#167 | A Fiadh By Any Other Name: The 2020 Baby Names

At the end of February, the CSO released the 2020 baby name statistics and after a long run, Emily is no longer the top girl name in Ireland. How should we interpret this? What does it mean for existing Emilys, especially the ones who rejoiced in the name before it became so popular in the noughties? Grace is the new top name, but how much of that is a global anglophone phenomenon and how much it is linked to its Irish associations – Grace Gifford and the song that bears her name, for example?

And what about Fiadh, the breakthrough Irish language name of the last decade – what kicked that off?

In this week’s episode, Darach, Gearóidín and Peadar discuss the latest baby name stats and try to get to the bottom of it all. We hear from an Emily (@EmilyAM) who describes the process of watching one’s name go from unique to ubiquitous. We hear from Sophie and Jen of the Mother of Pod podcast about the considerations when picking names.

And we hear about Peadar’s dirty secret.

Check out Sophie White’s new book “Corpsed” published by Tramp Press.

 

—

Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach

Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/

—

Contact the show:

whatsapp – +353894784713

twitter – @motherfocloir and @theirishfor

email – [email protected]

—

Want to record your own podcast? Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie