Cool Irish Names For Babies: Finnegan's Just The Beginning

When our two little boys came along they needed to fit in with their father’s Irish heritage, and we gave them both my Scottish maiden name to keep my family name alive. First names were a struggle though. I wish I’d had a copy of “Cool Irish Names For Babies” by Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz ($12).

If you can wait long enough to get a look at the baby, this book has suggestions for cool names for redheads, brunettes and fair-skinned children. They suggest names from literature, stage and screen as well as celebrity baby names like Brooke Shields’ daughter Rowan and Jude Law’s son Rafferty. It has names popular in Ireland, saints’ names and names with cool meanings. Who knew Clooney meant “grassy meadow?”

If you’re looking for something off the wall, try Geimhreadh (GIV-roo), which means “winter” or Abhainn (Ah-WAN), which means “river.”  Just don’t expect them to find a keychain with their names on it in any gift shop…ever.

We chose Finn, which was not common at all in 2005.  The book says, “This is a name with enormous energy and charm, that of the greatest hero of Irish myth, Finn McCool.”  There was also a Finn in Road to Perdition and who could forget the cute vet Finn in Grey’s Anatomy (played by Chris O’Donnell, another terrific Irish name) ?

Our second baby became Egan after I came across it while fiddling with some online baby naming sites. Egan’s only mentioned once in the book (in a chapter called “Cool Surnames”) but it says, “its likeness to the word ‘eager’ gives Egan a ready-to-please, effervescent energy.”

Only after we selected Egan’s name did we realize that together our boys spell “Finnegan.”  I can only hope someday they’ll open a pub together and call it Finnegan’s. Maybe Mama will get a free beer once in a while.

– Kristen

Comments

Egan is my mother’s maiden name.

- laura on May 11th, 2009

As a person of Irish heritage, I love some Irish names! Abhainn is very pretty. The spelling vs. pronunciation is difficult though, especially for children in America. I have an Irish friend whose name is Caitrin (the Irish spelling of Catherine) and she gets so upset when people pronounce it phonetically! I do like the Irish version of Patrick though (Padraig)

- Pamela on May 11th, 2009

I am Irish, my husband is Scottish. We wanted traditional names to go with the Scottish last name. We ended up with Cullen Patrick and Connor James (my vote was for Seamus as the alternative to James, but my hubby was stuck on James). We’ve always wanted to stick traditional, so when the “Celtic baby naming craze” struck, we were so frustrated! All the names we loved originally were being “taken” by all cultures! Suddenly, every baby boy in town was Jack, Ryan, Aidan (or any form of a name ending in -aden), etc. Cullen was virutally unheard of up until last year when the Twilight craze struck (still a little bitter about that – and NO, his name did not come from the series at all!), and while Connor is top 20 nationally, there aren’t too many that we know of in our direct area.

Good luck!

- Tara on May 11th, 2009

My husband is Irish and I’m Italian. We decided that if we had boys, their names would be Irish. If we had girls, their names would be Italian.
Well, two boys later..we are blessed with an Owen(age 4) and a Rory (age 3.)
We were going to spell Owen, the traditional Irish way, “Eoin” but felt he would have a hard enough time being kid, let alone having to explain why his name looks that way but is pronounced Oh-when.
We love the names for our little guys!

- JK on May 11th, 2009

I like Celtic names – Scottish, Irish, Welsh – even though I’m not of that origin myself. It’s just the pronunciation that “scares” me a bit as names are not necessarily pronounced as they’re spelt.

- Ailyss on May 11th, 2009

I have a Rhys (Welsh) and the poor kid gets Rice, Rise, Riz etc! I thought with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Rhys Ifans, that more people would know that it is pronounced like Reese! I love the Irish names too, but the pronunciation is nearly impossible to figure sometimes! Saoirse is Sersha…love it, but a difficult one!

- Esseye on May 11th, 2009

I’m Irish and we had Rhys picked as a boy name for our 3rd baby. (We had a girl, Eva)
My oldest is Campbell (which is my maiden name) and my middle son is Cuyler (gaelic name pronounced Ky-ler).

That was one of my favourite things about being pregnant was choosing the names. We never found out what we were having so it was fun coming up with one of each!!

- Christine on May 11th, 2009

I thought Rowan was Welsh.

- Shirese on May 11th, 2009

My husband is Irish and he also wanted a traditional name. We named our son Cian (pronounced key-an). Most people tell me they like the name but never pronounce it correctly if they read it first or know how to spell it correctly if they hear it only. Hopefully, my son won’t have too tough of a time in school!

- Liz on May 11th, 2009

Christine I just read your response and my sons are Lachlann and Kuyler, pronounced the same as yours. My daughters are Anastasia and Nadia though.

