some names that I have been asked to translate. These are not
technically translatable into Irish, but sometimes you can create modern
versions of names. Sometimes it's just impossible to find a name that
matches. Foreign names got translated into Irish when they were brought
to Ireland by foreigners, namely, Vikings, Norman and English settlers,
and Missionaries. Many translatable names are biblical, such as John,
James, etc. Others were just extremely common among settlers, or were
the names of Kings or other important figures. That is why not all names
work in Gaelic. Names that were coined since the Middle Ages generally
do not translate into Irish Gaelic.
Alexis, Alexia, Lexi, etc.
These are all feminine
forms of Alexander. In Irish, Alexander is Alastar or Alusdrann.
In Scottish Gaelic, the feminine form is Alastriona (there is no
equivalent in Irish). This would work in Irish Gaelic as well. Alastríona
is pronounced /al iss TREE uh na/
Alfie started out life as a pet form of the name Alfred. However,
it could also be considered a short form of Alphonsus, which was rendered
Anlón in Irish. Another way to "translate" Alfie
would be to find a name that sounds similar in Irish (this has been done
for centuries the other way around, with Sorchas becoming Sarahs and Donnachadhs
becoming Dennises and Daniels on documents). Ailbhe /AH'eel v'yeh/
is the best contender for that. Another thing you could do is take the
Norman surname Avery, which is an old French form of Alfred. In Ireland,
this surname became: Aimhréidh /AH vuh ree/. You could also
simply spell the name out phonetically in Irish, which would give you
Ailfí /AHL uh fee/.
Alvin was never translated into Irish, so... you could try to spell Alvin out in Irish Gaelic, which would give you something like:
Ailbhín /AL uh veen/ or Ailbheán /AL uh vawn/. Actually, those would totally work as a real Irish name-- there is a name, Ailbhe, and the endings -ín and -án are normal diminutive forms!
Alyssa is a modern form of Alice, a form of the obscure Germanic name
Adelheidis. In Irish Alice is Ailís, which is pronounced /AH leesh/.
In Latin, Amanda means "worthy of being loved." It is also sometimes translated
as "beloved." While Amanda has never been translated into Irish, There
are a couple of Irish names with sort of the same meaning:
yul) means "beautiful; beloved", Caomhóg (KEEV oag)-
beautiful, beloved girl, Caoimhseach (KEEV
shoch)--beautiful, beloved girl. You could also use an
Irish name that sounds similar to Amanda, like Áine /AWN
yeh/, Or, you could try to spell out Amanda phonetically in Irish, which
would give you something like: Ámanda /AW man da/.
In Irish, the word for amber (the stone) is ómra (OH muh ra). The word for the color amber is ómrach (OHM uh rakh). Neither of these are used as names in Irish, but you could always start a trend!
Amelia was originally a form of Amalia, which is a Latinized form of Germanic names beginning with -amal, meaning "work." However, it is often confused with Emilia, from where
we get the name Emily. Because of this, you could use the Irish form Eimíle /EM eel eh/.
This name comes from Latin, meaning "beloved." It was never directly translated
into Irish, but there are a few names that mean "beloved." See
Amanda for a list of these. You could also spell it
out phonetically in Irish; something like Éimí.
Andrea is a feminine
form of Andrew-- Andrew in Irish is Anndras, Aindréas, Aindriú,
or Aindreas. There isn't really a feminine form, but you could make one...
Aindréa /ANN dray a/ or Aindria /ANN dree a/.
Annelise, Annalise, Annaliese, Annalies, Analise etc.
Anneliese is a German/Dutch name originally-- a combination of Anna + Liese (short form of Elisabeth). In Irish, Anna is Ánna and Elisabeth is Éilís, so Ánna-Éilís would work, or you could spell it out phonetically which would give you something like Ánnailís /AH na leesh/.
In Irish Gaelic, the month of April is: Aibreán /AH bah rawn/.
Ashleigh is an English surname. It can't be translated into Irish. It
means "from the ash-tree meadow". there isn't an Irish name with the same
meaning. You could try to spell it out phonetically in Irish, like Aisilí /ASH lee/,
or you could use a similar-sounding name, like Aisling or
Aislinn /ASH leeng/. Both of the latter names mean "dream; vision"
Audrey started out as a pet form of the Old English name Aethelthryth, which means "noble strength." Although there was a St. Audrey, there is no Irish version that I can find. You can use a name with an equivalent meaning, such as Uasal /OO uh sul/ ("noble"), or Treasa /TRA sa/ ("Strength"). Or, you could pick a name that sounds similar, like Aoidhnait /AY nit/, Áine /AWN yeh/, or Aithche /AH heh/. Or, you just could spell it out phonetically in Irish: Áidrí /AW eh dree/.
Austin is an anglicization of the Irish forms of the name Augustine, which are Aibhstín /AV uh shteen/ and Oistín /USH teen/.
In Irish, Autumn is
Fómhar (FO wur). This is just the word for the season, it's
not used as a name in Ireland, but hey it wasn't used as a name in English
either until relatively recently, so why not?
Ava is from one of two origins: either it's a form of Eve/Eva, in which case you could use the Irish for Eve, which is: Eábha /AW va/ or /YAW va/ or Éabha /AY uh va/. This last one would probably work best. Ava was also a pet form of names beginning with the German prefix avi- which means, perhaps, "desire." In this vein, you could use the name Eibhilín /EV uh leen/ /EH leen/.
The name Maolbheannachta is often anglicized Benedict.
Benjamin's translation was never used as a first name in Ireland, rather it was only used for the character in the bible. It is: Biniáimin /BIN yah min/.
If you want a more name-like name, you could use Beirichtir or Beiricheart, which is the name of an Anglo-Saxon saint who settled in Ireland in the 9th century. His name has been anglicized Benjamin, though the names have no etymological connection.
is most often found as simply Bernadette in Ireland. However, I have
seen the name Bearnáirdín used as a feminine of Bernard. It is
pronounced /BAR nar deen/.
I think about the only thing you could do is spell it out phonetically,
like Bebheairlí (would sound kind of like BEV yar lee).
Other than that, being an English surname meaning "beaver stream"
or something like that, I'm afraid, I can't come up with anything close
Brad is an English name, originally a short form of English surnames like Bradley and Bradford. It was never translated into Irish. "Brad" itself is an Irish word, but it's a vocabulary word meaning "spirited." There is a name derived from this word, though: Bradach /BRAD ukh/.
In Irish, Brandy is Branda. It means the drink brandy and isn't really a name in Irish, but Brandy wasn't used as a name in English until recently, so maybe you'll start a trend!
Brenda, contrary to what a lot of baby name books say, is actually from
a Norse name meaning 'sword.' However, because of its similarity to the
name Brendan, many people think that it's an Irish feminine form of Brendan.
Unfortunately, in Irish, there is no feminine form of Brendan! In Irish
Gaelic, Brendan is Breandán or Breannain. I suppose you could spell Brenda
"Breanda," to look more like the Irish form of Brendan.
I think I've seen this before; it's a modern interpretation.You could
also stick a feminine suffix to the root "Brean" and make Breannait
/BRAN nit/ or Breannóg /BRAN oag/.
Briana, Brianna, Bryanna, Breonna, Breana etc.
Brianna et al. is a feminine form of Brian. in Irish, Brian is Brion. To make a feminine form, you could add an -a and make Bríona or Bríana (BREE uh na). Or, you could use a similar name: Brígh (BREE) and Bríd (BREEJ) are both traditional Irish names that come from the same root word (Brí, meaning "high; noble"). Bríd is the Irish name of one of the three patron saints of Ireland (Patrick, Brendan & Brigid, which is Bríd in Irish)
Brittany is the English name for the region of France called Bretagne.
In Breton, the native language (which is also a Celtic language), it is
called Breizh. In Irish, this place is called An Bhriotin (thanks,
Daniel von Brighoff for the info!). The "an" part is the article
"the Brittany," so you could just use Bhriotin /VRIH
tin/. You could use the name Proinnséas (PRUN shis) as an approximate
translation. This is the Irish form of Frances, which means "a French
In Ireland, the surname Ó Brollacháin is sometimes anglicized Brodie or Brody. The first name form of this would be Brollachán /BRULL uh khawn/.
Brooke, Brook, Brooks
In Irish, the word for Brook is Sruthán. It is pronounced like /SRUH hawn/. Not very melodious, but there you go! You could use a native
Irish name that sounds similar, like Brocc (BRUCK) -- this is a man's name, though, meaning "sharp-faced" or "badger" or Brughach (BROO akh) - again, a mans' name meaning "rich in lands." The slosest sounding woman's name would be Brónach /BRO nakh/ meaning "sorrowful" or Bearrach /B'YAR akh/ meaning "freckled."
Though this was never used as a name for anyone outside the character in the bible, in Irish, Caleb is Cálaeb (KAWL eb).
Cameron is a Scottish surname meaning "crooked nose." In Scottish Gaelic,
and according to one source I have it became Cumarán /KUM a rawn/ in Irish.
