Which Celtic girl's name?
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Which Celtic girl's name?
| Thu, 08-03-2006 - 10:37am |
Which Celtic girl's name?
- Moira (Moy-ruh)
- Grainne (Grahn-ya)
- Rionach (Ri-uh-nach, gaelic ch is like an extremely breathy letter K)
- Rhiannon (Ree-uh-nun)
- Saoirse (Sew-ur-shuh, Gaelic AO combo sounds between English oo and ew)
- Spelling is too tough on most of these
- No one would pronounce them correctly
- Kelli's combo posts inspired dh & I to re-examine some celtic names we like
- thanks for voting!
You will be able to change your vote.

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I voted for Rhiannon, but it was a tough choice because I'm also big fan of Grainne & Moira. I like Saoirse- it brings to mind a longtime love of mine- the Irish Sorcha- a real gem, IMO.
Any ideas for mn? Great list! Ginger
Ginger
As I said Kelli inspired us to re think some of the Celtic names that we had considered before. I speak a bit of Scottish Gaelic and want to teach it to my children (DS already knows a few words at 2 1/2) so I like the idea of Celtic names for the kids. DS is Kilpatrick. Unfortunately, some gaelic sounds don't exactly trip off the English speaking tongue. For example, the ch, dh, gh, and vowel combinations like ao and aoi, are just hard for English speakers to get. I even have some issues with them sometimes and I've been working at it for years.
Another possible issue is the spelling and rules of pronunciation. Who but a gaelic speaker would know that an s followed by an e or i makes an sh sound, or that a bh or mh sound like an English v.
So, I'm interested to see if there's a consesus on the board about whether or not you knew how to pronounce these names w/out the explanations and how serious you think those issues might be.
thanks,
Meredith
Great list! ;)
Moira (Moy-ruh) -- I love this, and I don't think it'd be unfamiliar, if you KWIM? Actually, this is the name of the wife in Hook, if I remember correctly, so definitely not unheard-of
Grainne (Grahn-ya) -- this got my vote (but if pronunciation issues would, indeed, bother you, I was really torn between this and Moira)
Rionach (Ri-uh-nach, gaelic ch is like an extremely breathy letter K) -- I always really liked this, but no one else seemed to appreciate it as much as I :( Still, if you and your dh love it, it's a great name!
Rhiannon (Ree-uh-nun) -- probably the most familiar of all these, so a safer bet maybe. ;)
Saoirse -- I think you'd have the most pronunciation issues with this one, if that's a concern
Again, love the list!
~Kelli
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Thanks Ginger,
The mn will be Bright (my grandmother's mn). I like Sorcha too, although it's meaning is almost identical to Bright, so I don't think it would be a great combination.
I didn't include the mn in the poll info, because I wanted to get opinions based just on the celtic names without any other influences.
thanks again,
Meredith
Ginger
I voted for Moira, which is one of my very favorite names. Though I have to admit I MUCH prefer the original Maire spelling. Of course, if you're worried about people pronouncing it correctly, the anglicised spelling certainly helps. I actually think Moira is well known enough that no one would bat an eye. I've known a couple of people with this name and never heard anyone mispronounce it. This one is definitely my favorite from the list.
My best friend is in love with the name Grainne, but I just don't love it as much as a lot of others. It's pretty, just not my favorite.
Rionach I'm just meh about.
I love Rhiannon. And that's another that no one will have a hard time pronouncing. It's pretty mainstream.
Saoirse is lovely. I do think you'll run into spelling/pronounciation problems with this one, so if that's a major concern, I'd go with one of the easier options.
I personally love Grainne; it is on my middle name list. It is pretty with a nice meaning.
Tracy
I voted for Moira. I have seen that and Rhiannon before. I think the others would be very hard to spell and probably hard to pronounce at first. JMO
Karen
Moira was the only one I knew how to pronounce, so I voted for it. I've seen Rhiannon before but I've always heard it pronounced ree-ann-non. Doesn't Fleetwood Mac have a song by that name?
With your phonetics help, I love the way Grainne sounds, but at first sight, I would pronounce it Grain, Grainy, or Granny.
Saoirse comes out sounding like sewer to me (as in stinky place). That's the only one I strongly dislike. The others sound pretty and if Gaelic is part of your family heritage, that's a good reason to use them.
~ Jazz
co-cl
As a Momma of a Moira, you would be suprised at how many different ways it can be mispronounced. Thankfully she just goes with the flo and will answer to almost anything.
Tammy
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