{"id":7803,"date":"2016-03-29T03:58:21","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T03:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=7803"},"modified":"2016-04-04T05:38:10","modified_gmt":"2016-04-04T05:38:10","slug":"irish-names-for-girls-pronunciation-and-meaning-blathnaid-faoiltiarna-fionnuala-sadhbh-saoirse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/irish-names-for-girls-pronunciation-and-meaning-blathnaid-faoiltiarna-fionnuala-sadhbh-saoirse\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish Names for Girls: Pronunciation and Meaning (Bl\u00e1thnaid, Faoiltiarna, Fionnuala, Sadhbh, Saoirse)"},"content":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"grafaic:<\/a>

grafaic: http:\/\/publicdomainvectors.org\/en\/free-clipart\/Woman-on-telephone-vector-illustration\/25116.html; t\u00e9acs le R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

We recently looked at some different forms of the Irish name “Niamh<\/strong>” and the variation “N\u00e9imhe<\/strong>.”\u00a0 In this blog post, we’ll check out a few more girls’ names, focusing on ones I’ve received numerous questions about over the years.<\/p>\n

Unlike a lot of other pronunciation guides online, this blog post will also give the direct address forms.\u00a0 These are crucial if you plan to actually use the name in an Irish language context.\u00a0 Remember, almost every Irish name changes form for direct address.\u00a0 The same is true for nouns in general, but we’re less likely to use them in direct address, unless we’re waxing poetic or daydreaming\u00a0 — we rarely need to say things like “O table!” but if we did, it would be “A bhoird!<\/strong>,” not simply “Bord<\/strong>!”\u00a0 If we are talking to a mirror (sc\u00e1th\u00e1n<\/strong>), we have to remember to insert an “i” just before the end, so we have the infamous phrase, “A sc\u00e1th\u00e1in, a sc\u00e1th\u00e1in, ar an mballa!<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

I’ve also added the meaning or origin of the name, as available.<\/p>\n

Anyway, here’s a small selection:<\/p>\n

Bl\u00e1thnaid<\/strong> [BLAW-nij], direct address “A Bhl\u00e1thnaid!<\/strong>” [uh VLAW-nij]. Equated with “Flora.”\u00a0 \u00a0Meaning: little flower, from the word “bl\u00e1th<\/strong>” [blaw], flower.<\/p>\n

Faoiltiarna<\/strong> [FW<\/sup>EEL-TCH<\/sup>EER-nuh]. direct address: “A Fhaoiltiarna!<\/strong>” [uh EEL-TCH<\/sup>EER-nuh].\u00a0 Anglicized as “Whiltierna.”\u00a0 Meaning: wolf-lady (“lady” as the opposite of “tiarna<\/strong>,” which means “lord”)<\/p>\n

Fionnuala<\/strong> [FIN-OO-uh-luh], direct address “A Fhionnuala!<\/strong>” [uh IN-OO-uh-luh].\u00a0 May be anglicized as Finola or Fenola, but often is left in Irish, sometimes shortened to “Nuala<\/strong>.”\u00a0 Equated with “Penelope” and “Penny” although there’s no historic connection.\u00a0 \u00a0Meaning: white-shouldered.<\/p>\n

Sadhbh<\/strong> [syv, rhyming with “thrive” or “jive”], direct address: “A Shadhbh!<\/strong>” [uh hyv, rhyming with “hive” as in “beehive”]\u00a0 Anglicized as “Sive” (same pronunciation) and equated with Sophia.\u00a0 \u00a0A diminutive or affectionate nickname form is “Saidhbh\u00edn<\/strong>” [SYV-een], which would be “A Shaidhbh\u00edn!<\/strong>” [uh HYV-een] in direct address. \u00a0Origin: the name of the mother of Ois\u00edn, his father being the famous giant\/warrior Fionn Mac Cumhaill.\u00a0 Her name derives from Proto-Celtic words for “sweet and lovely,” but keep in mind that the typical modern Irish words for “sweet” (milis, cumhra, binn, aoibhinn, \u00e1lainn, srl.<\/strong>) and “lovely” (\u00e1lainn, gal\u00e1nta, gleoite, an-deas, srl.<\/strong> ) are not connected. \u00a0Nasc do shn\u00e1ithe suimi\u00fail faoin ainm seo th\u00edos. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saoirse<\/strong>: These days I guess everyone outside of Ireland is wondering about the pronunciation of this name, due to the popularity of the young actress, Saoirse Ronan.\u00a0 Of course, some celebrities have also addressed the issue (the likes of Ryan Gosling and Ellen DeGeneres).\u00a0 But have any of these dealt with how to greet “Saoirse” properly in Irish — ag baint \u00fas\u00e1ide as an tuiseal gairmeach?\u00a0 N\u00ed sh\u00edlim<\/strong>.\u00a0 Since this name is so prevalent in the media today, we’ll give the whole shebang here (i.e. we’ll include an tuiseal ginideach<\/strong> as well as an tuiseal gairmeach<\/strong>):<\/p>\n

basic form: Saoirse<\/strong> [SEER-shuh]<\/p>\n

direct address: a Shaoirse<\/strong> [uh HEER-shuh]<\/p>\n

possessive form: Shaoirse<\/strong> [HEER-shuh] as in “r\u00f3l Shaoirse sa scann\u00e1n ‘Brooklyn’<\/strong>” or, for a fun linguistic workout, “aois Shaoirse<\/strong>” (Saoirse’s age), “saoisteog Shaoirse<\/strong>” (Saoirse’s pouffe) or “faoiste Shaoirse<\/strong>” (Saoirse’s fudge) or “iarann saoirsithe Shaoirse<\/strong>” (Saoirse’s wrought-iron).<\/p>\n

meaning: freedom, related to words like “saor<\/strong>” (free, cheap, having the status of a freeman), “saor<\/strong>” (a free man), “saoradh<\/strong>” (liberation, deliverance, etc.), and less directly to “saor\u00e1nach<\/strong>” (citizen), “saorbhreathach<\/strong>” (open-minded), saormheadaracht<\/strong> (free verse), saorst\u00e1t<\/strong> (free state) and that grammatical nemesis of many, “an saorbhriathar<\/strong>” (the autonomous verb).<\/p>\n

Bhuel, sin c\u00faig ainm as c\u00fapla c\u00e9ad.\u00a0 B’fh\u00e9idir n\u00edos m\u00f3 sa ch\u00e9ad bhlag eile.\u00a0 \u00a0SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nasc (don ainm Sadhbh<\/strong> \/ Sive):\u00a0http:\/\/www.rollercoaster.ie\/Discussions\/tabid\/119\/ForumThread\/141255523\/Default.aspx (Opinions on Name — Sadhbh)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Opinions on name – Sadhbh<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) We recently looked at some different forms of the Irish name “Niamh” and the variation “N\u00e9imhe.”\u00a0 In this blog post, we’ll check out a few more girls’ names, focusing on ones I’ve received numerous questions about over the years. Unlike a lot of other pronunciation guides online, this blog post will also give…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[172902,94532,5667,274839,440470,6686,440587,290011],"class_list":["post-7803","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-direct-address","tag-girl","tag-irish","tag-name","tag-sadhbh","tag-saoirse","tag-shadhbh","tag-shaoirse"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7803"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7809,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7803\/revisions\/7809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}