Candace is an Ethiopian name meaning, perhaps, "white, pure or
glowing." It is translated in the Irish language bible I have as Candacae, which looks kind of weird, and truthfully, I'm not sure how to pronounce it, maybe /KON uh da kye/. You could also
spell it out phonetically in Irish-- it would be something like Candais
/KON uh dish/.
Carrie, Cari, Carol
Carrie was originally a pet form of Caroline. Carol was originally a short
form of Caroline. Caroline is a feminine form of Charles. You could use
a feminine form of Charles to translate Carrie. This would be Searlait
/SHAR lat/ (via the French name Charlotte).
Casey, Kacey, Kaci, Casie etc.
Casey is an anglicization of the Irish surname Ó Cathasaigh. The forename form of this is Cathasach /KAH ha sakh/.
This is technically a man's name, but Casey was originally used for boys anyway, so if Casey is a girl, I suppose this would work as well.
You could use the Irish
word for "chase" (the noun as in "the thrill of the chase"),
which would be Tóir or Fiach... you could use the
name Fiachra, which is unrelated to the word for chase ("fiach"
can mean other things as well). Or, you could juset try to spell Chase
out phonetically in Gaelic, which would be something like Séas
/SHAY us/ (there is no CH sound in Irish).
Cheryl is a modern name, based on names like Sharon and Carol. It cannot
be translated into Irish. However, you can translate Carol into Irish--it's
a feminine form of Charles. See Carrie (right above this entry) for more
Claire, Clare, Clair
Claire comes from the Latin clarus, which means "famous." however,
it is often confused with the French word "clair," meaning "light." Because
of this, it was sometimes used to anglicize the Irish name Sorcha,
which means "light." The Irish county name, Clare is an unrelated word.
This is an anglicization of the Irish an Clár, meaning "a plain;
Claudia is from Latin meaning "lame," and has never been
translated into Irish. The best you can do it to spell it out phonetically
in Irish: Cládaí /CLAW dee/ or possibly Cládaíghia /CLAW dee h'ya/ (you can't really spell out an -ia ending very well, and
this second one is a little awkward and unwieldy) or you could use a native
Irish name that sounds similar, like Clodach (CLO dakh), which
is the name of a river that is also used as a girl's name. In English
it is spelled Clodagh and is pronounced (CLOH daw).
Chloe is from Greek, meaning "blooming." In Irish, there are two names
that mean "blossom; bloom": Scoth and Scoithnait. They are
pronounced /SKUH/ and /SKUH nit/. You could also try to spell it out phonetically
in Gaelic, which would give you something like Clóighí /KLO hee/.
Cody is an Irish surname. In Irish, it is spelled Mac Óda, which means "son of Óda." You could use this form, or just Óda, since that is the first name form.
In Irish, there is a word "cora." It's not a name; it means "salmon weir." Not terribly poetic, I know! It's pronounced more like "curra." The name Cora was actually invented by James Fenimore Cooper for his novel "Last of the Mohicans"-- as such it has never been translated into Irish. JF Cooper probably based the name on the Greek Kore meaning "maiden"-- you could use another name meaning something similar to translate. Colleen comes to mind-- this name isn't used in Ireland as it is an anglicization of the word "cailín", which means "girl," but Colleen is used in most other English-speaking countries. Also: Ainnir ("young woman"), Femhe ("girl"). If you were to spell the name out in Irish, it would probably be Córa /KOE ra/.
Corey, Corrie, Cori
Corrie/Corry is an anglicization of the Irish surnames Mac Gothraidh
, Ó Comhraí, Ó Comhraidhe, and Ó Corra. Gothraigh ("Godfrey")
/GUH ree/, Comhrai(dh) /KAH ree/ or /KOW ree/, and Corra ("spear")
/KUR ra/ are all first names, though all male. You could probably use
any of these, though you may want to feminize them. Gothrait /GUR
it/ for Godfrey seems to work best.
Courtney is used as an anglicization of the Norman surname de Courtenai.
If you want a true Irish name, though, it is also used as an anglicization
of the Irish surnames Cuirnán /KWER nawn/ (possibly means "drinking
horn"--more commonly anglicized Curnane) and Mac Cuarta/Mac Cuirt /mac
KUU art a/ , /mac KOORSHT/ (also anglicized McCourt).
As a name, Crystal is simply the English word 'crystal,' or clear,
colorless glass. In Irish, the word for glass is gloine. Since
this is not actually a name in Ireland, you could use Cristíona,
the form of Christina, since much of Crystal's popularity comes from the
fact that it fits in with all of the Kristin/Christine/Christie names.
In Scotland, Cristal was also used as a pet form for Christopher. Or,
you could use the Irish vocabulary word for 'crystal,' which is Criostal.
Curtis comes from an
Old French surname which means "courteous." Curt is a short
form of this, or else it can be a variation of the German name Kurt. Kurt
is a short form of Konrad, which comes from germanic elements meaning
"bold" and "counsel." Kurt/Konrad was never translated
into Irish, but Curtis was brought to Ireland by the Normans, where it
was rendered de Cuirtéis /deh COOR taysh/. You could use
Cuirtéis as the Irish form.
Cynthia means "woman of Kynthos" in Greek. Cynthia was an
epithet of the Greek moon goddess Artemis, given because Kynthos was the
mountain on Delos on which she and her twin brother Apollo were born.
Artemis's counterpart in Roman mythology was DIANA. Diana is a Roman name
meaning, perhaps "goddess." This name has never been translated
into Irish, but you could use the name Bríd (Brigid), perhaps.
This name was originally a Celtic goddess, and means perhaps "high
goddess." So, basically, in an extremely roundabout way, you could
perhaps use "Bríd."
Danielle is a French feminine form of the name Daniel, which in Hebrew
means "God will judge" or something like that. In Irish, Daniel is Daniél.
While there is no accepted feminine form of Daniel in Irish, you could
make a feminine form by adding the suffix "ín" and make Daniélín
(DON yell een).
Darlene is a modern 20th century names that was coined based on the
word "darling,' modelled on Charlene, Marlene etc. It doesn't have
an exact translation. However, you could do a couple of different things:
1. spell it out phonetically in Irish-- that would be Dairlín
(pronounced DAR uh leen). "Dair" means "oak tree,"
so that might be a nice connection. Just make sure you pronounce it DAHR
and not DAWWR. (this distincion isn't always easy to make, depending on
where you're from. If you pronounced the names DON and DAWN differently,
make sure you don't pronounce the A in 'dair" like the AW in 'Dawn",
because that means "to be in heat" particularly in cows! If
you pronounce DON and DAWN the same, you're probably OK.
2. Choose an Irish name that sounds similar as an equivalent. this has
been done in reverse for hundreds of years, where native Irish names became
"translated" as names the English could pronounce more easily,
even though the names are not etymologically connected. Some names that
would work for Darlene would be: Dairine (DAWR in yeh), Daimhín
(DAHV een), or perhaps Doireann (DAHR an).
3. Since Darlene was invented based on the word "darling," you
could use an Irish word that means the same thing. There are a bunch of
terms of endearment that mean about the equivalent of 'darling' - Leannán
(LYAH nawn), a stór (ah STORE), a rún (ah
ROON), mo chroí (muh KREE) etc.
Darin was never translated into Irish; it wasn't used as a first name
until the 20th century in English even. We're not sure where the name
comes from-- its popularity stems mainly from the actor Darren McGavin
(b. 1922) and then from its use as the main male character on the 1960s
tv series Bewitched. At any rate, you could Irishize it as Darán
/DAR awn/, which would mean "little oak tree." Dara itself (the
word for 'oak tree') is used sometimes as a name in Ireland, as is names
derived from this word, such as Dáire and Dáirine.
In Irish, Dawn is not used as a name. However, the vocabulary word for
'dawn; daybreak' is: camhaoir /CAH weer/.
In Irish, Dean is Déaghán,/JAY hawn/ meaning, literally, "a dean."
Deborah comes from a Hebrew word meaning "bee." There is no name in Irish
with this meaning, but Deborah has traditionally used to anglicize the
Irish name Gobnait. Gobnait means "smith," and is pronounced GUB
You could also use the form in the Irish language bible, which is Deaborá /DA bor aw/.
This was never used as a name in Irish, rather just for the character in the bible, but it would be the "correct" form of the name.
This is a French feminine form of Den(n)is, which is derived from the
Greek god name Dionysus. There is no direct translation of this name into
Irish. However, if you want to stretch it a bit...Dionysus was the Greek
god of wine. In Irish, the name Fíne (FEE neh) means "wine." You
could also spell it out phonetically in Irish: Denís (DEN
The name Derrick is sometimes used to translate the Irish surname Ó Deirg. thus, you could use Deirg /DEH rig/. This name just means "red."
Destiny is a word that has only been in use as a name for about 100 years
or so. As a word, it's not a name in Ireland. "Destiny" in Irish
is Fáil. You could create a modern name by adding an ending to
Fáil: Fáilín (FAW eh leen), Fáilnait (FAW el nit)
Diana is a Roman name meaning, perhaps "goddess." Diane is a French form.