- Shirese on May 11th, 2009

Love love love Irish names. My name is often mistaken for an Irish name, when in fact it is the Gaelic word for “girl”. Cullen, Cuyler and Rhys are on my short list for boys as well as Seamus! I come from a long line of Irish or Gaelic named family and I’m not about to let my Polish husband stop that!

- Colleen on May 11th, 2009

I have a gorgeous Liam Rhys I dont know my heritage as I was adopted by a wonderful Irish momma….:) Tis my homage to her.

- aurora mia on May 11th, 2009

We LOVED Irish names for our kids, even though my husband is a quarter Irish and I’m have no Irish in me We named our son Declan and our daughter Ryley. Actually boy or girl our second was going to be named Ryley.

- bobbi on May 11th, 2009

Liz – I really like the name Cian! I have Irish & Scottish ancestory & wanted to honour that 2nd pregnancy with a name we both liked that was Celtic and wondered about pronounciation, not easy so we had the name Connor Riley if we had another son but we had daughter Freya (which is Nordic) instead, would’ve stuck to Connor Riley I’m sure, as we stuck to Freya’s name which we had while preg. I have a friend who has a Ciara (rather than Keira or Ke-era) and like her Irish spelling of it more. Friend Catherine has an Irish background so was adamant on that spelling, although most people who don’t know them initially spell it wrong with the ‘K’! Another friend just had a Liam back in Feb, which we had on our list first time around with son Sam and like Callum too. Prefer Connor though (have an old schoolfriend with a Conor, born two weeks after Freya in Jan 08, and didn’t know the gender, but they did kept it quiet, so would’ve been a laugh if we’d both had sons 2nd time and had Connors as we both had decided on that as final name. Hers is spelt with only 1 ‘n’ though; I prefer it with two ‘n’s, just personal, looked unfinished to me for some reason). Not sure why we didn’t have ‘Connor’ on list first time around though but changed our minds 3 years later with 2nd bub.

- Sam & Freya's Mum on May 11th, 2009

I adore Irish/Scottish/English/German names. My heritage is a mix of all of those (excluding the Scottish) and my husbands is mostly German. We did not really pick our son’s name with any culture in mind but with a name of a friend of ours that is special in our lives and my husband’s first name as the middle name and ended up with Zachary Samuel. If we are blessed with another child we will probably name them after members of our family that are special to us as well. I DID go with Irish for our beautiful Bassett Hound. Her name is Limerick (technically Lady Limerick of Chester) and I would like to go with Dublin as a name for another doggie when we get one lol.

- Carie D. Snowbarger on May 11th, 2009

My nephew’s name is Brogan and I just love his name…it’s so unusual and I have never heard another Brogan (yet!) I do love different names, especially those with strong heritage or cultural backgrounds. And last names, family or maiden names used as first names are so great, too. love it…

- JP on May 11th, 2009

My husband and I are both from Scottish families and will definitely be using Scottish/Gaelic/Irish names to go with our very Scottish/Irish last name. My husband likes Cillian (Kil-yan) & Lachlan for boys (both Irish), and I like Alastair and Rylan for boys. For girls, I’m in love with Isla and Saoirse for girls. I think my husband is on board with Isla, however he can’t get past the pronunciation of Saoirse. I would love this book…even though I’m not pregnant!

- Devon on May 11th, 2009

Just wondering if someone could tell me the pronuciation for the names Isla and Aine…

- Lauren on May 11th, 2009

isla Eye-Lah.

- avery on May 11th, 2009

I’m from a family with Irish heriage, and when I was around 8 years old,I met an adorable little boy named Seamus. I knew then that if I ever had a son, that would be his name. Luckily, my hubby loved the named when I suggested it, and now we have a Seamus John. Pronunciaton can get a little tricky for some people, but the name fits him to a T and I love it more than ever!

- EC on May 11th, 2009

My kids both have Irish names. Averie, my daughter, would have been Avery no matter what. I was hoping to have a little girl named Logan, but alas Logan turned out to be a boy and still got the name. I’ve loved those names forever, although they are both gaining in propularity. *sigh*

- Tabi on May 11th, 2009

Lauren, Aine is pronounced like En-YA. Also spelt Enya, Eithne, etc…

- Devon on May 11th, 2009

Sam & Freya’s Mum: Thanks! I like Freya too!

- Liz on May 11th, 2009

Aine = Ahn-yeh or Ahn-yuh, depending on where you’re from. Love both that and Isla, they’re both on my list!

- wowfornoobs on May 11th, 2009

For Lauren -
Isla is pronounced EYE-lah
Aine is pronounced AWN-yah

- lil on May 11th, 2009

My parents gave myself and my siblings all Irish, Scottish, Welsh or Gaelic (wherever they may cross over) four letter first names: Tara, Kyle, Rhys and Sian. Oddly enough, they didn’t realise they had a theme going til they got to my sister and then had to hunt around for a four letter girls name that they liked. Suffice to say, I get asked if I’m Irish a lot (I am distantly!)

