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Baby names

17th Sep 2016

20 Unisex Irish Baby Names That Are Absolutely Magical

Sophie White

Irish baby names are some of the most unique and beautiful in the world. 

As the child of a Francophile I always resented my boring easily spelled name and was delighted when in national school the teacher gave everyone (who didn’t already have one) their “Irish” name during Irish. Though I noticed that anyone with an ‘S’ name was called Saidhbh and anyone with an ‘M’ name, Máire; everyone was pretty much Saidhbh or Máire (it wasn’t an exact science). Similarly no matter how anglo or foreign-sounding your surname was they just stuck and ‘Ó’ or a ‘Ní’ in front of it…

The popularity of unisex baby names is on the up and the Irish names really lend themselves to this trend. Lots of the names on the list are genuinely unisex and some are traditionally used for boys or girls but definitely could work for either.

20 Unisex Irish Baby Names That Will Work For Na Buachaillí Agus Na Cailíní!

1. Ailbe

Pronunciation: Ale-by

Old Irish word for white

2. Barra

Pronunciation: Bar-a

Meaning: Fair-haired

3. Banba

Pronunciation: Ban-ba

Meaning: One of the original goddess sister who founded Ireland

4. Branna

Meaning: Raven

5. Caoilainn

Pronunciation: Kay-lin

Meaning: from the words ‘caol’ meaning slender and fionn meaning ‘pure’.

6. Daire

Pronunciation: Dar-a

Meaning: Fruitful and fertile

7. Daireann

Pronunciation: Dar-awn

Meaning: Fruitful and bountiful

8. Dillon

Pronunciation: Dil-on

Meaning: From the Irish word ‘dealan’ meaning flash of lightning

9. Darcie

Pronunciation: Dar-cee

Meaning: Derived from the family name Ó Dorchaidhe meaning of the dark one, which may be slightly ominous sounding origins for a baby name but it is very pretty.

10. Enda

Pronunciation: En-da

Meaning: Bird

11. Eirnin

Pronunciation: Air-nin

Meaning: Iron

12. Fianna

Pronunciation: Fee-ana

Meaning: Ancient warrior army of Ireland

13. Faolan

Pronunciation: Fwail-awn

Meaning: from the word ‘faol’ meaning wolf

14. Murtagh

Pronunciation: Mur-ta

Meaning: Skills of the sea

15. Nollaig

Pronunciation: null-ig

Meaning: Christmas

16. Regan

Pronunciation: Ree-gan

Meaning: From the Irish word “rí” meaning king, it means king’s child.

17. Tierney

Pronunciation: Teer-nee

Meaning: Lord or chief

18. Odhran

Pronunciation: O-ran

Meaning: dark haired

19. Radha

Pronunciation: Row-a

Meaning: Beautiful view from the Irish word ‘radharc’ meaning view or vision

20. Rionnach

Pronunciation: Ree-in-ock

Meaning: Royal from the Irish word ‘Rí’ meaning king