This name has never been translated into Irish, but you could use the
name Bríd /BREEJ/ (Brigid), perhaps. This name was originally
a Celtic goddess, and means perhaps "high goddess."
You could also use a the name Dianaimh /DJEE uh niv/, which looks similar and means "flawless."
Donna is an Italian word meaning "lady." In Scotland, it sometimes is
used as a feminine form of Donald (in Gaelic: Domhnall). A feminine form
of Donald in Scottish Gaelic is Doileag, pronounced DOLL-ik. In
Irish, there is no feminine equivalent of Domhnall, which is usually anglicized
Donal. You could use Dónailín, perhaps. The problem with adding
the modern "in" to male names to make female versions, is that
"in" is also used for men. For example, Seán is a boys' name,
and Seainín means "Johnny." Donailin may mean "Donnie."
You could try another feminine suffix, like -aid (Donalaid).
Dora, Dorothea, Dottie,
The name Dairinn
(DARR in) has traditionally been translated as Dorothy. The other names
are all variations of this name.
Drew started out life
as a Scottish short form of Andrew. One form of Andrew in Irish is Aindriú,
so Driú would work well for this.
In Irish, Duncan is Donnchadh (also can be spelled Donncha or Donnacha) and is pronounced /DUN nikh a/. The normal Irish anglicization is Donough, while in Scotland the same name was rendered Duncan. It means "Brown lord" probably implying a swarthy complexion or brown hair.
Dylan is a Welsh name-- it is very ancient, and the meaning is disputed.
Part of the name probably means "sea." There are several names in Irish
that mean "sea," or have that as an element. A few are:
- Murchú (MUR khoo),
"hound of the sea.": Murphy
- Murchadh (MIR a kha),
"sea battler": Murrough
- Muiríos (MIR ees),
- Muirín (MIR een),
"born of the sea": -
However, if you spell the
name Dillon, it's a different matter altogether. Dillon is an Irish
surname which originally was the Norman surname deLeon. This name may mean
"from Lyons" (place in France), or refer to lions or a personal name. The
Irish form of Dillon is Diolun.
Elaine is an Old French form of Helen, which is often said to mean "light" (though it's probably closer to something like "torch").
Helen in Irish is Léan /LAY un/ or Léana /LAY uh na/, though traditionally the name Eibhlínn has been used to anglicize Helen because of a similar sound (they have no etymological connection).
In the Irish language bible, Elijah is Éilias /AY lee us/.
However, this was never used for regular people in Ireland, just for the biblical figure. Elias is a Greek form of Elijah. Elijah was also used as an English equivalent of the irish name Oillil /ILL yel/. Though this has no etymological connection, Oillil has a historical connection to the name Elijah.
Elise is a French form of Elizabeth. In Irish, Elizabeth is Éilís
(pronounced /AY leesh/).
Ella is a Norman form of the Germanic name Alia, which comes from
an element meaning "other; foreigner." Because of this, you
might translate is as Bairbre /BAR breh/, which is the form of
Barbara, which is Greek for "stranger." However, Ella can also
be thought of as a form of Ellen or Eleanor, or a short form of things
containing "ella" like Arabella, Isabella etc. So... you could
use the form of Ellen in Irish, which is technically Léan
(LAY un) or Léana (LAY uh na). However, because it sounds
similar, people have been using the name Eibhlín (EV uh
leen or I leen) to translate Ellen. You could use the form of Eleanor
in Irish, which is Eileanóra (ILL ya NO ra), Eileanór
(ILL ya nor), or Aileanóra (al ya NOR a). You could also
use the form of Isabella, which is Sibéal (shuh BALE). Or,
you could use Éilís (AY leesh), which is the form
of Elizabeth, but Isabella is an Italian form of Elizabeth, so it all
sort of works in a roundabout way. Or, you could try to spell it out phonetically
in Irish, which would make it something kind of awkward like Ealla
(Yalla or Alla), Éalla (AY uh la) Ellea or Ellia
(EL yah). You could also use an unrelated Irish name that sounds similar
to Ella: Éile (AIL yeh), which was the name of a legendary
Although Emma is an unrelated name, you could use the form of Emily: Eimíle
(EMM eel eh). You could also try to spell it out phonetically in Gaelic:
Éama (AY uh ma). You could also use an unrelated Irish name
that sounds similar: Emer (EE mur). This name is quite common in
Ireland, and cal also be rendered Éimhear (AYV ur).
Erica is the feminine form of Erik, a Norse name meaning "one ruler."
It can't be directly translated into Irish. However, in Scottish Gaelic,
it was used as an anglicization of Oighrig, an old name with obscure
origins. Erica's popularity also stems from the fact the Erica
is the genus to which the Heather plant belongs. Because of this, you
could also use a translation for Heather (see
Ethan is a Hebrew name, borne by a minor character in the bible. In the Irish language bible, it is rendered Éatán /AY ah tawn/.
Evan is a Welsh form of John. In Irish, John is either Seán (SHAWN) or Eoin (OH in). The name Éimhín
(AY veen) (meaning "prompt; ready") has sometimes been anglicized Evin, so you could use this as well. Éimhín was also used for girls, so if you're translating a female Evan (it's occasionally found as a girls' name) , this would be the way to go.
In irish, Faith isn't
used as a name. But then, it wasn't a name in English until relatively
recently in naming history, so who cares? Anyway, the word for 'faith'
in Irish is: creideamh /KREH d'yav/ (this is more the sense of
religion or beliefs; comes from the Latin credo) or muinín
/M'WIN yeen/ (this means more to trust or have confidence in).
Felicia was never translated into Irish, but... Felicia is the feminine form of Felix, which was often used to translate the name Féidhlim (FAY lim). This name was also used for women. So, I guess Féidhlim is about the closest you can come!
Gabrielle, Gabriel(l)a, Gaby
Though Gabriel has a form in Irish (Gaibrial), it never garnered a feminine form. This is probably
because while there was a St. Gabriel (the Archangel), there was never a saint Gabriela. Oh well, we can attempt to make a feminine form. The standard modern feminine -ín ending would give you Gaibriailín /GA bree al een/, which is kind of awkward and unwieldy, though. Maybe Gaibrín /GA breen/ or Gaibriála /gab ree AW la/ would work better.
Gail, Gale, Gayle,
The closest I can come for Gale is Abigeál (AB ih gyal). Gale was
originally a pet form of Abigail that caught on as a name on its own.
As a first name, Gary started as an American phenomenon. It probably came
about with the popularity of the actor Gary Cooper, who changed his name
from Frank at the suggestion of his agent, a native of Gary, Indiana.
The Indiana town probably got its name from an English settler--as an
English surname, Gary may be derived from the first name Gerald or Gerard.
Because of this, you may use the Irish for Gerard, Gearoid (GAR
id) as a translation. However, In Ireland, Gary is a surname that is an
anglicization of the Irish surname Mag Fhearadhaigh (Son of Fearadhach).
Fearadhach (FAR akh) would also work as a translation.
Gerry, Gerri, Geri,
Gerri (for a girl) in Irish would be Gearoidín. (Gerri was
originally a pet form of Geraldine, although it's used on its own now).
For a boy, Gerry/Jerry would be Gearoid (Gerard) or Gearalt
Glenn started out life as an English surname, possibly stemming from the
Gaelic word "gleann," meaning "valley." In Irish and Scottish Gaelic,
this is not a name, simply a word. It's pronounced glyan.
This Puritan virtue name was often used to translate the Irish name Gráinne.
This name is pronounced GRAWN yeh, and may stem from an ancient word for
"grain" (indicating fertility). It is also anglicized Grania.
Graham/Graeme was used as an anglicization of the Irish surname Ó Gréacháin. You could use Greachán /GRAY uh khawn/ as the forename form.
Gretchen is a German pet form of Margaret. In Irish, Margaret is Mairéad
(mar ADE). A pet form of Mairéad is Peig (PEG) or Peigín
(PEG een) .
Gwen is a Welsh word meaning "white; holy; blessed; pure; fair-haired;
beautiful." It is an element in many Welsh names (i.e., Bronwen,
Gwenfor, Guenivere, Gwenith etc.). Gwen is the feminine form, while Gwyn
is the masculine form. In Irish, "fionn" is a word with approximately
the same meaning. Feminine forms of Fionn are Fionnait (FYUN it),
Finnseach (FIN shakh), and Finneacht (FIN yukht).
Masculine forms are: Fionn (FEE-un or F'YUN, anglicized Finn),
Fionnán (F'YUN awn, anglicized Finian), and Fionnagán
(F'YUNN a gawn, anglicized Finegan). Gwendolen is a combination of
Gwen + dolen, which means 'ring.' In Irish, the name Fáinne
(FAWN yeh) means 'ring.' as well.
Harrison means "son of Harry" and Harry is a medieval short form of Henry, so... Harrison would be Mac Éinrí (literally, "son of Henry"). Harris, which is another form of the same name would be the same.
