Irish Baby Names - Surviving A Turbulent History
The Irish are traditionally seen as a romantic people, full of
fun,life and a love of the spoken word. Nowhere is this
reflected more than in Irish baby names which are undergoing a
major revival after many years of disuse.
As any Irish-American will tell you - often at great length(!) -
the Irish have a troubled and turbulent history and their use of
names for their children has always reflected this. Irish names
have several different origins, all significantly influenced by
the historical events that have taken place.
Ireland was converted to Christianity by Saint Patrick and this
explains why "Patrick (actually a Latin name, meaning
"Nobleman") is the archetypal Irish name and also why there has
always been an ongoing preference for Christian, Hebrew and
Aramaic names. The names of the 12 Apostles of Christ have
always been extremely very popular.
The Norse invasion and further Cromwellian colonisation in the
Twelfth century and seventeenth centuries generated even further
variety in baby names, introducing many new names including lots
of Anglo names such as Robert (meaning "Famous") and Richard
("Brave and strong") which were originally of Germanic Saxon
origin.
The late 1800 to early 1900 period saw a Gaelic revival, which
resulted in a return to fashion of many of the names such as
Shane (Irish Gaelic form of James. "The supplanter") which were
Gaelic versions of other - often biblical - names and names such
as Niall ("The Champion"), which were drawn from the rich
history of myths, legends and folklore of the Gaelic culture.
In modern times, the influence of media influences, such as
television and the Internet and the modern drive to look for
more unique, unusual names has meant that previously unused
names such as Kyle ("From the narrow strait") and Ethan ("Firm,
strong") are becoming very popular in Ireland.
Traditional Gaelic names such as Niamh ("Beautiful, bright") and
Cian ("Ancient") are also becoming very popular again, not just
in Ireland but also among the vast Irish-American population and
also in other areas of the world. But how did these names fall
from grace in the first place? Essentially they were legislated
away. Ironically, given the long history of violent struggle
between the English Protestant and the Catholic churches, it was
a combination of these two that resulted in the disappearance of
Gaelic names.
The Penal Laws passed by the Protestant Parliament of Ireland,
regulated the status of Roman Catholics through most of the
eighteenth century. These punitive laws, as well as forbidding
use of the Irish language, also forbade the use of Irish names.
But Canon Law also played a major part - for very many years the
Catholic Church in Ireland would not perform a baptism unless
the name chosen was that of a saint or, in the case of a girl,
was a version of Mary. These constraints led to a very narrow
range of names being used. As a result, every Irish family has a
long history of Mary's (Hebrew meaning "Bitter, as in a bitterly
wanted child". Latin meaning "The star of the sea") and John
(God is gracious), Michael ("Who is like God") and Patrick.
During those times, the Irish engaged in small, subtle
rebellions, by naming their children as decreed, but in day to
day life using Irish versions of the names, versions which
suited Irish pronunciation. This was sometimes a translation,
but more often a form of the name more comfortable for a native
Irish speaker. Thus Thomas ("A twin") became Tom