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Popularity of the baby name Grainne


Posts that mention the name Grainne

The revival of Irish names in Ireland

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

I discovered the RTÉ Radio 1 documentary One Hundred Years of Names (2009) a long time ago. Finally I’ve had a chance to listen to the entire 40-minute program.

It’s pretty good — I like how it tells the story of how Irish names have been revived in Ireland.

Because, back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Irish names were not being used in Ireland, at least not officially. I think this fact would surprise a lot of people. The vast majority of children were given non-Irish names (e.g., Katherine, Rose, John) though some did use the Irish versions of their names in everyday life.

Around the 1930s, a handful Irish names (e.g., Seán, Séamus) began gaining traction. This was thanks to the efforts of those trying to revive Irish such as Éamon de Valera, who later became president of Ireland. (Éamon’s wife, born in 1878, went by Sinéad but was officially a Jane.)

The use of Irish names increased, little by little, over the next few decades.

With the 1970s came a lot more name variety, thanks to Gerard Slevin’s 1974 revision of Rev. Patrick Woulfe’s 1923 book Irish Names for Children. An Irish genealogist interviewed in the documentary said this revision was “quite influential, it was probably the only book on bookshelves at that time on Irish names.”

Since the 1990s, both the popularity and the variety of Irish names in Ireland have continued to increased. The narrator of the documentary summed it up well when she said that, nowadays, “names like Deirdre, Róisín, Gráinne are so familiar, we’d nearly forget they’re revived names.”

Interesting stuff, no?

The documentary is worth a listen if you’re a fan of Irish names. Or if you simply want to hear some Irish name pronunciations, as a bunch of Irish names — Cian (kee-an), Aoife (ee-fa), Ciara (kee-ra), Caoimhe (kwee-va), Niamh (nee-av), Saoirse (sir-sha), Sadhbh (sive), Róisín (ro-sheen), Aoibhinn/Aoibheann (ee-veen), etc. — are mentioned about 10 minutes in.

If you listen, let me know how you like it!

Image: Adapted from Cliffs of Moher 3 by Carogonmu under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How to pronounce Irish names: Aoife, Cian, Niamh, Oisín

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Most of the names popular in Ireland today — names like Jack, Sarah, Adam and Emma — are easy to pronounce. But others can be tricky for non-Irish-speakers to decipher.

So, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, here are some (rough) pronunciations of various popular Irish names like Aoife, Cian, Niamh and Cillian. Those that have popped up at least once in the U.S. data are linked to their U.S. popularity graphs.

Irish Girl Names

  • Ailbhe is pronounced AL-va.
  • Aine (Áine) is pronounced AWN-ya.
  • Aisling is pronounced ASH-ling or ASH-lin.
  • Aoibhe is pronounced EE-va.
  • Aoibheann is pronounced EE-vin.
  • Aoife is pronounced EE-fa.
  • Cadhla is pronounced KIE-la.
  • Caoilfhionn is pronounced KEE-lin or KWEE-lin.
  • Caoimhe is pronounced KEE-va or KWEE-va.
  • Ciara is pronounced KEE-ra.*
  • Clodagh is pronounced KLOH-da.
  • Croia (Croía) is pronounced KREE-a.
  • Eabha (Éabha) is pronounced EY-va.
  • Eimear is pronounced EE-mer.
  • Eithne is pronounced EHN-ya (just like Enya).
  • Fiadh is pronounced FEE-a.
  • Grainne (Gráinne) is pronounced GRAWN-ya.
  • Laoise is pronounced LEE-sha.
  • Liadan (Líadan) is pronounced LEE-uh-din or LEE-din.
  • Meabh (Méabh) is pronounced mayv.
  • Niamh is pronounced neev or NEE-iv.
  • Roisin (Róisín) is pronounced ROH-sheen.
  • Sadhbh is pronounced siev (rhymes with the number “five”).
  • Saoirse is pronounced SEER-sha or SAYR-sha.
  • Sinead (Sinéad) is pronounced shi-NAYD.
  • Siobhan (Siobhán) is pronounced shi-VAWN (similar to “chiffon”) or shi-WAN.
  • Siofra (Síofra) is pronounced SHEE-fra.

Irish Boy Names

  • Cathal is pronounced KAH-hul.
  • Cian is pronounced KEE-an or keen.*
  • Ciaran (Ciarán) is pronounced KEE-ran.*
  • Cillian is pronounced KIL-ee-an.*
  • Daithi (Dáithí) is pronounced DAH-hee.
  • Domhnall is pronounced DOH-nul.
  • Donnacha is pronounced DUN-uh-ka or DUN-uh-kha (the kh represents a guttural H-sound).
  • Éanna is pronounced EY-na.
  • Eoghan is pronounced OH-in.
  • Eoin is pronounced OH-in.
  • Fionn is pronounced fyun or fyoon.
  • Odhran (Odhrán) is pronounced OH-rawn.
  • Oisin (Oisín) is pronounced UH-sheen or OH-sheen.
  • Padraig (Pádraig) is pronounced PAW-rik or PAW-drig.
  • Páidí is pronounced PAW-dee.
  • Rian (Rían) is pronounced REE-an.
  • Ruairi (Ruairí) is pronounced ROR-ee.
  • Seamus (Séamus) is pronounced SHAY-mus.
  • Sean (Seán) is pronounced shawn.
  • Senan (Senán) is pronounced sheh-NAWN.
  • Tadhg is pronounced tieg (like the first three letters of “tiger”).

*In Irish, C’s are always hard (i.e., they make a K-sound, not an S-sound).

Please keep in mind that these pronunciations may not cover all dialects of Irish.

What other Irish names do you have a hard time pronouncing?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Cliffs of Moher 3 by Carogonmu under CC BY-SA 4.0.

[Latest update: Feb. 2024]