Stunning Irish girls' names from lore

Brian Dillon, Irish Star/MSN, 7/11/23; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The first Westerner to become a Buddhist monk was an Irishman (Lawrence Carroll, Lawrence Colvin, or William O'Rourke). He went to the USA then to Asia, to Burma, where he ordained and became Ven. Dhammaloka, having been a hobo (bum) fond of drink, a world traveler, and finally a famous Buddhist in Asia who blazed a trail but passed away, it seems, ignored by history. This enigmatic, free-thinking Dubliner, who used different aliases, is now known as U Dhammaloka [the U is pronounce \oo\ and is an honorific title used for monks], "the Irish Buddhist" who converted to his adopted religion around 1900. He became widely known throughout Asia and in the process managed to fall foul of the colonial British establishment as well as of zealous Christian missionaries. Uncovering Ven. Dhammaloka's incredible story has taken some inspired detective work on the part of UCC Prof. Brian Bocking and his colleagues. And their efforts have not been in vain. The "Lost Irish Buddhist" emerges after all these years as one of the earliest Western Buddhist monks, pre-dating all the others who have claimed the title. Prof. Bocking takes us through his amazing odyssey.

The Children of Lir, Irish folklore (Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty)

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Stunning Irish girls' names from legend and folklore that are popular for naming kids today

I don't want to be Siobhan. I want to be Niamh.

Irish folklore and legend feature epic tales and passionate love stories. In such stories, we find heroines, villains, warrior princesses, enchantresses, and many more characters whose names remain famous to this day.

In fact, one might be surprised how many modern names have roots in Irish mythology, folklore, and legend.

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How many people do we know with these names? Here are some stunning Irish girls' names that appear in folklore and legend.

I'd love to be Siobhan but called Sinead.

[Siobhán (pronunciation: \shiv-von\) has to be the coolest Irish name, though often mispronounced. It's uber Irish. Just ask my daughter. It means "god is gracious" and is as common as John or Sean, being a variant of Johanne, with the diminutive form Sinead. Oh well, it sounds cool anyway.]

Niamh (pronunciation: \neev\ or \nee-av\) The Irish girls' name Niamh means "bright and radiant." It is most known in legend and folklore in the story of Tír na nÓg, or "The Land of Eternal Youth."  She was the beauty who approached Oisín and his father Fionn on her white horse and whisked Oisín away to the magical land.

Did the Irish and Chinese both discover America?

Oisín spent what felt like three years there but when he returned to Ireland, he discovered that it was 300 years.

So when he stepped foot on land, he instantly aged and died. [This is how it is when leaving the plane of this earth for the celestial and infernal worlds, as other legends attest.] More