Irish Language Today » Baby names http://www.irishlanguagetoday.com All about the Irish language. Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:34:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Traditional Irish Language Baby Names http://www.irishlanguagetoday.com/baby-names/traditional-irish-language-baby-names/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=traditional-irish-language-baby-names http://www.irishlanguagetoday.com/baby-names/traditional-irish-language-baby-names/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:24:28 +0000 mise http://www.irishlanguagetoday.com/?p=76 Continue reading →]]> We have covered the top Irish language baby names in another post. Remember that a lot of names in use for Irish babies are not in any way “Irish”. Still, many a young person has been named in the Irish language over the years. This tradition continues quite strongly in Ireland, even though the English language is by far the most dominant language in society (see Irish language facts for more about this).

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In this post we’ll provide you with a non-extensive list of traditional Irish baby names, names that you’ll find across all age groups in Ireland. What “traditional” means is always changing, of course. Every few years there are trends – new Irish baby names show up and old names make re-appearances. “Traditional” is surely subjective. DoChara has a very nice extended list of Irish baby names, but this post will hopefully give you a quick start.

Traditional Irish language male baby names

  • Mícheál
  • Seán
  • Ciarán
  • Liam
  • Breandán
  • Caoimhín
  • Cathal
  • Ruaidhrí
  • Tadhg
  • Tomás
  • Daithí
  • Darragh
  • Diarmuid
  • Séamus
  • Domhnall/Dónal
  • Eoin
  • Fiachra
  • Gearóid
  • Fionn

Traditional Irish language female baby names

  • Sorcha
  • Siobhán
  • Máire
  • Áine
  • Bríd
  • Úna
  • Aoife
  • Niamh
  • Bláthnaid
  • Caitlín
  • Ciara
  • Deirdre
  • Doireann
  • Eithne
  • Maebh
  • Neasa
  • Róisín
  • Sadhbh

The “Fada” in Irish language baby names

The “fada” is the name of the accent that can be placed over an Irish vowel. It’s used to indicate the “long” or heavy pronunciation of the vowel. The fada looks like this: á, ó, ú, í, é. Of course, many traditional Irish language baby names include one (or several) fadas. If you name you child with such an accent in their name, beware that others may not consitently apply the fada to the name. For example, many Irish people leave out the fada in even such simple traditional Irish names as Seán (often seen as simple Sean). Respect the fada! There are a several ways for writing the Irish fada on a computer.

]]> http://www.irishlanguagetoday.com/baby-names/traditional-irish-language-baby-names/feed/ 0 Top Irish Language Baby Names http://www.irishlanguagetoday.com/baby-names/irish-language-baby-names/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=irish-language-baby-names http://www.irishlanguagetoday.com/baby-names/irish-language-baby-names/#comments Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:58:37 +0000 mise http://www.irishlanguagetoday.com/?p=21 Continue reading →]]> Hold on there with your naming! Naming your child is obviously quite a permanent event. Don’t name your child based on the information of just one source (such as this site). Always get some more opinions. It’s the only sensible thing to do!

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Popular Irish baby names in Ireland

Let’s get started by taking a look at what Irish parents in Ireland are naming their babies these days. Be warned that many of the names on the list are not particularly “Irish”. You can get the official figures published in 2007 by the Irish Central Statistics Office here [PDF].

Top ten registered names for boys in Ireland in 2007 (Irish Times)

  1. Jack
  2. Seán
  3. Conor
  4. Daniel
  5. James
  6. Adam
  7. Ryan
  8. Luke
  9. Cian
  10. Michael

Top ten registered names for girls in Ireland in 2007 (Irish Times)

  1. Sarah
  2. Emma
  3. Ella
  4. Katie
  5. Sophie
  6. Ava
  7. Aoife
  8. Emily
  9. Grace
  10. Kate

Popular Irish Language Baby Names

Babyhold.com has a list of contemporary Irish baby names in the English language (names such as Connor and Aidan). But let’s take a look at the Irish language baby names currently in use. This should be the first stop for you in search of Irish baby names. You should do more searches if you’re interested in the origins of each name. I’ve picked out these names from the top 100 baby names of Ireland for 2006.

Popular Irish Language Baby Boys’ Names

  1. Seán
  2. Cian
  3. Darragh
  4. Oisín
  5. Eoin
  6. Cillian
  7. Liam
  8. Ciarán
  9. Cathal
  10. Fionn
  11. Cormac
  12. Tadhg
  13. Colm
  14. Dara
  15. Rian
  16. Pádraig
  17. Ruairí
  18. Diarmuid
  19. Dáire

Popular Irish Language Baby Girls’ Names

  1. Aoife
  2. Caoimhe
  3. Niamh
  4. Róisín
  5. Aisling
  6. Saoirse
  7. Áine
  8. Caitlín
  9. Eimear
  10. Orla
  11. Aoibhe
  12. Sinéad
  13. Orlaith
  14. Aoibheann
  15. Sadhbh
  16. Aoibhinn
  17. Gráinne

Do you have a favourite?

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