Irish names seem really normal to me, because such a huge chunk of the US population is "scotch-Irish" or whatever that is.
I don't think it's silly at all to use Irish names. Having Irish heritage far back is a plus, because it gives you an excuse. I'm kind of bored, though, when people tell me they're "celebrating their Irish heritage" by naming their kid, say,
Sean or something, I don't know. I guess it would be a little more interesting to me if they were celebrating their Russian or Korean heritage or something with a Russian or Korean name, because Irish names are so completely normal to me. It's almost like celebrating your heritage as a white American (which is fine and everything, but not particularly exciting). Even I have some Irish in me.
Having said that, I think (in general) they're kind of boring and their trendiness gets on my nerves. (There are probably tons of exceptions to this.)
And I think I'm just about the only person on this board who prefers
Neve or Kiva to their ridiculously spelled Irish counterparts.
Alejandro I can understand, it makes some sense. But
Ceibhfhionn as Caven?
Feidhlimidh as Feelim? Um, okay.
And please, if you're going to celebrate your Irish heritage, have some sense! I heard from a
Cory once of a woman who named her son Coreigh because it was the "Irish spelling." Bleaaghgh!