Hayley and Haley; Haylee etc. are all from the English surname Haley/Haly,
which comes from Old English words meaning 'hay' and 'meadow; clearing;
field.' As such, Haley isn't translatable into Irish. However, the name
Haly was sometimes used in Ireland to anglicize the surnames Ó
hÉalaighthe ("ingenious") and Ó hÉilidhe
("claimant"), which are more commonly anglicized Healey. The
first name forms of these would be Éalaigh /AY uh lee/ and
Éilidh /AY lee/. You could also use Èilidh,
which is a fairly common name in Scottish Gaelic (unrelated to the others)...
it rhymes with Haylee (AY lee).
In Irish, Hazel is "coll" (that's literally the word for the hazel tree). It's not used as a name in Irish, but neither was Hazel used in English until relatively recently in naming history. Start a trend!
Heather is a plant native to Ireland, Scotland and many other areas of
the world. in Irish, this plant is Fraoch (FRAYKH), which is actually
a man's name in Irish. However, there is a feminine form, Fraochnait /FRAYKH nat/. See also Erica.
Heidi is a German nickname for Adelheid, which comes from Adelheidis,
which in old French became Alice, which is Ailís in Irish. So
in a roundabout way, In Irish, Heidi is Ailís (AH leesh).
Hillary, Hilary, Ilario, Ilaria, Hilario
Hillary et. al. all come from the Latin name Hilarius, which means "cheerful." In Irish, this name was rendered Eláir /el AHR/.
The word for "holly" (the plant) in Irish is cúileann (KOO lyan).
While this word isn't actually used as a name in Irish, I don't see why
it couldn't! If people can be named Holly in English, why not Cúileann
in Irish? But anyway, if you would like an actual name, there are several
surnames derived from the word for holly. See Leslie
for a list of these. You could also go another route, and use Nollaig,
which is the word for "Christmas." Since holly is traditionally associated
with Christmas, this might be a way to choose a bona fide name with a
Or, you could try to spell Holly out phonetically in Irish, which would give you something like Háilí /HAW lee/.
Since Hope is simply an English vocabulary word used as a name, the translation in Irish would be Dóchas /DOE khus/. You could also use Dúil /DOO il/. Neither of these are used as names in ireland, but Hope wasn't used as a name until comparatively recently in English anyway! You could also just spell Hope out phonetically in Irish, which would give you something like Hóp, but that's kind of awkward. There are only a handful of Irish words that start with H and most of them have been borrowed from other languages.
Irene is not translatable directly into Irish. However, you can translate
by meaning. Irene comes from a Greek name meaning "peace." In
Irish, the name Síomhaith or Síomha means "good peace."
Both are pronounced SHEE-va. Or,
you could spell Irene phonetically In irish, which would give you Irín
/IH reen/, Írín /EE reen/ or Érín
In the Irish language bible, Isaiah is Íseáia /ee SAW ya/.
However, this was never used for regular people in Ireland, just for the biblical figure.
Jacqueline is a French
feminine form of Jacques, which in English is James or Jacob. In Irish,
these names are translated as Séamus. However, there isn't
really a feminine form of this. Many feminine forms of masculine names
add the suffix ín, but this is also a masculine diminutive,
thus making Séamaisín the equivalent of "Jimmy"
or "Jake." Since a lot of modern female names use this form
despite the masculine origins (just like Jamie is also a woman's name),
you could go with this form anyway. Or, you could further feminize it
into Séamaisíona (shay mush EE na), which is a little
awkward, but could work. You
could also try to spell it out phonetically in Irish, which would give
you something like Seacailín or Siacailín
/SHAK uh leen/.
In the Irish language bible, Jacob is Iacób /YAH kobe/.
However, this was never used for regular people in Ireland, just for the biblical figure.
However, Latin for Jacob is Iacomus, which made it to English as James. This in turn became Séamus in Irish.
Jamie, Jaime, Jami, Jaymie etc.
These are all nicknames that are derived from James. So, if Jamie is a boy, you could use Séamus /SHAY mus/. However, Jamie is often used for girls these days, and Séamus is definitely a male name in Ireland. You could use the diminutive form, Seamaisín /SHAY mush een/ for a girl, possibly, though this was normally used for boys as well. However, in modern Irish, the suffix -ín is often added to male names to make them feminine. You could spell just Jamie out phonetically in Irish as well: Séimí /SHAY mee/.
These are modern forms of the name Jane. In Irish, Jane is Síne /SHEE na/.
In the Irish language bible, Jared is Iárad /YAR ud/.
However, this was never used for regular people in Ireland, just for the biblical figure.
In Irish, the word for the Jasmine flower is Seasmain /SHAS mun/.
The name Jason was never directly translated into Irish. However, there are a couple of Jasons in the Bible. In the Irish language bible, this name is translated in one place as Iásón /YAW sone/ and in another as Iasón /YAH sone/.
These names were never used for actual people outside of the bible, simply as translations of biblical figures, but it still works.
Jaydon, Jaden, Jaedan
This is a modern name that has no Irish equivalent. You can use an Irish
name that sounds similar: Aodán /AY dawn/, /EE dawn/ or spell it out
in Irish: Séadan /SHAY dun/ (there's no letter "j"
Jeanine, Janet, Jeannine,
Janine, Jeanette, Jeannette, Janette, Ginette etc.
Jeanine is a French feminine form of Jean (French for John), a diminutive
of Jeanne. In Irish, Jeanne is Siobhán /shih VAWN/ or Síne
/SHEE neh/. Jeannette became Sinéad /shih NADE/ in Irish.
Though this was never used as a name for anyone outside the character in the bible, in Irish, Jemima is Imíomá (im EE uh ma).
Jennifer is a Cornish form of the Welsh name Gwynhwyfar. In English, we
also know this name as Guenivere, King Arthur's queen. The cognate of this name in Irish is Fionnuir.
Jeremy is an English form of the Hebrew Jeremiah. It means "appointed
by God." While this name was never directly translated into Irish, it
was often used to anglicize the name Diarmaid. Diarmaid/Diarmuid
(DEER mid) is an Irish name with an uncertain meaning. It may stem from
words meaning "free from envy," or "charioteer." It is often anglicized
In the Irish language Bible, Jesse is Ieise /YESH eh/. This was never used as a name in Ireland, simply for the translation of the person in the bible, but there it is.
This name was first coined by William Shakespeare in his play The Merchant
of Venice. It is based on the Hebrew name Iscah, which is translated inthe Irish language bible as Iscea
Joanne may be an English form of Johanna, the feminine form of the
German name Johann. Johann is a form of John. A feminine form of John
in Irish is Siobhán /shih VAWN/.
Jody, Jodi, Jodie
While digging up an origin for Jodi, I found that, although it is used
as a name by itself nowadays, it started out as a nickname for Judith.
In Irish, Judith has been used to "translate" the names Síle
and Siobhán. The first is pronounced /SHEE la/. and the second
is /shi VAWN/.
Jonas is the Greek form
of the Hebrew name Yonah, which means "dove." Jonah is an English
form. You could use the Irish name Colm (CULL um) to translate
this: it comes from the Latin name Columba, which means "dove."
Otherwise, you could spell Jonah/Jonas out phonetically in Irish. Since
there is no letter J in Irish, it would be something like Seóna/Seónas
(SHO na/SHO nas) or Ióna/Iónas (YO na/Yo nas).
The surname Jordan was brought to Ireland by a Norman family sometime
after the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. In Irish, this name became
Mac Siúirtáin. The first-name form would be Siúirtán
Joshua is the English form of the Hebrew name Yeheshua. The Irish form of this name, used in the Irish language bible is Iósua /YO swa/. This name was never really used by the general population; just for the figure in the Bible, though.
In my Irish language bible, Josiah is listed as Íoisíá. /EE oh see ah/. This name was never really used by the general population; just for the figure in the Bible, though.
Joy is not used as a first name in Irish. However, the surname Joy is Seoigh /SHOY/ in Irish. The vocabulary word for "joy; happiness" is áthas /AW hus/, which is also not used as a name in Ireland, but would be a more literal translation.
Joyce was originally
a surname (as in James Joyce), which has been used as a first name since
the late 19th - early 20th century. In Irish it is Seoigh (SHO'ee).
The form of Jude used in the bible is Iúd (YOOD). This was not traditionally used as a name in Ireland, simply to refer to the biblical character/saint.
As far as I know, Julian never got translated into Irish. However, Julia has-- it's Iúile. Since -án is already a common masculine suffix for male names in irish, it would be easy to create a man's form: Iúileán.
It would be pronounced something like /YULE y'awn/.
These names are from the Latin justus, meaning "just." They are
not translatable into Irish as far as my research shows. However, someone
recently sent me an e-mail saying that Justin can be translated as Saerbhreathach,
pronounced /SHARE vrahok/. Or, you can try to spell them out phonetically:
Justin would be something like Siústan (SHOO stun) and Justine
might be Siústaín (SHOO steen).
Karen, Karin, Karyn, Caryn, Caren etc.
