Thank you all so much, it’s really cool to see which are your favourites! Absolutely loving everyones’ thoughts and ideas
@KaiLun and @SimiNova thank you for mentioning the pronunciation! I didn’t realise some of these weren’t on Nameberry, so I’ve gone through the list and tried to give explanations for the pronunciation (apologies for the massive wall of text incoming)
Lasairfhíona - ‘LOSS-uh-reena’ , an ancient name meaning ‘flame of wine’ , pretty rare in [name_f]Ireland[/name_f] now
[name_f]Muireann[/name_f] - Nameberry has this as ‘mweer-in’, I have never heard of this pronunciation. [name_f]Every[/name_f] [name_f]Muireann[/name_f] I have ever known has pronounced it like ‘mwer-in’
[name_f]Alannah[/name_f] - just like [name_f]Alanna[/name_f]
[name_f]Fiadh[/name_f] - same pronunciation as [name_f]Fia[/name_f]
[name_f]Eithne[/name_f] - Nameberry has this as ‘EN-ya’ which is how it would be pronounced in [name_m]Donegal[/name_m] (where the singer [name_f]Enya[/name_f] is from) however where I’m from (and the vast majority of Ireland) it’s pronounced as ‘eth-na’
Siún - ‘shoon’, means ‘graced by God’
Clíodhna - ‘CLEE-uh-na’ , means ‘shapely’, ancient name belonging to the [name_f]Queen[/name_f] of the Banshees in [name_m]Irish[/name_m] mythology
Aibhilín - ‘av-il-een’ , [name_m]Irish[/name_m] form of [name_f]Evelyn[/name_f]
[name_f]Naoise[/name_f] - ‘neesha’
[name_f]Onóra[/name_f] - ‘uh-nora’
[name_f]Sadhbh[/name_f] - ‘syve’
Tuathla - ‘thue-a-la’, meaning ‘princess of the people’, very rare to the point it’s almost unheard of, but I quite like it!
Fírinne - ‘FEER-na’ meaning ‘truth’
Líadan - ‘LEE-uh-thin’ with the ‘th’ in ‘thin’ pronounced like the ‘th’ in the word ‘that’ - so like a softer d sound (if that makes any sense at all ) means ‘grey lady’ , poetess in [name_m]Irish[/name_m] mythology
[name_f]Saorla[/name_f] - ‘seerla’
[name_f]Eileanóra[/name_f] - same as eleanora
Méadbh - same as the Anglicized [name_f]Maeve[/name_f]
[name_f]Cadhla[/name_f] - ‘kyla’
Síoda - ‘SHEE-uh-tha’ with the ‘th’ pronounced like in Líadan above , meaning ‘silk’
Éadaoin - ‘AY-deen’ meaning ‘jealousy’ - I love this name but the meaning is not the best
[name_m]Daithí[/name_m] - Nameberry has this as ‘Dah-hee’. The first syllable is the one stressed, and is somewhere between ‘thah’ and ‘thaw’ with the same ‘th’ pronunciation as Líadan (can you tell I’m finding it hard to describe pronunciation )
[name_m]Iarla[/name_m] - ‘eerla’
[name_m]Tadhg[/name_m] - Nameberry has this as ‘Teyg’. I would describe the pronunciation like ‘thyge’ - like the word thyme with a g instead of m. Some areas would probably say ‘Tyge’ depending on accent
Donncha - still don’t know how to describe the d pronunciation ! Like ‘thun-a-ka’ with the same ‘th’ scenario as Líadan. The meaning is ‘brown-haired warrior’
Murchadh - ‘mur-a-ca’ meaning ‘sea battle’
Faolán - ‘fway-lawn’ meaning ‘little wolf’
Maidhc - just like [name_m]Mike[/name_m]! Short form of the [name_m]Irish[/name_m] version of [name_m]Michael[/name_m]
[name_m]Tomás[/name_m] - ‘thum-aws’
[name_m]Liam[/name_m] - think this one is fairly well known !
Gearóid - ‘gar-ohdj’ (like ‘age’ but with an o instead of a) [name_m]Irish[/name_m] form of [name_m]Gerard[/name_m]
Dónal - same soft D as above, pronounced like "though-nel’ (some areas pronounce with a hard d sound) , means ‘ruler of the world’ but also used as the equivalent of [name_m]Daniel[/name_m]
[name_m]Fiachra[/name_m] - ‘FEE-ukh-ra’
[name_m]Luan[/name_m] - ‘lou-in’ , love the sound but ‘an Luan’ means ‘Monday’ in [name_m]Irish[/name_m] and I don’t know if I can look past that
[name_m]Art[/name_m] - just like art
[name_m]Lorcan[/name_m] - ‘LORE-ken’, if there is a fada (accent mark) on the a then it would be ‘lur-cawn’ but I don’t love the sound of that personally
I hope my attempts at phonetics aren’t too bad! [name_m]Feel[/name_m] free to update if it changes your perception of any of the names. I’m finding everyones’ input incredibly helpful, so thank you all!