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for you), you can’t really call them cool. And trendy names ranging from Shane to Sophie, Chloe to Conor are simply too widely used to meet the prerequisites of cool.

      Cool is Diverse

      This is a trickier concept when it comes to names for Irish babies than it is for, say, American or British children, since the coolest names in Ireland are often the least diverse, the most ethnocentrically Irish. Still, Irish names don’t have a monopoly on cool, and some Irish parents may wish to search farther afield for fresh choices. But you don’t have to go too far: names from other Celtic cultures—Scottish and Welsh and Cornish and Breton—might provide the individuality you crave without sacrificing too much tradition. And if your tastes run more towards the pan-cultural Emma and Edward end of the spectrum, we’ve also included here names that are considered cool throughout the rest of an ever-shrinking Europe and across the Atlantic in the USA.

      Cool Goes Beyond Convention

      That’s not to say there aren’t fresh sources for Irish names with cultural resonance. Hero names—borne by politicians and poets and athletes—you might not have considered as first names are one idea. Irish last names are another, and not just the usual suspects such as Kelly and Ryan but O’Brien and Maguire and Sullivan as well. Irish place names can be yet another new locale in which to search for first names. And Irish words can be turned into names, too.

      Cool Draws on Popular Culture

      The world is full of inspiration for cool baby-naming—and more full every day, thanks to the innovative names of characters in films and books and to the names of starbabies and celebrities themselves. In these pages you’ll find a rundown of the coolest names in modern Irish literature and film, and of the stars and their children who influence baby-naming style.

      Don’t Be Afraid of Cool

      When today’s parents were growing up, if you had an unusual name, other kids thought you were a bit odd. But now that the concept of cool permeates culture, with so many people from celebrities to the other kids in the classroom bearing unusual names, children are more apt to admire distinctive names than to ridicule them. Children today are often more accepting than adults of names that are unfamiliar, from different cultures or that cross gender lines.

      There’s More Than One Way to Be Cool

      Cool wouldn’t be cool if it was too regimented. There are cool names to suit any sensibility or level of cool, from the mainstream to the avant-garde. How far you want to go depends on your taste, your sense of adventure, your community. Before you settle at either end of the spectrum or on one particular name, weigh the various options and become comfortable with the brand and level of cool that fits you best.

      Cool Isn’t Everything

      So what if you’re one of those people who realise that a cool name isn’t for you or your child? What if you read this book and find yourself intrigued, entertained, inspired…but in the end a lot more convinced than you realised that you want to give your child a plain, solid and decidedly uncool name such as John or Mary?

      So what indeed. A name is not your personal style statement, a choice with which to impress the world. Rather, you should think of it as something that will identify your child for the rest of his or her life, a label he or she will have to live with forever. You may decide that cool is a desirable component of such a lifelong imprimatur. But then again, you may decide that, when it comes to a name, you want nothing to do with cool (just know you may have to suffer the consequences when your child is a teenager).

      Whether or not you end up with a cool name, you owe it to your baby and your choice of a name to read this book. For one thing, you’ll find hundreds and hundreds of naming options here that you won’t find anywhere else, and that will open your eyes to a way of thinking about names that no other book or source can. And you’ll know for certain, after reading this book, what constitutes a cool name—even if you eventually decide that uncool is cool enough for you.

      I. POP COOL…

       Mainstream Names

       Aoife

       Top of the Lists

      For many people, Irish and others alike, there’s nothing cooler than a popular name. The theory is that a popular name makes a child feel popular—accepted and approved—simply because he or she has a name that’s familiar to all and currently in style. Here then, from the Central Statistics Office in Dublin, are the current Top 50 names in Ireland:

       Boys

      SEÁN DANIEL

      JACK LUKE

      CONOR CIAN

      ADAM MICHAEL

      JAMES JAMIE

      AARON MARK

      DYLAN NATHAN

      THOMAS CIARÁN

      RYAN SAMUEL

      DARRAGH CATHAL

      OISÍN CHARLIE

      MATTHEW ROBERT

      JOHN KYLE

      PATRICK FIONN

      BEN JOSEPH

      DAVID HARRY

      CALLUM CORMAC

      ALEX ANDREW

      SHANE CALUM

      EVAN RORY

      EOIN STEPHEN

      JOSHUA RONAN

      CILLIAN KEVIN

      JAKE NOAH

      LIAM EOGHAN

       Girls

      SARAH MOLLY

      EMMA ROÍSÍN

      KATIE AISLING

      AOIFE SAOIRSE

      SOPHIE ELLIE

      AVA ABBIE

      GRACE MEGAN

      ELLA HOLLY

      LEAH ELLEN

      CLARA ERIN

      AMY NICOLE

      EMILY ÁINE

      LUCY TARA

      CHLOE SHAUNA

      CAOIMHE CLODAGH

      HANNAH RUBY

      RACHEL LILY

      NIAMH KATELYN

      REBECCA ABIGAIL

      JESSICA EVA

      ANNA CAITLIN

      LAUREN ZOE

      KATE EIMEAR

      LAURA SHANNON

      MIA ISABELLE

      And here are the Top Ten in Northern Ireland, reflecting a somewhat more conservative picture:

      JACK KATIE

      JAMES GRACE

      MATTHEW SOPHIE

      DANIEL LUCY

      RYAN EMMA

      THOMAS ELLIE

      ADAM SARAH

      JOSHUA ERIN

      DYLAN

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