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Help[Opinions] I love my Irish Naming Book!!! :)
in reply to a message by graciebabes
Okay, I checked my Irish Naming book which is full of history and it says it has a copyright! :(
Well, I'll just give you a general idea of what it says! :)
From 1820-1920 is when the largest amount of Irish immigrants came to the United States, during which time they were still in the grip of Anti-Gaelic laws which prohibated the use of Gaelic including Gaelic names so most of the immigrant who came to America had standard names like Mary, Margaret, Elizabeth & Anne or anglicized versions of their favorite Irish names: Bridget instead of Brigid. And a lot of those new immagrants were anxious to trade their Irish sounding names in for names that sounded even less Irish like Bridget might have changed her name to Bertha or Beatrice to fit is with their new surroundings.
Also Irish nicknames were often used as regular first names, peopel felt these names were closely related to the old sod in the 1920's
Annie -nn for Anne
Kitty, Kate or Katie - nns for Katherine or Kathleen
Maggie or Peggy - nns for Margaret
Molly - nn for Mary
Sally - nn for Sarah
Nelly, Nellie, Nora - nns for Eleanor
Patsy - nn for Patricia or Patience
Then there were the -een names that were imported from Ireland to USA: Kathleen, Pegeen, Eileen, Aileen, Maureen, Noreen, Josephine, Doreen, Rosaleen, Colleen (but Colleen was only used in the USA never in Ireland).
These names als became popular in the 1920's-1950's
Deirdre, Keeley, Mona, Muriel, Myrna, Patricia, Shelia, Tracy
Here are some examples of how Gaelic names were traded in for American ones:
Aine (Anya) became Anna, Anne, Hannah
Aislinn became Alice, Esther
Fionnuala became Flora, Penelope, Florence
Grania became Grace
Maeve became Mabel, Madge, Marjorie, Maude
Sive & Sorcha & Saraid became Sally, Sarah, Sophia
Oonah & Una became Agnes, Winifred, Unity
My book says these Irish-American names would not have been used in Ireland:
Caitlin - pronounced Kathleen in Ireland
Colleen - Irish Gaelic for "girl"
Erin - Irish name for the country of Ireland
Fiona - which is actually Scottish but try Finella & Finola
Megan - the Welsh form of Margaret, the Irish form is Pegeen
Shannon - the name of a river in Ireland
Sorry this is so long, I hope this helps you out!!! :)
Well, I'll just give you a general idea of what it says! :)
From 1820-1920 is when the largest amount of Irish immigrants came to the United States, during which time they were still in the grip of Anti-Gaelic laws which prohibated the use of Gaelic including Gaelic names so most of the immigrant who came to America had standard names like Mary, Margaret, Elizabeth & Anne or anglicized versions of their favorite Irish names: Bridget instead of Brigid. And a lot of those new immagrants were anxious to trade their Irish sounding names in for names that sounded even less Irish like Bridget might have changed her name to Bertha or Beatrice to fit is with their new surroundings.
Also Irish nicknames were often used as regular first names, peopel felt these names were closely related to the old sod in the 1920's
Annie -nn for Anne
Kitty, Kate or Katie - nns for Katherine or Kathleen
Maggie or Peggy - nns for Margaret
Molly - nn for Mary
Sally - nn for Sarah
Nelly, Nellie, Nora - nns for Eleanor
Patsy - nn for Patricia or Patience
Then there were the -een names that were imported from Ireland to USA: Kathleen, Pegeen, Eileen, Aileen, Maureen, Noreen, Josephine, Doreen, Rosaleen, Colleen (but Colleen was only used in the USA never in Ireland).
These names als became popular in the 1920's-1950's
Deirdre, Keeley, Mona, Muriel, Myrna, Patricia, Shelia, Tracy
Here are some examples of how Gaelic names were traded in for American ones:
Aine (Anya) became Anna, Anne, Hannah
Aislinn became Alice, Esther
Fionnuala became Flora, Penelope, Florence
Grania became Grace
Maeve became Mabel, Madge, Marjorie, Maude
Sive & Sorcha & Saraid became Sally, Sarah, Sophia
Oonah & Una became Agnes, Winifred, Unity
My book says these Irish-American names would not have been used in Ireland:
Caitlin - pronounced Kathleen in Ireland
Colleen - Irish Gaelic for "girl"
Erin - Irish name for the country of Ireland
Fiona - which is actually Scottish but try Finella & Finola
Megan - the Welsh form of Margaret, the Irish form is Pegeen
Shannon - the name of a river in Ireland
Sorry this is so long, I hope this helps you out!!! :)
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