Turlough, pronounced TUR-low, was the name of Irish harpist and composer Turlough O’Carolan, whose name was Anglicized from the Gaelic Toirdhealbhach O Cearbhallain. He was born in 1670 and wrote some of [name]Ireland[/name]'s most well-known melodies. I’m really liking his name! According to my source, Turlough means “shaped like [name]Thor[/name].” I think it would be very cool with the nickname [name]Tully[/name]. Any takers?
I think it’d be butchered all the time…but at least it’s better than Toirdhealbhach!
An Irish name with the newly-stylish O ending… why hasn’t this come up before?
Dislike.
It’s very close to my mother’s last name, and we always have to spell it out for others. And the spelling is [name]WAY[/name] simpler!
I don’t like the sound at all, or the nickname [name]Tully[/name].
Thanks for the comments. [name]Do[/name] you think the contracted spellings Turlow, Turlowe or Turlo would make the name better or worse?
I don’t really care for the “Tur” sound starting this name. It makes me think “Turd.” It’s probably just me though–I have a 6 and 7 year old who are unfortunately obsessed with bathroom humor these days.
I’m Irish, living in [name]Ireland[/name] and I have a neighbour named Turlough. I’m afraid you’re pronouncing the name wrong!
The correct pn is Tur-lock. I quite like it, but it might be hard to wear outside of [name]Ireland[/name] because of pn issues.
@lucykate219–thank you for the pronunciation tip! I have this posted in the Boys’ Names forum as well, and a poster there said that her friend’s Irish father has this name and pronounces it TUR-lock. That makes two, so it must be true! I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with the one baby name book I own which gives pronunciations (my others don’t). This is not the first time it’s been at odds with a “real-life” pronunciation. However, since it says Toirdhealbhach is pronounced TOOR-deh-lock, contracting it to TUR-lock makes sense. According to another poster, Turlough was used as a character’s surname in the BBC show [name]Doctor[/name] Who–and it was pronounced TUR-low. So does the surname have a different derivation? If not, is TUR-low truly a mispronunciation, or has it become acceptable? Any more insight would be appreciated!
This name is very interesting and unique, but because of the difficult pronnunciation, I’m afraid it’ll be butchered all the time in the US. It seems very hard to say if you’re not Irish.
- [name]Athena[/name]
'Fraid so. I may keep it in mind for a mn, especially if my future husband should be Irish :), but it looks like it would be very hard to live with as an American first name.
I actually don’t think you’d have too much pronunciation trouble–the ough is pretty common with words in English. Its not my cup of tea, but I think it could work