Gaelic (help me name the bairnie!)

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Hi Chelsea. The Gaelic form of the name Cary is Ciardha, a derrivitive of Ciar, meaning "dark" (especially appropriate for someone who is dark haired). The Gaelic form of Lynn is spelled Linn and means "waterfall"

Actually, I think a closer translation of "linn" is "pool" as in Dark (or Black) Pool, or Dublin.

[LadyGriffin]

Kirowyn, I am sure I am messing up the spelling, is welsh for a white goddess or something like that. I saw a friend this weekend and her daughter was named Kirowyn. She had to explain how to pronounce her name and the background behind it.

I thought it was very musical and a great name!

Julie

[Squeaky McMurdo]

The Gaelic form of the name Cary is Ciardha

Cerridwen

Kirowyn

Pronunciations?

[davidlpope]

Quote:
The Gaelic form of the name Cary is Ciardha

Quote:
Cerridwen

Quote:
Kirowyn

Pronunciations?

I know it's supposed to be pronounced "ash" but I kind of fell in love with the pronunciation Ays-lin...which is probably how everybody that reads her name will say it anyhow.

Hate to be the naysayer here and not trying to be ugly, but I think you've hit a major problem right on the head...If you can't figure out how to pronounce these names on your own, how do you expect anyone else to?

Scots Gaelic is a completely different language than English with different sounds represented by letters shared by English. Unless one has some knowledge of Scots Gaelic, one wouldn't know that Scots Gaelic "bh" or "mh" (as in Daibhidh) is pronounced as English "v" (Davy). Hence, your child will always have the pronunciation of his name butchered, particularly outside of Scotland.

Why not shoot for Scottish names that are easily recognizable in their English form? James (or Jamie or Seamus or Hamish), Robert (or Rabbie), Alexander (or Alistair), etc./ Catriona, Jean, etc. That seems like it would maybe be better than giving a child a Gaelic name when his/her parents, family, etc. don't speak the "Gaidhlig".

Cordially,

David

[Dixiecat]

but would rather name the baby after his/her grandpa Cary Lynn

Sounds like you already have the name. Lots of variations with that.

Girl:
Carrie-lynn
Carlynn
Carly
etc.

Boy:
Carl
Carlin
etc.

My daughter is named after two great-grandmothers, Eva and Jean = Jeaneva. We pronounce it like the city, Geneva. And while she loves her name and is very proud of it, she gets ticked off that she can't find mugs or pens or key chains with her name, lol.

[Lallans]

If you wanted a variation on Carrie, you could use the gaelic spelling for Kerry, ie, the Irish county, which would be 'Chiarrai'. Of course that would always be pronounced "Cherry" by any English speaker reading it.

[piperdbh]

I've often thought that Callie, short for Caledonia, would be a good girl's name. In fact, I had plans for just such a child with a former ladyfriend. Glad that fell through.

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Hate to be the naysayer here and not trying to be ugly, but I think you've hit a major problem right on the head...If you can't figure out how to pronounce these names on your own, how do you expect anyone else to?

I don't. This is going to be a middle name. Most of society will just use his/her middle initial for anything official so our family tradition of a Gaelic middle name is mostly for us, but if the sound of it is attractive, I have nothing against spelling it like it sounds...my middle name is Louella...a variation of Llewalyn

The first name will be Biblical as is also a family tradition.