Karen is a Danish pet form of Katarina (Katherine). There are 3 pet forms
of various Irish forms of Catherine (Caitríona, Caitrín)- Cáit
(KAWTCH), Tríona (TREE uh na) and Caitlín (KOYT leen). You
could also use Cáitín (KAW tseen). This is the one I like best,
since Caitlín has become more widely known as Katelyn in English speaking
There is no Irish equivalent of this name, so you'd either have to pick
a name that sounds similar, such as Cadhla /KY uh la/ (that's a
man's name, though a very rare one) or Caoilfhionn which can be
pronounced: /KAY l'yun/, /KEE l'yun/ or /KWEE l'yun/ (also in simplified
forms: Caoilinn & Caoileann). Your best bet might be
to spell Kayla out in Gaelic, it would be something like Céala
/KAY uh la/ or Caola (can be pronounced /KEE uh la/ or /KAY uh
la/). You could get fancy and use Céola /KAY uh la/-- this
one looks kind of cool because it sort of contains the word "ceol"
which means "music". You'd definitely need the accent on the
e, though, otherwise it would be /K'YULL ah/. Another possibility is Céilia
/KAY l'yah/ is another way, which is also kind of cool because it contains
the word "céilí," which is an Irish word for a
social gathering usually with music & dancing.
Kaylee, Kailey, Kaylie, Kaeleigh, Cayli etc.
People will swear up and down to me that Kaylee is an Irish name, but really it's not. It's a 20th century coinage, made from the names Kay and Lee. Many baby name books claim that it's Irish, but trust me, it's not! This is probably based on the fact that Kayleigh sounds a bit like the Irish word Céilí, which is the word for a gathering, usually involving dancing, music, and/or storytelling. As for a translation, I guess Céilí /KAY lee/ would be as phonetic as you can get. If you wanted to be more "correct," though, you could use a form of Katherine (where Kay is derived from)-- Caitlín, Caitrín, or Caitríona.
Keeley is an anglicization of the Irish surnames Ó Caollaidhe, and Ó Cadhla. These are all derived from men's names, but you could use them in the first name form as a translation: Caollaid and Cadhla.
Kimberly is an English surname, made up of the Germanic name Cyneburg
+ the element "Lee" meaning "meadow; clearing; forest; field." This name
means, "Cyneburg's meadow/clearing." Unfortunately, there is no translation
into Irish. You could use Coimín /KIH meen/, which, as a
surname is sometimes anglivized Kimmons or Kimmins. You could also spell
it out phonetically in Irish, which would be something like Ciombarlí
/K'YUM bar lee/.
Kirsten, Krista, Kristi, Christie, Christa etc.
These names are all various forms of Christina and Christine. In Irish,
the name is Críostíona (kree SHTEE uh na).
Kyle started out as a Scottish surname derived from the personal name Caol. This name would be the same in Irish.
Kylie, Kylee, Kiley etc.
Kiley as a first name has two origins. It became popular in Australia as Kylie, which was probably coined as a form of Kyle or Kelly, and helped along by the fact that in several aboriginal languages it means "boomerang." Kiley has been used as an alternate spelling since then. This is an Irish surname which comes from the first name Cadhla, /KY la/ which means "beautiful."
Cadhla is a man's name, but it's rare enough that outside of Ireland you wouldn't get too many weird looks using it on a girl!
Laura, Lauren, Lori,
Laura, Lauren and Laurie/Lori are a modern feminine forms of the name
Laurence. In Irish, Laurence is Labhras (LAV ras or LAW ras). You can
make this name feminine by adding the suffix ín: Labhraín (LAV
reen or LAW reen), or maybe just take the "s" off and make it
Labhra (LAV ra or LAW ra).
In the Irish language bible, Leah is Léá /LAY a/.
However, this was never used for regular people in Ireland, just for the biblical figure.
LeeAnn is a modern creation--a blend of the names Lee (from an English
surname meaning meadow; field; clearing" and Ann, from Hebrew meaning
"God has favored me." To translate Leanne, you could simply use the form
of Ann. (Ánna--not very exciting I know.) You could also get fancy
and spell it out in Irish, Liathán /LEE awn/ -- this would
mean something like "little gray one" and would probably be
masculine. Liaithín /LEE uh heen/ would be a more feminine
form, but now we're getting way off track and I am having too much nerdy
fun with words.
Lee comes from an English word used in many names and place names (pretty
much everything ending in -ly or -ley) used to denote a meadow, clearing,
field, or wood. In Ireland, it is used as an anglicization of a couple
of different Irish surnames: Mac Laoidhigh ("poetic"), Mac an
Leagha ("physician"). Since you probably don't want to call
yourself "Doctor," the first one would probably make the best
name.The adjectival form is Laoidheach /L'WEE yokh/. It's not technically
a name, just a vocabulary word, but it's an older one that isn't used
as often as other words for the same thing. If you don't want to go this
route, you could use Laoi. That's the Irish form of the River Lee in Co. Cork.'
Leslie is a Scottish surname with obscure origins. It probably originates
from the place Lesslyn in Aberdeenshire. Lesslyn is probably derived from
the Gaelic leas cuilinn, meaning "garden of holly." Thus, you could use Leaschulainn to translate it. However, that's kind of weird and unwieldy as a name. So, you could
also use a name meaning "holly" to partially translate Leslie. The only first
name with this meaning is Mac Cuilinn, literally meaning "son of
holly," however, you could use one of these surnames derived from "holly,"
as Leslie was originally a surname: Cullen, Quillan, Cullinan(e), and
Quillinane. You could also simply use the word for "holly." (see also
Holly.) Or, you could spell it out phonetically
in Irish, like Leaslaí /L'YAS lee/ or Lioslaí
Linda is a fairly modern name and was never translated into Irish. However, you could try to spell it out phonetically in Irish, which would give you something like Líonda /LEEN uh da/.
This is a Scottish surname originally denoting a place name in England.
The meaning is "Lincoln's wetland." It is not translatable into Irish.
However, Lindsay was sometimes used to anglicize the Irish surname Ó
Loingsigh , stemming from the word "mariner" (more commonly Lynch,
Lynchy, Linsky, Glinchy, Clinchy etc.) You could use Loingseach /LUNG
shakh/ as a translation.
Lisa is derived from Elisabeth. Originally, it was a pet form used in
various European countries. It caught on as a name on its own in the English-speaking
world. You can translate it by using the Irish form of Elizabeth, which
is Éilís (AY leesh). If you wanted to get fancy, you could use
Sibéal (shih BALE), which is technically the Irish form of Isabel.
But since Isabel(la) is just another form of Elizabeth, why not?
Or, you could just spell it out phonetically in Irish, which would give you Líosa /LEE uh sa/.
Lori, Laurie, Laura
These are all feminine forms of the name Laurence. In Irish, Laurence
is Labhras (LAV ras or LAW ras). You can make this name feminine by adding
the suffix ín: Labhraín (LAV reen or LAW reen).
Lucy, Lucinda, Lucia
Lucy comes from the Latin Lucia, which derives from lux, the word
for "light." Lucinda is a form of Lucia + the ending -inda,
which is first found in Cervantes' Don Quixote. Lucy has long been
used as a "translation" for the Irish name Luíseach
/LUH'EE shakh/, which is derived from the name of the Celtic sun god Lugh,
whose name means "light; brightness."
Lynn, Lynne, Lyn
Lynn does not translate into Irish. It's meaning is obscure--it probably
began as a modern short form of names like Marilyn or Linda. A lot of
baby name books list Lynn as meaning "waterfall" in Welsh, Scottish or
Irish. Don't be fooled! While there is a word "linn" that means "waterfall"
in Scots, it has no connection to the name Lynn. You could spell it out
phonetically, as Linn /L'YINN/ or Lionn /L'YUNN/, but these
mean "pool; pond; lake" or "time period" and "meloncholy"
Lynette is a French form of the Welsh name Eluned, which may come from luned meaning "icon." I can't find an Irish cognate. You could spell it out phonetically in Irish, or make a name that sounds similar: How about Liathnait /LEE uh nat/- It's made from "liath" meaning "gray" (an element found in a lot of Irish names) and the feminine ending -nait. Or, you could go another route-- Eluned is sometimes anglicized Linnet (like the bird). In Irish, the name of this bird is Gleoiseach.This isn't actually a name in Irish, but there's no reason it couldn't be!
Macy, Macey, Macie
Macy is an English surname coming from a Norman place name that in turn
derives from a Latin personal name (Maccius). Hm. I think all we can do
with that one is spell it out phonetically in Gaelic. That would give
us something like: Méasaí (MAY uh see). You could
also see Macy as being influenced by Maisie. Maisie started out life as
a pet form of Margaret. Thus you could use the Irish form of Margaret:
Mairéad (mar ADE)
MacKenna, McKenna etc.
As a first name, McKenna rose to popularity in the 90s, along with other names like Mackenzie, Michaela/Mikayla etc. The name McKenna is an anglicization of the Irish surname Mac Cionaoith ("son of Cionaoith"). Cionaodh/Cionaoth is a man's name (where we get Kenneth), but it would work for a translation. It is pronounced /K'YUN ee/.
