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I actually think "actively discouraged" is too weak -- I believe it was positively illegal during the 18th century for names from the Gaelic language to be given as official forms. In fact, before the English banned "Irish" names, it was rare for Irish men to be named Patrick (or Padraig) because St. Patrick was considered too sacred to name a child after. Ironically, Patrick only became a common name in Ireland because the English accepted it as a legal name because it was derived from Latin and had a normal English form.