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HelpRe: What's your opinion on the traditional spellings of Irish names?
in reply to a message by ash
I myself adore Irish and Scottish names (and Welsh names for that matter) with their Gaelic spellings. Names like Eithne, Dearbhail, and Aodhan and Loegaire are just too lovely for words!
But I have long struggled with actually using the Gaelic spellings and confusing most people (especially if in the USA where I'm from) or just using the anglicized forms which are sometimes just as lovely as the Gaelic, sometimes (as in the case of Derval, Aidan and Leary) I prefer the anglicized spellings but with Eithne and in the case of my own favorite boys name Ciaran I prefer the Gaelic for various reasons.
Sean of course is accepted now as Shawn and often used more than Shawn or Shaun.
And I think that Siobhan, Niamh and maybe even Aoife have been seen more in recent years and could have the possibility of being pronounced correctly.
Aoibheann, Sadhbh, Caoimhe, and Ruaidhri though would probably have the effect of the average person looking at it and staring wide eyed! :)
As far as in stories, I suppose it depends upon the type of story you're writing. Fantasy, sci-fi, and any fiction written about Irish people/culture. As for general fiction or mysteries there's always built into each character a psychology of not only their personality and tastes but the personalities and tastes of each character's parents that would extent to what they named their child (i.e. hippy parents might use hippy type name, Irish parents or those who admired Irish culture or were of Irish decent might use original Gaelic spellings). You wouldn't have to give pronunciation guides and in the case of fantasy particularly it would be better not to give them (did Tolkien?) because it would just add to the mystery of a different land and culture.
Hope this helps! :)
But I have long struggled with actually using the Gaelic spellings and confusing most people (especially if in the USA where I'm from) or just using the anglicized forms which are sometimes just as lovely as the Gaelic, sometimes (as in the case of Derval, Aidan and Leary) I prefer the anglicized spellings but with Eithne and in the case of my own favorite boys name Ciaran I prefer the Gaelic for various reasons.
Sean of course is accepted now as Shawn and often used more than Shawn or Shaun.
And I think that Siobhan, Niamh and maybe even Aoife have been seen more in recent years and could have the possibility of being pronounced correctly.
Aoibheann, Sadhbh, Caoimhe, and Ruaidhri though would probably have the effect of the average person looking at it and staring wide eyed! :)
As far as in stories, I suppose it depends upon the type of story you're writing. Fantasy, sci-fi, and any fiction written about Irish people/culture. As for general fiction or mysteries there's always built into each character a psychology of not only their personality and tastes but the personalities and tastes of each character's parents that would extent to what they named their child (i.e. hippy parents might use hippy type name, Irish parents or those who admired Irish culture or were of Irish decent might use original Gaelic spellings). You wouldn't have to give pronunciation guides and in the case of fantasy particularly it would be better not to give them (did Tolkien?) because it would just add to the mystery of a different land and culture.
Hope this helps! :)
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