Maddox comes from the
Welsh name Madoc, which means "generous; forgiving." It is used
as an anglicization of the Irish surname Mac Mhadóc ("son
of Madóc). Madóc and other forms: Madóg
and Maodhóg are separate names, all forms of a diminutive
form of Aodh, which means "fire" and was the name of a Celtic
sun god. However, they can work as translations.
Madison comes from an
English surname meaning "son of Matthew." However, since Madison
is usually a girls' name these days, you could use a feminine form of
Matthew. Matthew in Irish is Máta, Maidiú, or Maitiú.
You could make Maitín /MA teen/.
Maisie, Masie, Mazie, Maisy etc.
These all began life as a pet form of Margaret. Thus, you could use the Irish form of Margaret, which is Mairéad. If you want to get technical, you could use a pet form of Margaret, which is Peigí /PEG ee/ or Peigín /PEG een/.
This was originally how the name "Maria" was pronounced in England.
In Irish, Maria is Máire /MOY a/ or /MAW ra/.
In Irish, this is Máisiún /MAW
shoon/. This is not a name, merely the word for a stone mason, but in English it means the same thing (via an occupational surname).
Maxwell is a Scottish surname, and as such doesn't not translate into Irish. However, Maxwell was sometimes used to anglicize the surname Ó Meiscill (normally anglicized Meskill or Miskill). I guess this was all a long winded way of saying, as a first name, you could use Meiscill.
Megan, Meghan, Megann,
Meagan, Meaghan, Meegan, Meeghan etc.
What started out as MEGAN, a Welsh pet form of Margaret, has mutated into
all sorts of faux-Irish spellings and pronunciations. See
Modern Irish Names for a more detailed explanation for Megan and friends.
To translate Megan et. al. into Irish, you could either use Mairéad
(mahr ADE), the long Irish form of Margaret, or Peig (PEG), the
short form. Peigí /PEG ee/ and Peigín /PEG
een/ are other short forms.
Melanie means "dark" in Greek (think "melanin"). You
can use a name that means "dark" or "black": Ciara
("black"), Ciar ("black"), Ciarnait
("black lady"), which can be anglicized Keera, Keir
and Keernit respectively. You could also try to spell it
phonetically in Gaelic, which would be something like Méalainí
/MAY ull uh nee/.
Melissa is a Greek name derived from the word for "bee." It has never
been translated into Irish. However, the Irish Gaelic mans' name Mael
Íosa or Maelíosa is sometimes anglicized Melisa. It
is pronounced /mal EE uh sa/, and means "servant of Jesus."
Meredith is a man's name in Welsh, an anglicization of Meredydd (/meh
RED ith/ with the "th" being like the beginning of "this"
and the end of "with.") . However, in the USA, Meredith is used
mostly for girls. It was never translated into Irish, but you can use
an unrelated Irish name that sounds similar: Míonait /MEE
uh nat/, Muadhnit /MOOA nit/. However, since in Welsh, Meredith
means either "great lord" or "sea lord," you might
want to use a name that is closer in meaning, such as Muireann /M'WIR
un/, which means "sea-fair" or Muirín /M'WIR een/
which means "born of the sea." You could also spell it out phonetically
in Irish, which would give you something like Méredit /MAY
Mia started out as a pet form of Maria. Therefore, you could use the Irish
form of Maria/Mary, which is Máire /MAW ra/, /MOY a/, /MAW
ee'reh/. You could also use an unrelated Irish name that sounds similar:
Miach /MEE akh/, which means "honorable; proud."
These are both feminines form of Michael; Michaela is the Latin version,
which is also used in English and a number of other languages in various
spellings. Michelle is French. There is no feminine form of Michael in
Irish (Michael is Micheál), but if you're not a stickler for authenticity,
we can add our old friend the modern feminine ending ín to it. This would
make Micheáilín, pronounced MEE haul een. Note: somewhere down
the line someone wrote a baby name book saying that McKayla is an Irish
name. THIS IS NOT TRUE! The name McKayla disn't even exist until probably
the 1990s, when it was used as an alternate spelling of Michaela by parents
enamored with trendy names like McKenzie and McKenna.
Miley, Mylee, Mylie etc.
Miley is an anglicization of the Irish surname Maolaoidh ("servant or devotee of St. Aodh"). Thus, you could use Maolaoidh /m'wail EE/ as a translation.
There's no formal way of translating Millie into Irish; Millie began as a pet form of Millicent or Camilla, and unfortunately neither of these names were ever translated into Irish either. However, you can spell it out phonetically in Irish, which would give you Mílí (MEE lee). Oh wait, I'm looking it up in my dictionary and Mílí means "bad colour; sickly pallour." You could use Milí /MILL ee/ just make sure you don't put an accent on the first "i"! This is better since "mil" means "honey."
The name Miranda was
invented by William Shakespeare for "The tempest"-- people assume
he got it from the Latin "mirari" "to admire". Anyway,
it was never translated into Irish, unfortunately. You could either use
an Irish name that sounds similar to "translate" it, such as
Moinnine /muh NIN ya/ or Muireann /MWUR inn/, or Máire
/MAW ee-ra/ or /MOYA/ you could try to spell it out phonetically in Irish,
like Maranda /MAR ann uh da/ (hmm, kind of awkward-- the -da is
difficult to write out), maybe Marana /MAR ah na/.
In Irish, the surname Mitchell was brought over by the English (it is an English surname derived from the name Michael). It was thus rendered Mistéil /MISH tale/.
In Irish Gaelic, the native Irish name Moncha (MUN ikh a) was often
translated as Monica. This name will work well. It is derived from the
name of a Celtic goddess, although the meaning has been lost.
Originally Welsh, Morgan stems from elements meaning "circle" and, possibly,
"sea." It has been used in the past to anglicize the Irish mans' name
Murchadh, meaning "sea-battler." This name is pronounced MUR a
kha, and often anglicized Murrough. Since this is a mans' name,
you could probably use the feminine name Muireann (MWIR un) to
translate it for female Morgans. Both conatain the element "muir"
meaning "sea." I think this may also stem from a Celtic element
from which Morgan also gets its "sea" syllable (mor). Muireann
isn't a direct translation, but it will do! It means "sea-white."
This name is a short form of the Russian name Nadezhda, which
means "hope." It's never been translated into Irish, but you
could do one of several things:
1. use the Irish word
for "hope": there are several, but I think the word Dóchas
/DOE khas/ works the best for this (the rest have other meanings as well,
like Dóigh also means "burn; scorch mark" and Súil
also means 'eyeball').
2. you could find another Irish name that sounds similar and use that
as an equivalent (this has been done with Irish names for centuries):
Neassa /N'yassa/ (a name used in legends that's very ancient and
the meaning is unknown), Narbhla /NAR va la/ (means 'noble princess')
3. you could spell it out phonetically in Irish. it's difficult to spell
out things ending in -ia, so Nádaí /NAW dee/ or Náda
/NAW da/ would work best.
In the Old Testament, Naomi was the mother-in-law of Ruth, and her name
means "pleasantness" in Hebrew. In the Irish language bible, Naomi is transliterated as Náoimí /NAW uh mee/.
These names are all derived from the Latin root natal meaning "birth."
The implied meaning is "birth of Christ" (i.e., Christmas), and were originally
given to babies born on or around Christmas. In Irish, the word for Christmas
is Nollaig (NULL ig). This is also used as a first name, although
not just for Christmas babies either!
Nicole and Nicola are feminine forms of Nicholas. Nicholas in Irish is
Nicolás, or Nioclás. To make them feminine, you could add ín-- Nicoilín
(NIK o leen) or Nioiclín (NIK leen).
In the Irish language bible, Noah is Naoi /NAH ee/ or / NEE/.
However, this was never used for regular people in Ireland, just for the biblical figure.
It was William Shakespeare who first coined the name Olivia; he probably
based it on the Latin word for "olive," or used it as a feminine
form of Oliver. It has never been translated into irish, but you could
try to make a feminine form of the Irish form of Oliver (Oilibhéar)--
this would give you something like Oilibhín (UH liv een),
or you could make a more modern form (most traditional Irish girls' names
don't end in -a), like Oilibhia (UH liv ya). You could also use
an unrelated Irish name that sounds similar to Olivia: Orlaith/Órla
(OR la). Órla is actually a fairly common name in Ireland-- it
means "golden princess."
This name was invented by the English poet Sir Philip Sidney for his 16th
century poem Arcadia. It is possibly derived from the Greek, "all
sweetness." In this case, it could be translated as Sadhbh (SIVE),
meaning "sweet" in Irish.
Penelope is a Greek name which stems from either a type of duck, or a word meaning "weaving." As such, it was nover translated into Irish. However, in the old days when the English first started keeping records of Irish people in English, the name Fionnghuala was often "translated" as Penelope based on the fact that someone thought they sounded similar. It became somewhat standard. So, you could use Fionnghuala, or the modern form, Fionnuala.
