Green Ireland … Homeland of clover, heather fields, castles, mysterious marshes, the amazing beauty of the bays, aromatic coffee and ginger ale. How much magic, charm and beauty in this emerald country, which can not be amazed ?!
The people of the country of fairy tales
No state can simply exist without its own people. The Irish are completely unique in this respect. Who has not heard of their famous St. Patrick's Day? Who did not admire their folk dances, let alone fairy tales and legends full of puzzles, secrets and magic?
And how many famous, outstanding people come from an emerald country? Let's list some Irish names. Take at least the eternal James Bond - Pierce Brosnan. The actor was born and raised in the city of Drogheda.
Natives of Ireland are the handsome men Killian Murphy and Colin Farrell. It was here that Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and, of course, Jonathan Swift, who gave Gulliver the world, were born.
The most famous Irish names
Perhaps there is no person in the world who is not familiar with the tragic, but at the same time beautiful love story of Tristan and Isolde. Everyone admires their loyalty and courage, but few know that both of these names are traditional for Ireland.
Another example of this kind is the name Patrick. Yes, it is very popular thanks to St. Patrick, to whom a special holiday is dedicated. They venerate this saint, dressing themselves in green clothes, using the symbolism of clover and visiting pubs, but this was not always the case. Initially, Patrick was paid solely by prayer. By the way, since we are talking about this figure of Irish culture, it should be noted that originally St. Patrick's name was Sukkat.
Few people know, but such common and long-established names as John, Rory, or Charles are originally Irish.
Why do we know little about Irish names
Say what you like, but to this day relatively little information has come about which names are characteristic of the people of Ireland. In this case, we have in mind the fact that traditional names and surnames having an original origin are extremely rare.
And this happened because for a very long time England had an extremely powerful influence on the culture of Ireland, which led to the desire of the people to give their children traditional British names.
Recall that modern inhabitants of moorlands and emerald fields are direct descendants of the ancient Celts. Nevertheless, by the 17th century, the original culture under the influence of England was almost forgotten.
Today, however, a completely opposite tradition is observed - more and more Irish people turn to the historical memory of their people. They are interested in folklore, study their history and give children Irish names, or rather, Celtic.
Features of the names of the country of leprechauns and ale
Of course, every country, every nation has its own concept of a name. Ireland is no exception. A characteristic feature of the names of this people can be called their semantic content.
Of course, in the most general sense, we can say that any name has a certain meaning, regardless of the nationality that uses it. Yes it is. Nevertheless, Irish names and their meanings in this regard are something very special.
The thing is that the Celts were originally distinguished by their unwavering faith in the power of the word, and therefore treated him with reverence and utmost caution. Each name, each name of the city not only meant something important in them, but also gave the person or territory strength, certain magical properties, endowed with certain features.
That is why almost all the original Irish names have a specific translation. In the Russian tradition, for example, this is represented by just a few examples, the most striking of which will be the names Vera, Hope and Love. For clarity, we note that a distinctive feature of this kind of name is that their primary meaning is not lost and is easily understood by any native speaker.
Surnames of the people of the country of clover
If we are considering Irish names in this article, the list of which is diverse, we should pay attention to the names of this amazing people. Moreover, it's worth it.
For example, to recall the traditional form "I am such and such, the son of such and such, the grandson of such and such …". So, this is just the traditional Irish formula for naming a surname. Initially, its main function was to determine the relationship to a particular genus.
Naturally, such a long and rather complicated design was not convenient for use, therefore, obeying the omnipotent law of saving speech effort, the Irish gradually began to shorten their names and reduce them to specific meanings. Nevertheless, the echoes of the tradition of listing the family tree still remained in the form of adding the prefixes O 'and Mack.
Modern Irish first and last names will become clearer if we clarify the meaning of the prefixes themselves, which they love to use.
The prefix O ', for example, literally means "grandson." Thus, the surname O 'Henry means attribution to a particular genus, the founder of which had such a surname. By the way, this could also be a name that has experienced a certain semantic transformation over time.
As for the prefix Mack, its direct meaning is expressed in the word "son."
Names of Irish Men
Let's start with the names that are heard. The famous British actor Alan Rickman admires a good half of the fair sex around the world. Few people know, but in the Celtic tradition his name means "beautiful." Perhaps this partially explains his success.
Remember the story of how Arthur managed to take Excalibur out of stone? So, this is also not without reason, because his name literally means "strong as a bear." "Coincidence!" - you say. Maybe…
Irish masculine names are almost all associated with strength, courage and intelligence. For example, a name like Angus means “a very strong man”, and the name Art means “stone”. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it was the representatives of the stronger sex who from ancient times were supposed to protect their family, country and be a support for the state.
Nevertheless, there are Irish names for men and much milder meanings. Bedvir, for example, is “knowledgeable, ” and Eogan is “born of a yew tree.”
The name Tristan, which was mentioned earlier, by the way, means "bold."
About the fairer sex
With men, everything is more or less clear. Pay attention to the Irish female names. Like the stronger sex, the ladies of Ireland have names that speak. Their semantics is more focused on fragility, femininity and beauty, rather than on strength or courage. The name Ain, for example, means "radiance, " and Kinney translates as "beauty."
The well-known, in principle, the name Rowena carries the semantics of prettiness, and the name Shayla means "fairy woman."
Irish female names are distinguished by the fact that they give their owners additional properties, thereby determining their fate.
Speaking of fate, we recall the famous actress Sirsha Ronan, whose name means "freedom". A person familiar with the filmography of a girl can easily identify a parallel between the roles and semantics of the name.
