Universal trashy names

[Traitorfish]

Well, you have two distinct waves of English invasions of Ireland, one with the Normans in the 1100s and one with the Tudors and Cromwell in the 1500s-1600s.

I might hazard the guess that the names incorporated by the progressively Gaelicised Catholic Norman-English overlords became more acceptable, since England was also Catholic at the time, and that anything that still remained utterly and distinctively Irish when the Tudors started their reformation -which is essentially against the Pope- gets the disrespect.
I'd need a reliable list to test this out.

There might be something to it, but I can't see it as a glance. We can roughly break traditional Irish names down along these lines: names associated the Hiberno-Normans were those with a direct French equivalent, like "Sean" for "Jean", while names of purely Gaelic derivation, like "Finbar", would be associated with the old Gaelic families. But this division doesn't seem to carry forward to modern associations, so that both the Hiberno-Norman "Liam" (abbreviated from "Uilliam", from the Norman "Guillaume") and the Gaelic "Keiran" both carry low-status associations, while neither the Hiberno-Norman "Eamon" (from the Norman "Edmund") and the Gaelic "Fergal" don't carry those associations.

Probably the missing ingredient in all of this is just the arbitrary winds of fashion; for instance, the popularity of "Liam" in the UK seems to coincides roughly with the lifespan of the band Oasis. That the Gallagher brothers happened to be of Irish origin might just be a coincidence. (And in fact it probably isn't, because the outsize influence of the Irish in British popular music is another Thing in itself- three out of four Beatles, ferchrissake- but let's stick to one rabbit hole at a time.)

 

[Takhisis]

Having a famous person name surge is usually a product of the name itself becoming popular, and then generating a famous example, leading to more being recognised, rather than the other way around.

https://www.behindthename.com/name/brittany/top
Britney Spears was born at the start of a Britney and its variations boom, and became famous well after the peak of the popularity of the name.

We Irish will have our revenge when you're all trying to pronounce Siobhán or Tadhg.

All of the above post really needs to be reposted right next to Traitorfish's.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Names... I'm drowning in names for my writing project. I still need names for the Seven Dukes of Griffinvale and their family members (their involvement in the story happens over a period of roughly 35 years and some will have died during that time, so I need names for their heirs as well).

And I still need a proper name for Count Chocula (no, I can't really leave his name at that). He's a villain, cruel, greedy, and supports the family that murdered the King. He has political clout, and is somewhere in his 40s. But even with all his clout, he's gone nameless for over two years.

I've searched naming sites. I'm going through the naming books I have in my collection. I might have called him "Charles" if I hadn't already given that name to a king that the main character will meet later and clash with (no family love lost there; King Charles of Stormhaven is the main character's uncle-by-marriage). King Charles doesn't have a surname, though, and he needs one...

It's a shame I can't just send them all census cards and have them do it themselves. It would make my life easier, and if any had names I didn't like, I'd just change them.

 

[PhroX]

There might be something to it, but I can't see it as a glance. We can roughly break traditional Irish names down along these lines: names associated the Hiberno-Normans were those with a direct French equivalent, like "Sean" for "Jean", while names of purely Gaelic derivation, like "Finbar", would be associated with the old Gaelic families. But this division doesn't seem to carry forward to modern associations, so that both the Hiberno-Norman "Liam" (abbreviated from "Uilliam", from the Norman "Guillaume") and the Gaelic "Keiran" both carry low-status associations, while neither the Hiberno-Norman "Eamon" (from the Norman "Edmund") and the Gaelic "Fergal" don't carry those associations.

Probably the missing ingredient in all of this is just the arbitrary winds of fashion; for instance, the popularity of "Liam" in the UK seems to coincides roughly with the lifespan of the band Oasis. That the Gallagher brothers happened to be of Irish origin might just be a coincidence. (And in fact it probably isn't, because the outsize influence of the Irish in British popular music is another Thing in itself- three out of four Beatles, ferchrissake- but let's stick to one rabbit hole at a time.)

I'd be surprised if the majority of people who named their kids after Liam Gallagher were even aware he was of Irish descent. They're known for being Mancunian.

 

[amadeus]

Is he the one that smashes the watermelons?

 

[Kyriakos]

Isn't it a bit pleb-y to name your kid after a rockband member?

 

[Gelion]

Names... I'm drowning in names for my writing project. I still need names for the Seven Dukes of Griffinvale and their family members (their involvement in the story happens over a period of roughly 35 years and some will have died during that time, so I need names for their heirs as well).

Are you going with completely fictional names or with some parallels to reality?

 

[Traitorfish]

Isn't it a bit pleb-y to name your kid after a rockband member?

It's hardly worse than naming your kid after the royals, which is a grand old British tradition across all social classes.

At least rockstars have charisma, which no British monarch has had since Henry VIII.

 

[Sofista]

At least rockstars have charisma, which no British monarch has had since Henry VIII.

Divorced spouses = charisma? Liz Taylor should have been Princess of the Universe!!

 

[Ajidica]

At least rockstars have charisma, which no British monarch has had since Henry VIII.

I dunno, old Betty Windsor has convinced several million Americans (and some deluded English) she is a wise leader who steers the British ship of state with advice from her ministers, keeping Britain and all her realms on a steady sensible course - unlike those silly French of boring Germans.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

We Irish will have our revenge when you're all trying to pronounce Siobhán or Tadhg.

Or Saoirse or Naimh. Or maybe Éadaoin.

 

[amadeus]

I dunno, old Betty Windsor has convinced several million Americans (and some deluded English) she is a wise leader who steers the British ship of state with advice from her ministers, keeping Britain and all her realms on a steady sensible course - unlike those silly French of boring Germans.

Betty Saxe-Coburg and Gotha!

 

[Birdjaguar]

Or Saoirse or Naimh. Or maybe Éadaoin.

Suzy, Nancy and Eddie?

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Suzy, Nancy and Eddie?

Don't you just wish it was that easy.

 

[Arakhor]

The middle one is clearly Neev.

The other two look like they might be pronounced Sarsa and Aidan.

 

[Zardnaar]

Any idiot who put a z in their name to be a badass

 

[Lemon Merchant]

This thread dropped completely off of my radar.

Or Saoirse or Naimh. Or maybe Éadaoin

Suzy, Nancy and Eddie?

The middle one is clearly Neev.

The other two look like they might be pronounced Sarsa and Aidan.

You're close @Arakhor :

Sursha, Nee-av, and Ay-deen.

 

[Arakhor]

Nee-av? I was always told it was Neev, but maybe that's regional differences again.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

My cousin pronounces it Nee-av. I must confess I have never met another one to compare. Regional differences, possibly. Same with Siobhán. It has some alternate pronunciations, too. Saoirse can also be pronounced Seersha, just to muddy the waters further.

 

[thetrooper]

Top of my head; Kenneth, Rene, Roy, Tommy, Ronny, Kim, Jim, Jimmy, Andre, Patrick, Thomas, Glenn, Rune and combos of these -> Jimmy Andre, Glenn Thomas, Jim Ronny, Kim Rune etc. ad nauseam.