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[Opinions] Shelagh, plus your favorite Irish names
1. WDYTO Shelagh, prn. the same as Sheila? If you associate it with a time period, which one? Is it usable?2. What are your favorite Irish names? If you feel so inclined, include pronunciation, since my forte is Hebrew. =P I'm definitely into the really Irish names ATM, however.3. Would it be weird to see a really Irish name (i.e., Aoife or Siobhan) on a Jewish baby of mostly Russian/Polish descent? Weird to pair it with a Hebrew/Jewish name?
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1. I don't like Shelagh or Sheila. I associate Shelagh with a school bully and see them both as been outdated and frumpy. Síle is better.2. Dáire, Róise(Row-sha),Deirdre, Ciarán, Liadáin(Lee-a-dan), Muireann, Macha, Fionn, Sibeal, (Shib-ale), Saidhbh (Sive), Orla, Ruán, Art, Oscar.3. I don't see a problem having an Iris name and a Jewish/Hebrew surname. Even in Ireland people have a more diverse ethnic background now. I myself wouldn't see the need to use an Irish fn though my husband has an Irish ln.
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1. Shelagh is...ok. Here in NZ Sheila is a colloquial word for woman/wife (kind of an old-fashioned one, the kind my parents would use), roughly synonymous with 'missus', as in 'the missus wants me home by ten o'clock', so 'the old sheila wants me home by ten o'clock'. I'm pretty sure it's the same in Australia. Hence I wouldn't use Shelagh here, but it's fine for somewhere else without those associations (although there was a girl a couple of years above me at school called Sheila, so I guess it's not totally unusable here), although it's nms. I like the look of Sile (with the fada over the 'i') a lot more, and I'm surprised to learn that it's a variant of Cecelia.2. I *heart* Irish names. My faves: Aoife (EE-fa, so much prettier than Eva), Sinead (sha-NAYD), Eilish (EYE-lish), Caoimhe (KEE-va), Ciaran (KEER-an), Flynn (on a girl, bit of a GP), Liam, Quinn, Suibhne (SIV-na). I also love Siobhan, but I always want to pronounce it shob-HAHN, which I think sounds prettier, but is really not right . :-P3. It might be a little weird, but IMO there's nothing wrong with a little weird. I have an Irish surname and that wouldn't stop me from using a really Italian FN like Carlotta or Francesca, or something Spanish like Javier, or something Hebrew like Ezekiel if I wanted to.
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Oops ignore. whole answer is above

This message was edited 4/23/2009, 5:12 AM

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1. I don't like it. I don't really like the sound of Sheila at all. Of course it would be usable, but there would be pronunciation issues. I would probably say SHELL-a if you wouldn't have told me it was like Sheila.2. Oh, I have loads! Irish names were what really got me into names in the first place when I was in middle school. Some I like (*favorites):Aghna - AG-na
Alastríona - al-as-TREE-na
Aoibheann - EE-van
Aoibhgréine - EEV-eh-gren
Bronagh - BRON-a
Caoilfhionn - KEE-lin (first name I ever "found")
Ciarán* - KEER-awn
Connor*
Darragh* / Dáire - DAW-ra
Declan
Diarmaid* - DEER-mid
Eibhlin - EV-leen
Eoghan - O-in
Fennore* / Fionúir - FEN-or / FYUN-oor
Finlay* / Fionnlagh
Fíona / Fiona*
Fionn*
Fionnuala* - fin-O-la
Gráinne - GRAWN-ya
Malachy* / Maeleachlainn - MAL-a-kee / MAL-ok-lin
Maureen
Morna
Órfhlaith / Orla
Pádraic* - PAWD-rik
Roísín - ro-SHEEN
Rory / Ruaidhrí
Saoirse* - SEER-sha
Saraid* - SOR-id
Sorcha - SOR-ka
Úna - OO-na3. Honestly, yes. I could be mostly Irish and you'd never know unless you asked, but I'm only a tiny bit Irish, so I wouldn't feel right using a very Irish name. That's why I stick to Welsh because I could use those. I don't think it would be too bad pairing it with a Hebrew name though, at least a Biblical one.
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1. WDYTO Shelagh, prn. the same as Sheila? If you associate it with a time period, which one? Is it usable?
I think it's useable, and it's a bit more interesting than Sheila.2. What are your favorite Irish names? If you feel so inclined, include pronunciation, since my forte is Hebrew. =P I'm definitely into the really Irish names ATM, however.
Well, I'm not a huge fan of the category, since they're so hard to spell and pronounce and sometimes look a bit tacky in the Anglicized spelling (though in some cases it's much better to anglicize, makes life easier). This said, there's a few I like, such as Saoirse, Siobhan and NiAamh.
3. Would it be weird to see a really Irish name (i.e., Aoife or Siobhan) on a Jewish baby of mostly Russian/Polish descent? Weird to pair it with a Hebrew/Jewish name?
In today's multicultural world, I don't think it's too bad.

This message was edited 4/23/2009, 3:22 AM

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1. WDYTO Shelagh, prn. the same as Sheila? If you associate it with a time period, which one? Is it usable?: I'm not a fan, it looks very dated to me. There was a girl in my class in high school called Sheelagh and she hated it, regarded it as an 'old lady name' as I recall!2. What are your favorite Irish names? If you feel so inclined, include pronunciation, since my forte is Hebrew. =P I'm definitely into the really Irish names ATM, however: I like Roisin (ro-SHEEN), Siobhan (shi-VAWN), Bronagh (BRO-nagh), Caoimhe (KEE-va) and Saoirse (SEER-sha).3. Would it be weird to see a really Irish name (i.e., Aoife or Siobhan) on a Jewish baby of mostly Russian/Polish descent? Weird to pair it with a Hebrew/Jewish name?: Not really, its your choice after all... and besides it would definitely look more normal than Makynzie or whatever tryndee name is 'in' at the moment!
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I love Niamh and Maeve. Ciara and Ciaran are nice too.
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I really don't like Shelagh at all or Sheila. I wouldn't use either but if I had to choose it would be Sheila.I don't like that many Irish names but Seamus, Eamon, Roisin and Siobhan are ok.I personally would think it was odd to see a very Irish name on a non-Irish baby especially a name, like Siobhan, that is just the Irish form of an Anglo or biblical name.
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I don't care for Shelagh.I do like Aisling though.
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