In Irish, the word for piper is Piobar.
This is not used as a name in Irish, but Piper wasn't used as a first name in English until fairly recently so why not?
Randy started out being a short form of Randolf and Randall (another form of Randolf). The surname Mac Raghnaill was often anglicized Randall or Randal, thus the first name form, Raghnall, would be the closest translation. This is a man's name, for a womans' name, Randi is often a short form of Miranda. See Miranda for a translation.
Someone e-mailed me and said that
an Irish teacher had said that Rebecca in Irish is Ríobhca (REEV uh
ka), which would make sense, since the Hebrew form of Rebecca is Rivka. However, I've never seen this before. The version used in the Irish language bible I have is
This was never used for regular people in Ireland, just for the biblical figure, but there it is.
Renée is a French name meaning "re-born." It was never translated into
Irish. However, the Greek name Anastasia, meaning "re-born" has a translation.
It is Annstas (AHN stis), with the pet form Stéise (STAY
Rhiannon, Rihanna, Reanna etc.
is a Welsh name that is derived from the Celtic name Rigantona meaning "great queen." The Irish cognate is Ríonach /REE uh nakh/.
Riley, Reilly, Rylee etc.
Reilly comes from the Irish surname Ó Raghallaigh, meaning "descendant of Raghallach" (a name whose meaning has been lost). For a translation, you could use the first name form, Raghallach.
Rita was originally a short form of margarita, so you could use the Irish form of Margaret: Mairéad. Or, you could spell your name phonetically out in Irish, which would give you something like Ríota /REE uh ta/.
Robyn, Bobbi(e), Roberta
These are all feminine forms of Robert. In Irish, Robert is Roibeard,
but there is no Irish feminine form. You might be able to feminize it
as Roibeairdín (RAH nard een) or perhaps Roibín (RAH been).
Ruth has never been terribly popular in Ireland; most Old Testament names that aren't also the names of saints were made popular by Protestants after the Reformation. However, there is a version of Ruth that is reserved for the character in the Irish Language Bible: Rút.
Ryan is an anglicization
of the Irish surname Ó Riáin. This is derived from the first
name Rián, which is a diminutive form of the word "Rí,"
Sabrina is the Latin name of the River Severn in England.
It was brought to use as a feminine name by the poet Milton's work Comis, though it didn't really catch on until the 1950s with the release of the movie version of Samuel A. Taylor's play Sabrina Fair. The river Severn's original Celtic name was probably something like *sabrinn-â
which could mean something like "boundary;" but nobody's really sure. Supposedly the same name was used as Sabrann, which was the old name of the River Lee in Co. Cork. Thus Sabrann is probably as good a translation as any.
Sally and Sadie both started out life as pet forms of Sarah, a Hebrew
name meaning "princess.". Sarah was never translated into Irish, although
it was used as an anglicization of the name Sorcha (SUR a kha).
Sorcha is an Irish name meaning "light." The cultural connection between
Sarah and Sorcha is so great, in fact, a lot of baby name books still
define Sorcha as being "the Irish form of Sarah."
Samantha is a relatively modern name. It was first used by African
slaves in the USA. It is based on the name Samuel and other names like
Iantha. It could be considered a feminine form of Samuel, a name which
rarely has a feminine form in any language. However, if you want to grasp
at straws...the mans' name Somhairle was often anglicized Samuel,
although it has no etymological connection. You could use Somhairle, or
its anglicized form, Sorley as a translation, or you could attempt
to feminize Somhairle by making it Somhairlín (sore-leen).
Sandra is originally a short form of Alexandra. In Scottish Gaelic,
Alexandra is Alastrìona (Alastriona with a grave accent on the
"i" if your computer is not reading that correctly.) It is pronounced
AL iss TREE uh na. Kind of like Alice-Trina. I don't think there is a
technically Irish form of this name, but Alastríona (same name,
but with an acute accent) will work.
In Irish, Scarlet is Scarlóid /SCAR uh load/. This is
a color, not really a name, but it wasn't really a name in English either,
until the 1930s!
In the Irish language bible, Seth is Séat /SHAY ut/.
However, this was never used for regular people in Ireland, just for the biblical figure.
For a boy, this would
be Seanán /SHAN nawn/ (it's the equivalent of Johnny in
Irish--this comes from the surname form). For a girl, you could use the
form Sionnan /SH'YUH nun/, which is the form used in Ireland for
the River Shannon. It is named for a Celtic goddess.
Sharon is a Biblical place name meaning "plain" in Hebrew. It was never
used as a name into Irish, as it has only become used as a name
in English in the 20th century. However, as a place name, Sharon is translated in the Irish language bible as
Seárón /SH'YAW roan/.
Shana, Shaina, Shayna
Shawna/Shauna/Shayna are modern feminine forms of Sean/Shane. Sean/Shawn/Shane
are Irish forms of John. In Irish, you could use Siobhán, Sinéad,
or Síne to translate these. Or, since these are modern names, you
could make a modern feminine by adding the final "a" to Sean:
Seána. in Scottish Gaelic, you could use Seonaid or Seonag.
Shaylee, Shailey, Shaley, Shayley etc.
Shaylee is a modern name, created by adding Shay + Lee (like Kaylee and Jaylee). You could spell it out phonetically in Irish, which would give you Séilí /SHAY lee/. Or, the surname Ó Sealbhaigh /SHAL vee/ has been anglicized Shealy (more commonly Shally, Shelly, Sheely, Shelvey). You could use the form Sealbhach /SHAL vakh/. It means "having possessions." However, names ending in -ach are usually masculine.
Sherry began as Shari, a pet form of Sharon. Unfortunately, Sharon was
never translated into Irish. If you were really desperate, you could translate
the name as seiris (SHER ish). This is the exact Irish word for
"sherry," as in the alcoholic beverage. This is most definitely not a
name in Ireland, simply a vocabulary word, but hey! if people can be named
Brandy and Sherry in English, why not seiris? You could also take another
route--the name Mc Sherry has been used to anglicize the Irish surname
Mac/Ó Searraigh, which possibly means "foal." Thus, you could use
Searrach (SHYAR akh), the root name.
Shiloh is a place name in the Bible. As such, it is translated Sileó.
Sierra is a Spanish word for "saw." In Irish, there is no name
with this equivalent. So, you can either pick an Irish name that sounds
similar, like Ciara pronounced /KEE uh ra/ or spell it out in Irish:
Síara /SHEE ah ra/ , Séara /SHEY uh ra/ or
possibly Saoira /SEE uh ra/, /SWEE ra/ or /SAY uh ra/. In Irish, the word for "saw" is sábh. If you were feeling really creative, you could somehow turn that into a name, like Sábha /SAW va/, or Sáibhín /SAW ee'veen/.
Skyler, Skylar, Schuyler
Skyler is a surname coming from the Dutch Schuyler meaning "scholar." Scolaidh /SKULL ee/ is the Irish congnate from the same root.
Stacy is not directly translatable into Irish. Originally it was an English
surname, deriving from the first name Eustace. However, a lot of baby
name books list Stacy as being a pet form of Anastasia. While this is
only true if your name is Anastasia, and happened to be called Stacy,
you could probably use the Irish form of Anastasia as a rough translation.
It's Annstas (AHN stis). It does have a nickname: Stéise,
which is pronounced /SHTAY sheh/. Hey, that's pretty close to Stacy, isn't
Stephanie is a French feminine form of the name Stephen. In Irish, Stephen
is Stíofán (SHTEE fawn). There is no feminine equivalent in Irish,
but you could make a modern one by adding "ín": Stíofáinín (SHTEE
fawn een) or perhaps Stífín? (SHTEE feen)--although the second
one looks a little strange. An older Irish form of Stephen is Stiana
(SHEE uh na), perhaps you could use this as the base to form a feminine
name: Stiainín (SHTEE uh neen)--that's kind of pretty!
The name Sidney was
also used to "translate" the Irish name Séadhna
/SHAY uh na/-- this is a man's name, borne by 13 saints. Today the name
Séadhna is relatively rare. Since it sounds feminine, and the name
Sidney itself was originally a man's name, I don't see why you couldn't
use it for a girl as well!
This is a Roman name, it means "wood; forest" in Latin. There's no Irish translation of it. But... you could spell it out phonetically in Irish, which would give you something like Siolbhaí /SILL uh vee/ -- Irish words don't generally end in -ia, but you could make Siolbhaía, which looks kind of weird. Or, you could pick an Irish name that sounds similar, like Saorla /SEER la/, or Síle /SHEE la/.
Though this was never used as a name for anyone outside the character in the bible, in Irish, Tabitha is Taibít (TAH beet).
