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Ryan Hahn
Professor Dziwirek
Honors 394C
9 November 2014
Language Commentary #2
Naming Practices and the Emerald Isle
Ireland is a large island in the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to Great Britain and the British
Isles. Ireland is divided between Northern Ireland, a constituent state of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland residing south of the border.
While geographically similar, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are culturally
sovereign with different political structures, religious institutions, and cultural practices
including naming practices.
Ireland has a rich and complex history including Celtic civilization, Roman influences,
Christianization, English occupation, and political independence. After the spread of Christianity
throughout Ireland and continental Europe, Catholicism became the major religion of the region.
Until the partition of Ireland, Catholicism remained the dominant religion. Northern Ireland
follows English cultural practices and customs, rejecting Catholicism and upholding English
religious traditions. Regardless of the region religion has influenced family traditions regarding
family names and the naming of children.
In the Republic of Ireland, naming your child involves recycling family names and
selecting names entrenched in Catholic tradition. The average Irish family has always been
relatively large with six to eight children (Hahn 2014). The first born males first name is usually
named after the paternal grandfathers first name and his middle name will be named after the

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maternal grandfathers first name. Its also common for the eldest son to take the name of the
paternal grandfather and the second son to adopt the maternal grandfathers name (Mitchell
1999). Prototypically theres one male in the family that holds the name John, a popular Irish
name rich in tradition. Other popular first names for boys include Fin, Liam, Jack, and Cillian
(Hennessy 2014).
The naming of a familys first girl has similar practices to that of naming the first boy.
The first born girls name is borrowed from the name of the maternal grandmother and her
middle name is borrowed from the first name of the paternal grandmothers name. The second
daughter may be named after the paternal grandmother in place of the eldest daughters middle
name (Mitchell 1999). Prototypical names for girls include Mary borrowed from the Virgin
Mary, an important religious icon of the Catholic tradition. Other popular first names for girls
include Amelia, Erin, Aileen, Neila, and Aibhilin with Irish-Gaelic origins (Hennessy 2014).
The remaining children that are not the first born of their gender have a broader range of
names they can be called. Many names are borrowed from patron saints the family like or the
name of a saint that was born near the birth date of the child (Hahn 2014). For example, a baby
boy born in the month of March can be named Patrick from Saint Patricks Day, an important
day celebrating the legacy of Saint Patrick and his missionary work across Ireland. For a baby
girl born in February she can be named Abigail from Saint Abigail of County Cork, Ireland.
While the day of your patron saint is duly noted with a special dinner, it is does not overshadow
the importance of a persons individual birthday (Hahn 2014). Its essential to note that naming
children after biblical names is seen as highly absurd and is seen as a foreign, Protestant
tradition.

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Surnames in Ireland are a regional phenomenon. Names found in one region cannot be
commonly found throughout Ireland. These regional differences are largely due to the small
population found in Ireland and the way the name refers to members of the clan. Communities
were small and surnames were a simple way to identify family relations and loyalties. The
surname was an identifier of location and kinship, indicating who is a member of the family and
where the family resides (Walsh 2007). A last name like OKelly can be found in County Carlow,
a county in the Republic of Ireland but not in County Antrim, a region of Northern Ireland that
adheres to English cultural norms. Similarly the last name Athy can be found in County Kerry, a
region in southwestern Ireland, but not in County Galway, a Midwestern county in Ireland
(Walsh 2007). First names follow a similar theme; rather than a regional phenomenon, first
names indicate religious faiths (Catholic versus Anglicanism) and nationality (Hahn 2014).
Naming practices in Northern Ireland follow a similar trend. Eldest sons will adopt the
name of their paternal grandfather and the eldest daughter will borrow the name of one of her
grandmothers. Biblical names are not commonly used; instead names will be borrowed from
English saints and notable post-reformation English religious figures (Hahn 2014). The Church
of Englands religious practices mirror Catholic doctrine justifying the similarities in the use of
saints in religious practices.
Since the expansion of technology, social media, and the Internet, Irish culture has
become largely Americanized. Popular names found in the United States have become more
common in Ireland. American pop culture and television media has influenced naming practices
in Ireland (Hahn 2014). Names such as Emily and Cloe which are common in American culture
have grown in popularity in Irish culture.

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Another similar trend to borrowing American names is the use of pre-Christian IrishGaelic names. These names are found in old Gaelic folklore and mythology. As an example close
to home, I have a cousin living in Donegal, Ireland called Aoife, named after Aoife in the
folklore stories of King Lir. I was told that naming a girl Aoife is the equivalent of naming a son
Zeus (Hahn 2014). My mother believes that the adoption of mythological names in recent years
has been the product of a break with Catholic tradition. The younger generations in Ireland have
slowly been breaking from the Catholic Church and creating their own individualized family
traditions (Hahn 2014).
Todays naming practices in Ireland are at a cross road between new and old traditions.
Strict followers of the Catholic Church remain steadfast in naming their children traditional Irish
names and venerating the patron saints of Ireland. Younger families have begun breaking with
tradition and Catholic doctrine by naming their children American and pagan names. Despite
these changes in cultural norms, my mother aptly summarizes the rifts in tradition when she said:
while the younger generations have broken the older traditions, they have a found a new way to
appreciate Irish culture by digging deeper into our cultural heritage but also keeping Ireland in
the modern age (Hahn 2014).

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Works Cited
Hahn, G. Personal Interview. 8 November 2014.
Hennessy, Carol Anne. Press Release Irish Babies Names 2013. Central Statistics Office, 30
May 2014. <http://www.cso>.
Mitchell, Jo. Traditional Irish Naming Practices. 1999.
<http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com>.
Walsh, Dennis. Surname Connections to Irish Counties. February 2007.
<http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com>.