- Ratty on May 12th, 2009

Aine is pronounced Aun-ya. I live in Ireland so I’m definitely planning on giving Irish names to my kids. I love Saoirse, Mairead, Caoileann and Ciara for girls and for boys I think that I’ll go with pretty uncommon Irish names (Daire, Oisin, Dairmuid). I used to love Aidan and Brendan but I hate that they’re becoming popular. Ah well!

- Deirdre on May 12th, 2009

To Lauren: Aine is pronounced “aw – nya” – it’s the Irish for Anne.

- swisschick on May 12th, 2009

Aine is pronounced Awn-ya.

- Kate on May 12th, 2009

I’m half Irish half Italian and I’ve been living in Ireland since 2000. Moving here I discovered all these Irish names that initially I couldn’t spell or read. But I just looooove the sound of them… Sineád (Shinade, female), Siobhán (Shivonne, f), Aoife (Eefah, f), Declan male, Derek m, Diarmuid (Dermot, m), Niamh (Neve, f), Deirbhle (Dervla, f), Caoimhe (Queevah, f), Ciara (Keerah, f), Roísín (Rosheen, f), Aisling (Ashling, f), Eoghan (Owen, m)… and many more… These are all very popular ones I have listed. I had to learn very fast working in an office…. but check this one out….Caoimhghín. I was faced with this one on my first day at work! I just couldn’t figure it out. It’s pronounced Quiveen and it means Kevin. Cool huh! My son was instead in creche or ‘day care’ with a girl called Caoílaínn…..that’s pronounced Kaylinn.
For my children I needed short and easy to spell names for my Italian family, so we went with Liam and Lara. Had Lara been another boy (as we expected given the lack of girls in my husband’s family tree for generations) we had chosen Fionn.

- Ellie on May 12th, 2009

Being Scottish and Irish myself, I have two “Irish” sons — Connell (a variation on the spelling of Connal) and Liam.

- Clare on May 12th, 2009

I love this thread…these names are incredible!

- aurora mia on May 12th, 2009

Can anyone please tell me how to pronounce Saoirse, Mairead, Caoileann? (A)
I got a Salomon Säde, Cai Walker, Zoia Magdalena and Orion Oz. (3 boys and a girl) Mostly Nordic names though, but still love them and haven’t met anyone with the same names!
Now I’m pregnant with my fifth and if I get a boy he’ll be named Gaius Gabriël, a little more common but just love it! A little girl will be Aven Veroniek, a very girlie and very beautiful name, I think. Veroniek is a Dutch name, cause I’m half Dutch, half Swedish. My husband (he’s from Australia) wanted to go with Albin Arruman or Ajax (for a boy) or Nava (for a girl). We discussed about Lennox, but thought it’d be too common ;p

- Laurie on May 12th, 2009

I’m Scottish/English and my husband is Welsh. Like, from Wales (not “of Welsh decent”). We really wanted a Welsh name. For a girl, we’d picked Gwynedd and for a boy Celyn. Well, lo and behold, along came our little Celyn. Who was promptly called “Celine” by everybody who met him. It was more than an issue of simple mispronunciation — I really do not like the name “Celine”, adding insult to injury. After a week of this, we made a bold decision, headed to the registry office, and officially gave him the phonetic spelling of “Kellan”. Yes, we wimped out, but I’m happy today to have a Kellan rather than a Celine!

- Nicola on May 12th, 2009

I really want this book. I have a very traditional irish name – Maeve. nobody prounces it correct but i love it. I go with the common spelling to make things easier but the irish spellings are Maebhdh or Meabhdh. (its prounced like rave with a M btw)

- maeve on May 12th, 2009

I have to comment on the spellings of some of these names…I dont think I would know. With Liam…even though it has become more common, a lot of people think it’s a girls name. (I often explain the diminutive of William). My reall name is Dawn. I Have to spell that out each time, or it’s spelled, Don. So with Liam, I spell it out or I get Leah, Leo or Leon. Like I have said before, the celtic/Irish names are so beautiful and I really have to get this book. Very cool. And Laurie………coolest names ever badge goes to you!

- aurora mia on May 12th, 2009

My youngest’s middle name is Riona(ree ah nah), and that is Gaelic for Fairy or fairy queen. Poor thing, people pronounce it with a long O all the time.

If by chance I ever do get pregnant again my girls names are Kwynlan Brilee or Kinsley Brynn, my boy name is Kullen Finley, the K instead of the C because my 3 girls all have “K” names. My husband is portuguese/irsh and I am mostly welsh/scotch with a bit or Irish in the mix.

