Hoping to find help with a baby name

[BonnieGC]

Hi, I was hoping I could find some folks who know the Gaelic language fairly well and could give me a hand with naming my son who's due in late May.

My husband and I are both of Celtic/Gaelic descent and therefore wanted to pass on the naming tradition to our son.

My name is Bonnie.

My husband's name is Phelan.

Since my husband's name means 'wolf' we wanted to name our son after him without making him a Jr.

We like Blaidd but I'm afraid this would doom my son to forever having his name pronounced Blade instead of Blieth. (His father says no one can get his name right so why should his son be any different. )

What we're looking for is either another name or word that means 'Wolf' or perhaps one or a combo of that means 'Wolf Song' or 'Beautiful Wolf'. This can be a first name or a first and middle combination.

We were originally going for Welsh Gaelic but honestly I'd be happy with Scottish Gaelic or any Gaelic at this point for that matter.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing if I receive any responses!

[Scotsgait]

Originally Posted by BonnieGC

My husband and I are both of Celtic/Gaelic descent and therefore wanted to pass on the naming tradition to our son.

The Celtic tradition in Highlands and Islands of Scotland is that the first born son is named after his paternal grandfather.

[Polwarth]

I always thought Phelan was an Irish surname?

[BonnieGC]

First thank you for the responses!

I think when I said naming tradition I meant more along the lines of the name being at least partially rooted in Celtic/Gaelic like his father's and mine. Guess not really much of a "tradition" per say.

We don't want to use anyone in the family's actual name and want to tread off the beaten path a bit and explore a bit of both our family's histories by looking into using the language spoken by some of our ancestors.

As for the name Phelan; from what I could find its Welsh Gaelic in origin and, yes, is usually a surname (probably one of the reasons people are so thrown off by it being his first name.. lol). Honestly I can't be sure since most of my knowledge comes from bits of poking around on the internet.

With the languages being closely related I was mostly hoping to post to a few different boards and see if I could find anyone with a few ideas that has a bit more knowledge about them than an American who lives in Florida.

[Polwarth]

The Welsh, Scots and Irish, whilst closely 'related' are quite different. You cannot expect us to know lots about the Welsh, for instance, or them us.

Bonnie It's how we say something is pretty or beautiful -'that's a bonnie dress', for instance. But I don't speak Gaelic, only Scottish.

According to a cursory Google search, Phelan is an Irish surname. And the meaning doesn't seem to be Wolfish at all!

Gatorade - FamilyEducation.com

[Polwarth]

Although, according to Wiki - it is Irish and the name IS derived from Wolf!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phelan_(surname)


I suspect you might be better to look for an Irish board where people know their own surname and forename history! Whilst we have many names in common, lots are particular to the specific country.

[Cadbren]

Need to point out that modern Celtic languages are divided into two groups. There is the goidelic (Gaelic) group which includes Irish, Scots Gaelic and Manx. There is the brythonic group which includes Welsh, Breton and Cornish. Welsh is not a gaelic language. Blaidd is welsh for wolf which you've already found.
There is a well known Welsh name which was used by various Welsh Princes and that was Bleddyn which seems to mean little wolf.