Irish names for men and women

Green Ireland ... The homeland of clover, heathlands, castles, mysterious bogs, amazing beauty of bays, fragrant coffee and ginger ale. How much magic, charm and beauty in this emerald country, which can not be surprised?

Folk country of fairy tales

No state can simply exist without its people. In this respect, the Irish are completely unique. Who has not heard of their famous St. Patrick's Day? Who did not admire their folk dances, and even more so fairy tales and legends full of mysteries, secrets and magic?

And how many famous, outstanding people come from an emerald country? Let's list some Irish names. Take at least the eternal James Bond - Pierce Brosnan. The actor was born and raised in Drogheda.

The natives of Ireland are the handsome Killian Murphy and Colin Farrell. It was here that Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and, of course, Jonathan Swift, who gave the world Gulliver, were born.

The most famous Irish names

Perhaps there is no person in the world who is not familiar with the tragic, but at the same time beautiful love story of Tristan and Isolde. Their loyalty and courage are admired by everyone, but few know that both of these names are traditional for Ireland.

Another example of this kind is the name Patrick. Yes, it is very popular due to Saint Patrick, who is dedicated to a special holiday. Honor this saint by dressing up green clothes, using clover symbols and visiting pubs, but this was not always the case. Initially, a tribute to Patrick was given solely through the performance of prayer. By the way, since I have already spoken about this figure of the Irish culture, it should be noted that originally St. Patrick was called Sukkat.

Few people know, but such common and long-established names, like John, Rory or Charles, are originally Irish.

Why we know little about Irish names

Whatever one may say, but to this day there has been relatively little information about which names are peculiar to the people of Ireland. In this case, we mean the fact that traditional names with ancestral origins are extremely rare.

And it happened because for a very long time England had an extremely powerful influence on the culture of Ireland, which led to the desire of the people to give the children traditional British names.

Recall that the modern inhabitants of the heathland and emerald fields are the direct descendants of the ancient Celts. Nevertheless, by the XVII century the original culture under the influence of England was almost forgotten.

In our own days a completely opposite tradition is observed: more and more Irish people turn to the historical memory of their people. They are interested in folklore, study their history and give the children Irish names, or rather - Celtic.

Features of the names of the country of leprechauns and ale

Of course, every country, every people has its own notion of a name. Ireland is no exception. A characteristic feature of the names of this people can be called their semantic fullness.

Of course, in the most general sense, one can say that any name has a certain value regardless of the nationality that uses it. Yes it is. Nevertheless, the Irish names and their meanings in this respect are something quite special.

The thing is that the Celts initially differed in their unshakable faith in the power of the word, and therefore treated him with reverence and utmost caution. Each name, each city name not only meant something important to them, but also gave the person or territory the power, certain magical properties, endowed certain features.

That is why almost all the native Irish names have a specific translation. In the Russian tradition, for example, it is represented only a few examples, the brightest of which will be the names of Faith, Hope and Love. For clarity, we note that the distinctive feature of such names is that their primary meaning is not lost and is easily understood by any native speaker.

Names of the people of the clover country

If we are considering the Irish names in this article, the list of which is diverse, we should pay attention to the surname of this amazing people. Moreover, it is worth it.

For example, remember the traditional form "I'm so-and-so, son of such and such, grandson of such and such a kind ...". So, this is just the traditional Irish formula for naming a surname. Initially, its main function was to determine the attitude to one or another genus.

Naturally, such a long and rather complicated structure was not convenient for use, therefore, obeying the almighty law of saving speech efforts, the Irish gradually began to shorten their surnames and reduce them to specific values. Nevertheless, the echoes of the tradition of enumerating the genealogical tree are still preserved in the form of the addition of consoles O 'and Mack.

Modern Irish names and surnames will become more understandable if we clarify the meaning of the prefixes themselves, which they so love to use.

Prefix O ', for example, literally means "grandson". Thus, the surname O 'Henry means reference to a particular genus, whose founder had such a surname. By the way, it could be a name that has survived over time a certain semantic transformation.

As for the prefix of Mack, its direct meaning is expressed in the word "son".

The names of Irish men

Let's start, perhaps, with names that are on hearing. The famous British actor Alan Rickman is admired by a good half of the fair sex all over the world. Very few people know, but in the Celtic tradition, its name means "beautiful." Perhaps this partly explains his success.

Remember the story of how Arthur managed to get Excalibur out of stone? So, this is also an ulterior motive, since its name literally means "strong as a bear". "Coincidence!" - you will say. Maybe…

Irish names of men are almost all connected with strength, courage and intelligence. For example, a name such as Angus means "very strong man", and the name Art means "stone". Perhaps this is due to the fact that it was the representatives of the stronger sex who had to protect their kind and country from the earliest times and to be a support for the state.

Nevertheless, there are Irish masculine names and a much softer meaning. Bedir, for example, is "knowledgeable", and Eogan is "born of a yew tree".

The name Tristan, which was mentioned earlier, by the way, means "brave".

About the representatives of the weaker sex

With men all is more or less clear. Let's pay attention to the Irish women's names. Like the stronger sex, the ladies of Ireland carry the names of the speakers. The semantics of them are mostly directed towards fragility, femininity and beauty, rather than strength or courage. The name Ain, for example, means "radiance," and Kinney translates as "beauty."

Known, in principle, the name of Rowena bears the semantics of prettyness, and Shyla's name means "fairy-woman".

Irish women's names differ in that they give their owners additional properties, thereby determining their fate.

Speaking of fate, remember the famous actress Sirsha Ronan, whose name means "freedom." A person familiar with the filmography of the girl, without difficulty, will reveal some parallel between the roles and semantics of the name.

Analogues of Irish names in the Russian tradition

Of course, Irish names, like any others, have their analogues in other cultural traditions. If we talk about the names familiar to the Russian people, first of all, of course, Peter, corresponding to the Irish Patrick, is remembered.

Irish names like Evelyn ("light") or Eogann ("born of a yew tree") also have their correspondences (Evelina, Ivan), long since become familiar to the ear of a Russian person.