View Message

[Opinions] Celebrity baby BA
It’s another son for Westlife singer Shane Filan and wife Gillian!
The couple welcomed Shane Peter Filian on Friday January 22nd.
He joins older siblings Patrick Michael, 16 months, and Nicole Rose, 4 ½.Peter is Shane's father's and brother's name.
Oh, and for us name nerds: he had a brother named Finbarr!

This message was edited 1/26/2010, 1:31 PM

Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

I've read that in the 18th century Irish names were considered unfashionable in mainland Britain so Irish people with ambition used to change their names to something more acceptable! Bridget became Bedelia, weirdly, and Patrick became Peter. Luckily for this family, the practice didn't last long.Alexander Pope was cheeky about a man he called Lord Petre (who broke the laws of God and man and metre); Petre apparently started off as Patrick.
vote up1
You'd have thought he would have named Patrick after himself. Don't really like any of the names except Finbarr
vote up1
yeah, oddSo strange to see a second son being named after his father. Maybe Patrick's name has some other meaning to it, like a grandfather or something.And I didn't think people named their daughters Nicole anymore - it looks almost dated. Weird to see it on a toddler!
vote up1
Irish namingYeah, I think Patrick could possibly be a grandfather's name...Not sure if this is correct or not but I've heard that in Irish naming traditions, the first son is usually named after the father's father, and the second son after the father. My father is Irish and a second son and he's named after his father, while his older brother was named after their grandfather, so maybe this is true of some families :)
vote up1
Interesting! that's similar to Italian naming traditions, if I'm correct in what I've read. Do the Irish have the same traditions for daughters?
vote up1
Yes, from what I've read it's also traditional to name daughters in the same way, but I think this is less common now than it was in the past.That's interesting, I didn't know that Italians have a similar tradition! :)
vote up1
I read somewhere that the it's an Irish tradition to name the first son after the grandfather and the second after the father. I'm thinking Patrick might be from the mother's side.
And it's possible Nicole is also honoring.
vote up1