A snippet of Irish mythos

[annathepiper]

Not surprisingly, there are Irish-related quizzes going around LJ today. I did the "What's Your Irish Name" one, told it I'm Anna and a girl, and it told me my Irish name is 'Eimear Sheridan'. I went, 'Wait, Eimear is a girl's name? It looks like Eomer!' (I'm a rider of Rohan? I could deal!) ellerisse countered, 'Elmer! :D' (Be vewy quiet! I'm hunting Iwishmen!)

Anyway, I Googled the name, and found this over on babynamesofireland.com:

Eimear possessed the "Six Gifts of Womanhood" – "beauty, a gentle voice, sweet words, wisdom, needlework and chastity!" She was bethrothed to the warrior Cuchulainn (read the legend) when they were children and they loved each other very deeply. But Cuchulainn had "a wandering eye" and Eimear endured this, realizing "everything new is fair," but when he made love to Fand, wife of the sea god Manannan, Eimear confronted the lovers. After seeing the strength of Fand's love she offered to withdraw. Touched by this display of unselfishness, Fand left Cuchulainn and returned to the sea. When Cuchulainn died Eimear spoke movingly and lovingly at his graveside.

The Gaelic form, it seems, is Eimhear. I rather like that. I may have to use it at some point.

Your Irish Name Is...

Eimear Sheridan

What's your Irish Name?

Comments

Does this mean he'll bring me Waterford crystal?

[firni.livejournal.com]

One of Conor's middle names:

From dag "good" and lan "full" suggesting "full of goodness." St. Declan was the founder of a monastery at Ardmore in County Waterford and may have preached in Ireland before the arrival of St. Patrick. Many miracles are attributed to a rock on the beach at Ardmore known as St. Declan's Stone. According to legend, on a trip back from Wales one of his disciples, Runanus, forgot Declan's sacred bell. But a prayer from Declan and, miraculously, the stone carried the bell over the waves back to Waterford.

P.S. My results

[firni.livejournal.com]

Isobel Brennan?

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

It says my Irish name is Fiona Butler, but I'm pretty sure it's Catie Murphy. :)

[annathepiper]

*snicker* Yeah, that's already pretty damned Irish. ;)

[gerimaple.livejournal.com]

i got "Clara Clarke". yours and elfmaid's are much niftier. OTOH, a non-remarkable pseudonym like that might come in handy some day.

[annathepiper]

I do, I think, have a future use for the name Eimhear. But it'll depend on whether I ever get to write more books to go with Faerie Blood. ^_^

"Clara Clarke" sounds like she ought to be a fifties-era reporter or something!

Re: Does this mean he'll bring me Waterford crystal?

[annathepiper]

Well, I submit that providing Waterford crystal to one's mother would live up to the name's meaning "full of goodness". ;)

Re: P.S. My results

[annathepiper]

Yep, that's Irish!

[janne.livejournal.com]

Sinead Clarke for me. Sure seem to be a lot of Clarkes around :)

Re: Does this mean he'll bring me Waterford crystal?

[firni.livejournal.com]

His other middle name is "Mack", meaning "son". I'm not very original. Wait, I mean my family isn't very original, as that's a family name (I slipped the name on the birth certificate in honor of my uncle who died in his early 50s).

[annathepiper]

And yet, I'm the only Sheridan! Hee hee. Maybe I'm an ancestor of John "Starkiller" Sheridan! ;)

Eeep!

[leian.livejournal.com]

I thought this was rather nifty (particularly seeing your snippet on the associations/origin of your name) but I discovered that everytime you submit, you get a different result.

That somehow dampened my enthusiasm. I guess I hadn't realized it was a random generator rather than some sort of lookup based on input! (chagrin)

Re: Eeep!

[annathepiper]

Yeah, it definitely seems to be a random generator. Even if you enter the same name twice. Oh well. :)

Still, I do like 'Eimhear'. :)

Re: Does this mean he'll bring me Waterford crystal?

[annathepiper]

*giggle* My family recycles names, too. My little brother's certainly doing that with his pack of younguns.

Re: Does this mean he'll bring me Waterford crystal?

[firni.livejournal.com]

I'm recycled! My first name is my maternal grandmother's middle name, which was HER maternal grandmother's first name.

Too bad my mitochondrial DNA is a dead-end, not having given birth to a daughter.

Re: Eeep!

[leian.livejournal.com]

As do I! :D

Re: Eeep!

[annathepiper]

I shall look forward to figuring out how someone of this name will show up in a story. ^_^

Re: Does this mean he'll bring me Waterford crystal?

[annathepiper]

Doh! Well, if Connor ever has a daughter, maybe you could make him swipe your paternal grandmother's name for her? ^_^