Tammy, although it's used on its own now, started out life as a nickname
for Tamsin. This is a feminine form of Thomas (from Thomasine). Unfortunately,
there is no genuine Irish feminine form of Thomas. In Irish, Thomas is
Tomás, you could make a modern feminine form (in the same vein as Seosaimhín
for Josephine and Paidraigín for Patricia): Tomáisín. However,
this may also be a boys' name, like Tommy. It is pronounced /TUM awsh
Tania is a short form of the Russian name tatiana, which comes from
the Latin name Tatianus. Unfortunately nobody knows what this name means
and it has never been translated into Irish. The closest thing you can
do is either find an Irish name that sounds similar to Tanya (this has
been done for centuries to find "equivalents" of Irish names
that do not have English translations) or you can spell Tanya out phonetically
in Irish. Some Irish names that sound similar are Áine (AWN
yeh) - was the name of a Celtic goddess and means "radiance; splendor;
brilliance" or Tuala (TOO uh la) - means "princess of
the people." Spelled phonetically, Tania might look like (this is
hard, because there's no good way to write -ia or -ya in Irish) Táine
/TAWN yeh/ - "táin" means a herd of cattle, so this might
be weird as a name or Tána /TAWN a/.
Terry, Teri, Terri
For a girl, Teri started out as a pet form of T(h)eresa. Therefore you could use the Irish for Theresa, which is Tóireasa /TOR ush a/.
you could also use Treasa /TRASS a/ which is an unrelated name, but has been used as an English equivalent of Theresa for a couple of centuries. For a man's name, the name Terry has been used as an anglicization of the surname Mac Thoirdhealbhaigh (more commonly anglicized Turley). This name means "son of Toirdhealbhach," so you could use just the name form, Toirdhealbhach /TUR uh lakh/.
Taylor is an English surname, originally denoting one who worked as
a tailor. In Irish, the word for "tailor" is Táilliúr
/TAW eel'yoor/. This is not used as a name in Ireland, rather
as simply a word for someone who sews and mends clothes, but until recently,
Taylor wasn't used much as a first name in any country, anyway!
Tiffany is a medieval English form of the Latin name Theophania. It
was originally given to girls born on Ephiphany. Tiffany died out
after the middle ages,surviving only in surname form (like the famous
jewelry store Tiffany's & Louis Comfort Tiffany, famous stained glass maker). As a first name, it was revived in the 20th century based on the surname and the popularity of the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's."
Thebest way it could possibly be translated into Irish is through the Irish surname Tiffeny, which may be an anglicization of the Irish surname Ó Teimhneáin (also anglicized Tivney and Tynan). It is unrelated to the English name Tiffany, but it's as close as I can get-- the first name form of this would be Teimhneán, which is masculine, but rare enough that it wouldn't be like naming a girl Tom or Dave. It is pronounced something like /TIV uh nawn/.
Tina started out life as a pet form of Christina. In Irish, Christina
is Crístíona, which is prononced kree SHTEE uh na. In Scotland,
Christina is Crìstìona, and has short the forms
uh nuk) and Ciorstan (KEER stun).
Tracy, Tracey, Traci
Most commonly found as a surname in Ireland, Tracy can be rendered Treasach
/TRASS ukh/, meaning "warlike." Treasach is a man's name, though,
if you want a woman's name, you could use Treasa /TRASS a/.
Travis is an English surname based on norman French Travers. Ó Treabhair is an Irish surname meaning "descendent of Treabhar", which is often anglicized Travers. Thus Treabhar (TRA vur) would be a good translation.
Trent isn't directly translatable into Irish. however, through a roundabout way, you could use Torán. Ó Toráin (Torán is the first name form) is a surname that is often anglicized Tarrant. Tarrant is an English surname that comes from the place name Trent (the river).
Trevor is an anglicization of the Welsh name Trefor (pronounced about the same way). However in Irish, it is sometimes used as an anglicization of the name Treabhar (TRA vur).
In Irish, Troy is generally a surname, an anglicization of Ó
Troighthigh, meaning "foot-soldier." To make this a first name
(Ó Troighthigh literally means 'grandson of Troighthach'), you
could use just Troighthach /TRUH eehakh/.
Valerie is a French feminine form of Valerius, a Latin name meaning "to be strong." Unfortunately, there is no direct Irish translation of Valerie. You could try to spell it out phonetically in Gaelic, which would be kind of problematic since the irish alphabet has no V. Thus it would be something like Falaraí /FAL uh ree/ or Balaraí /BAL uh ree/. These are kind of weird, though... you might want to pick a name that has a similar meaning: Treasa is an Irish name that means "strength.' It's pronounced TRA sa (with the first "a" sounding like "at" not "straw"), and occasionally anglicized Tressa.
Since Vanessa was coined by an Irishman (the author Jonathan Swift), you
could consider it already Irish! However, we could do more traditional
things to the name... Jonathan Swift took the name from ESther VANhomrigh--you
could use the Irish for Esther, which is "Réaltín" /RAY
ul tseen/... Or, many Vanessas I know are called simply "Nessa."
This is close to an Irish name itself, the name of the mother of Conochobhar Mac
Neasa, a prominent figure in Irish folklore. Neasa is the Irish
Gaelic spelling, and it is pronounced like /NAS a/.
Vera is a Russian name that means "faith." It gained popularity in the English speaking world because it is also the Latin word for "truth." In Irish, "faith" is: creideamh /KREH d'yav/ (this is more the sense of religion or beliefs; comes from the Latin credo) or muinín /M'WIN yeen/ (this means more to trust or have confidence in). "Truth" in Irish is: Fírinne /FEER in yeh/ (which has been used a a girls' name in modern Ireland) or Fíor /FEE ur/.
You could spell it out phonetically in Irish by adding an -a to fíor: Fíora /FEE uh ra/.
The form most used of Veronica in Ireland (and it's not uncommon since there was a famous saint Veronica), it's in that form: Veronica. To make it Gaelic, you could try to spell it out phonetically, which would give you something kind of awkward, like Féaroiniaca.
Or, you could use the name Buadhnait, which means "victorius."
Veronica comes from the ancient Greek name Pheronike (via the Macedonian form, Berenice) which means "bringer of victory."
Victoria, Vicky, Tori
Though Victoria has never been translated into Irish, you could use the name Buadhnait, which means "victory." The masculine form, Buadhán, has traditionally been anglicized Victor, so why not?
Virginia is a Latin word based on the word "Virgin." The Irish word for
"Virgin" is maighdean or óge. However, both of these words
also can mean 'maiden' or 'young girl'--as when the language was first
being coined, "virgin" and "girl" were basically the same thing.
However, if you look
at the cultural relevance of the name Virginia...*why* are people named
"Virgin" at all? In the USA, the name was first used by Virginia Dare,
the first baby born in the New World, or in the colony of Virginia or
something...my history is rusty. She was named for the colony of Virginia.
Virginia was named for Queen Elizabeth I, the so-called "Virgin Queen".
In a roundabout way, you could use the Irish translation of Elizabeth
(Eilís) as a substitute for Virginia. You could also use Regina
in Irish (Ríona), which means "Queen".
But wait! Virginia
can also be used in honor of the Virgin Mary, in which case, the Irish
form of Mary (Máire) could also be used.
Wayne is an English occupational surname meaning "wagon maker"-- Irish surnames are usually derived from personal names and not occupational terms. The Irish for "wagon" is "vaigín", but it's not a name. It's difficult to even spell "Wayne" out phonetically in Gaelic because there's no "w." I think the best you can do is use the Irish name Uaithne /WAN yeh/ as an approximation. This is a man's name that means "greenish."
Wendy was first coined by the English author James Barrie for his novel
Peter Pan. He was inspired by the phrase "fwendy wendy," a baby-talk
nickname for "friend," which was given to him by a childhood friend. This
name has never been translated into Irish. Based on this, you could use
the name Cara, which has not really been used as a name until recently in Ireland. Cara means "friend"
in Irish. To go another route, many baby name books list Wendy as being
a pet form of Gwendolen, simply because Gwendolen contains the syllable
"wend" in the middle. This is the derivation of Wendy only if your name
is Gwendolen and you happen to be called Wendy. If this is the case, or
even if you'd like to stretch the truth a bit to give yourself an Irish
name, you could use the following names: Fionnait (FYUN it),
Fionnseach (FYUN shokh), Fionnúir (FYUN oor), Fionnchaomh
(FYUN kheev), Finneacht (FYUN yokht), or Fionnmhaith (FYUN
uh va). All of these names contain the element fionn, which means
"fair-haired; white." The name Gwendolen is comprised of the elements
gwyn, meaning "white; holy" and dolen, meaning "ring." You
could also use the name Fáinne (FAWN yeh), usually anglicized Fania,
an Irish name which means "ring."
An English toponymic surname, Whitney has been rendered de Fuitnigh in Irish. You could drop the "de" and just use Fuitnigh /F'WIT nee/ for a first name form.
Zachary was never translated into Irish, but in Scottish Gaelic, apparently
it has been rendered Saichairí /SAKH a ree/. This would
work as a phonetic spelling in Irish as well.
Zoe is not directly translatable into Irish. However, since it means "life"
in Greek, you could translate it as Beatha. This name means "life"
in Scottish Gaelic. It is pronounced "BEH ha."