Irish you would read my post!

Haha, that was a good one, right? ... right? ...ahem.. moving on.

I couldn't let this sunny St. Patrick's Day slide on by without a post on some of my most favorite names, Irish names! I've got Irish music playing (channel 933 if you have Comcast, sounds of the season channel!) and Irish Soda Bread right out of the oven (I hope someday for smell-o-vision, I could share how heavenly is smells in here!)  So lets talk Irish. Conas ata tu? Ok, that's all I know how to say in Irish, it means "how are you?" I'll get back to names.

Some Irish names are ones we hear all the time these days, very popular in the US. Here are a few of those, maybe you didn't know they were Irish?

Aidan                                                Eileen

Sean                                                  Erin

Owen                                                Neve

Keegan                                             Quinn

Desmond                                          Kelly 

Brian

Connor

So those are some nice Irish names, but I'm kind of a name nerd (ya think?) and I like love the more, well, interesting ones. Not all of these are suited for first first names here in the US, because no one will ever know how to pronounce or spell them, and you don't want that sort of trouble for your kiddo. But that doesn't mean they are super cool names! Here's my faves:

Brennan                                        Ainsley

Ciaran                                           Caoimhe

Declan                                          Ciara

Donovan                                       Deirdre

Doran                                            Fiona

Einri                                               Kiera

Finnegan                                      Liadan

Finley                                            Maeve

Keane                                            Maire

Kelan                                             Naomh

Kieran                                            Rowan

Riordan                                          Saoirse

Rory                                               Siobhan

Seamus                                           

Teague

So many good names! See what I mean though, some of those are pretty tricky to figure out how to pronounce! For example, Saoirse is "seer-sha" and Maire is "My-ree." Both beautiful names, but maybe as a middle name, yes?

Did I miss any of your favorite Irish names? Let me know!

It's National Middle Name Pride Day!

Now here's my kind of national holiday! Let's celebrate names, and why not the middle one? It's so overlooked by the world, but many parents agonize over the perfect one. It just sorta hangs out there, waiting to be needed or noticed...

I love middle names. What a great way for a parent to throw a little pizazz into a child's name. Maybe you have the name you just love but worry it's too different or can be easily teased, so you don't want to use it as a first name. Bam, middle name! Maybe you want to honor a family member who's so very close to you, but the name just really isn't your style? Bam, middle name! Or maybe you just like the sound of the name sandwiched between the first and last, that's fine too. You can do just about anything with a middle name.

One thing I found myself worried about for a very short while with my daughter's middle name (Wren) is that I found it on a middle name list someone referred to as "filler names." I was like what? Wren is a filler? Since when? I don't think it is, but then I realized that "fillers" are ok! There is absolutely nothing wrong with using "filler" names like James, Marie, Rose, William. Those are all solid names, and if you love how they flow with your child's first and last name, then go ahead! Don't let people convince you that they're boring names. If you love it, it's not boring, it's perfect :)

So take some time to think about your middle name today. Where did it come from? How is it special? Tell me about in the comments if you'd like! Do you love it or hate it?