- De on May 13th, 2009

Caoileann is pronounced Kwee-lynn, Mairead (my sister’s name!) is pronounced Marade, and Saoirse is pronounced Sear-SHA. I should add that I live in the South West of Ireland, so if you went to Donegal for example you might have a completely different pronunciation for the names. An example might be Aisling- pronounced by my relatives in a different part of Ireland as Ash-leen but where I live now it’s Ash-ling!

- Deirdre on May 13th, 2009

I’m glad people have finally cleared up how to pronounce Saoirse! I felt so bad for Saoirse Ronan when Atonement came out-I’m sure she gave the awards show announcers a run for their money! My cousin has Keira Siobhan and Spencer Keegan, though truth be told I really wish they’d spelled Keira as Ciara instead-I think it looks so much prettier. I know her mother wanted Chiara for the longest time but my cousin wasn’t wild about it, so Keira was their compromise. It makes me wonder, though-do parents who give children these very difficult to pronounce names mind if they’re constantly screwed up throughout the child’s life, or is that an afterthought? There are many names I love, but I have to be realistic about the fact that not everyone will pronounce them the way they are supposed to be said and wonder whether I’m okay with that.

And Devon, fwiw I adore the names Isla and Alastair. Go for it!

- Lauren on May 13th, 2009

I am Irish and German. When I was pregnant with my first son I convinced my husband to name him McIntyre. When we had our second son, a year later, we went with McCauley. My third son was born five years ago and I wanted to name him McGuire but dad said, “No, there are too many Mc names.” We went with Kieran and yes, I now realize there are two Culkin kids with the names McCauley and Kieran but we loved the names! I know of only two other McIntyres. McCauley and Kieran are becoming more popular but I have always been happy with our choices.I am proud of my Irish heritage, I wanted to reflected in my children’s names.

- sarah on May 13th, 2009

Lauren, just in response to your question about the difficult to pronounce names: I went through school being called Deedra, Diedra, etc, when my name is actually pronounced Deardra. (I grew up in the States, moved to Ireland as a teen) I won’t even get started on my very Irish last name! But I think that my heritage and Irish nationalism is certainly what motivates me in my plans to name my children Irish names. Sure, they might be difficult to pronounce to some, but to me they represent Ireland and my culture, the stories and ideas that I’ve been raised with. That’s all that really matters! Plus, I know in my case I got over the mispronounciation, politely corrected those who were interested, and went home to listen to a Christy Moore CD.

- Deirdre on May 13th, 2009

I love Irish/Scottish/Welsh names. Too bad I’m not Irish or I’d use a few of them.

- Alex on May 14th, 2009

my folks are irish and scottish so we decided to keep that in mind when naming our two girls

devin isla (devin is poet and isla in island-she was born in bermuda)

deirann hayden (deirann means gift from god although it is normally spelled doireann or something like that, and hayden for a beautiful national trust property in bermuda)

if we had a boy we would have gone with myles bedford , family names…or maybe paddy o’chare lol!

- Noeleen on May 19th, 2009

I really don’t understand the suggestions of geimhreadh or abhainn …. are they just suggesting random Irish words from a dictionary? Are they serious or having a laugh? Why not leabhair (book) or madra (dog) then, no doubt someone would find these words “beautiful” too.

Also baffled by all of the Irish surnames suggested – McCabe, Finnegan, Egan, Reilly, whatever. I mean I suppose they are technically Irish words too but there is no tradition of using surnames as first names in Ireland, it’s vanishingly rare and – while of course more power to you for using them if you love them! – therefore totally inauthentic.

Ellie’s comment #30 does have some great and really Irish suggestions though.

- INB on December 29th, 2009

I am Irish and my husband is Welsh so we too wanted our children to have names associated with their heritage. Therefore being diplomatic our first daughter who was born in Ireland was given a welsh name ‘Lowri’, pronounced like flowery and it means laurel and our second daughter was born in Wales with an Irish name ‘Aoibheann’ pronounced Aye-veen, meaning little eve. Granted Aoibheann is trouble to pronounce but we felt that it lost it’s Irishness when spelt phonetically.

- Natasha on January 11th, 2010

Am I pronoucing Rylan Rye-lin? Is that correct..just want to make sure before I name my daughter.

- Addie on February 11th, 2010

We have a son and my husband is part Swedish and we loved the name Laek, but with our last name as Landerholm, it sounded like a campground or a national park, “Laek Landerholm.” We loved ocean and water so we searched for other names with similar meanings and fell in love with the Scottish “Lochlan.” We now have an amazing son named Lochlan!! He will probably be nicknamed Loch……

- Karissa on July 27th, 2010