Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Why don't you have Meghan etc. included?
A. Meghan is Welsh in origin. If a name is "Celtic" that isn't narrowing it down enough for the purpose of this page. Celtic means Scottish, Irish, Welsh and Cornish. And I guess Breton as well.

Q. Why don't you have Molly, Maisie, etc?
A. They are shorter forms of Mary/Maire. I don't include short forms, because I want to stick to traditional spellings.

Q. How come you don't have...
A. I might! It might be under an older spelling, eg. Phelan/Faolin. There are no J, K, Q, or W names here, because Irish traditionally did not have those letters. Unfortunately I cannot index the names for every possibility, so do your best to browse through the names; they are sorted by traditional spelling for the most part (except the Anglicized pages :) )

Q. Why don't you include Fainne, Reidin, etc?
A. I would love to include modern Irish names, if I knew of evidence that they were being used. I don't live in Ireland, if you do, and know better than me, send me an email.

Q. What about Colleen, Shannon, Erin?
A. They are derived from Irish-language words, however they are only recently being used as first names, and mostly in North America. Colleen means "girl" in Irish, Shannon is the name of a river, and Erin is another name for Ireland. They do not fall under the definition of a traditional Irish name.

Q. What about Kennedy, Makenna?
A. Kennedy means "ugly head". McKenna, "son of Kenna" see under the male name Cainnech, Cainneach, Coinneach.