rory[/name]/[name]Ruairi[/name]
Caolan (pr. [name]Kay[/name]-lan)
[name]Theo[/name]
[name]Seth[/name]
[name]Callan[/name]
[name]Adair[/name]
You have wonderfully named son! I have a special crush on Scottish/Irish names (and I will never have a chance to use any of them, as I’m Slavic-[name]German[/name]-English married to [name]Dane[/name];)), so it’ll be hard for me to judge, but I’ll try to.
Girls
[name]Aoibhinn[/name] - I must agree with what you said about spelling difficulties. She may spend the rest of her life explaining the pronounciation :). But it’s lovely!
Ailidh - not a great fan of. Sounds old-ladyish
[name]Isla[/name] - like it, but I would use it as a middle
[name]Alannah[/name] - one of my favourite Irish names because of the meaning
[name]Aisling[/name] - isn’t it one of the most popular ones? [name]Do[/name] you prefer something mainstream, or niche?
[name]Niamh[/name] - I think doesn’t match your son’s name
[name]Sadhbh[/name] - see [name]Aoibhinn[/name]
Lile - see [name]Isla[/name]
[name]Juliette[/name], [name]Grace[/name], [name]Aveline[/name], [name]Sophia[/name] - when you have a chance to use Gaelic names, I’ll take it!
[name]Rian[/name] - see [name]Niamh[/name]
[name]Callum[/name] - not a fan
[name]Finn[/name] - better as a middle
[name]Cathal[/name] - my favourite as a combo with your son’s name
[name]Ruairi[/name] - better than [name]Rory[/name]!
Caolan - also good as a combo
[name]Theo[/name], [name]Seth[/name] - see [name]Juliette[/name]
[name]Callan[/name] - [name]Darragh[/name] and [name]Callan[/name] make too many ‘a’ sounds set
[name]Adair[/name] - also good one to match [name]Darragh[/name]
What do you think of [name]Moira[/name], [name]Saoirse[/name], [name]Orla[/name] or [name]Eamon[/name]?
Congrats on your pregnancy and welcome to Nameberry! First off, I would eliminate names that are too similar to [name]Darragh[/name] ([name]Isla[/name], [name]Alannah[/name], [name]Adair[/name], [name]Cathal[/name]) as well as names that aren’t Celtic at all ([name]Juliette[/name], [name]Grace[/name], [name]Aveline[/name]. [name]Seth[/name], [name]Theo[/name] and [name]Sophia[/name]. I have my doubts about [name]Callan[/name] too). I think any of these names would be lovely with [name]Darragh[/name]'s.
Girls
[name]Aoibhinn[/name] (pr. Eev-een or [name]Ave[/name]-een, means beautiful in Irish) Ailidh (pr. Ailey, Scottish meaning noble/kind) - I like this name with [name]Darragh[/name].
[name]Aisling[/name] (Irish means dream or vision) - I also like [name]Aislinn[/name]. [name]Niamh[/name] - My fave
[name]Sadhbh[/name] (pr. Syve, Irish means sweet)
Lile (pr. [name]Lee[/name]-la with fada on the I, Irish for [name]Lily[/name])
Boys
[name]Rian[/name] (pr. [name]Ree[/name]-un, Irish means little king)
[name]Callum[/name]
[name]Finn[/name] (from Irish legend) - although [name]Fionn[/name] would be more authentically Irish, wouldn’t it?
[name]Rory[/name]/[name]Ruairi[/name]
Caolan (pr. [name]Kay[/name]-lan)
What about [name]Ciaran[/name] or [name]Cian[/name]/Cianan?
You might want to consider names that are easy to spell, or read phonetically. Some of these names will make it SO hard for your children to learn to spell or read them.
I think [name]Aoibhinn[/name], Ailidh, [name]Niamh[/name], and [name]Sadhbh[/name] are very bad choices. I also think [name]Saoirse[/name], [name]Orla[/name], [name]Eamon[/name], and [name]Ruari[/name] are bad choices. (Except that Ailey SOUNDS so pretty! But the spelling is too difficult.) You really need to think about how the child is going to grow up with these names. And their teachers are going to just butcher it every year in school.
In Northern Ireland? I don’t think so. And besides, even names as ‘simple’ as Michael and John don’t read phonetically in English and yet my brother managed to learn how to spell his own name aged four without a problem.
To the OP, Eilidh and Ruairi (knew a teacher with this name and spelling, he’s English born and raised) are my favourites from your list. I’ve never seen Eilidh spelt with an A before though.
[name]Yael[/name]- thanks for the lovely comment on [name]Darragh[/name]'s name, we love it. [name]Aoibhinn[/name] is one of our favourites, while I could never anglicise it the complicated spelling does put me off a bit. [name]Even[/name] in [name]Ireland[/name] it is pronounced differently in different Irish dialects!
[name]Mischa[/name]- interesting feedback on the similar sounding names as I wouldn’t have thought they were too similar, is it the repeated ‘a’ sound you’d avoid? We have a nephew [name]Ciaran[/name] already and another [name]Connor[/name], I like [name]Cian[/name] but think we prefer [name]Rian[/name] as it’s less used here.
Kayceeb- a lot of Irish names (and Scottish ones) may look complex, but we learn Irish from the start of school so the majority of people here could make a decent attempt at any name they weren’t already familiar with. [name]Darragh[/name] can spell and write his name no problem.
Renrose- yes, [name]Eilidh[/name] is the usual spelling, Aillidh is a less used version. The only reason we’d think of using the A version is that ‘Ei’ in [name]Ireland[/name] would be pronounced as ‘eye’ rather than ‘ay’ as they do in [name]Scotland[/name]. We have [name]Eilish[/name] pronounced eye-lish and [name]Ailish[/name] pronounced ay-lish.
