About celtic (irish) names
Full Gaelic orthography rules here: "Deamán Ó Maoilriáin" wears the Ó of a son's line while "Caitlin Nic Niocaill" and "Samthann Uí Bradáin" show how the prefix changes for daughters and wives. That grammar means one family yields several surname shapes, a detail worth keeping if you build an Irish clan across generations. Best for medieval Ireland, myth retellings, or Gaeltacht-set fiction.
How celtic (irish) names are built
This set assembles by sex from four banks. Men join a forename from a 609-entry bank to a surname from a 732-entry bank (Roibhilín Ó Maolmhuire, Ceallach Mac Giolla Chúda); women take a forename from a 396-entry bank and a surname from a 1,200-entry bank (Máen Mhic Gáibhín).
Roibhilín Ó Maolmhuire
Roibhilín (male forename) + Ó Maolmhuire (male surname)
Máen Mhic Gáibhín
Máen (female forename) + Mhic Gáibhín (female surname)
Ceallach Mac Giolla Chúda
Ceallach (male forename) + Mac Giolla Chúda (male surname)
Naming notes
The male and female surname banks are kept separate because the surname forms differ by sex: male surnames carry the Ó and Mac forms, female surnames carry the Ní, Nic and Mhic forms, drawn from distinct pools. Forenames keep Irish-language orthography with accents (Roibhilín, Ceallach, Máen). This is the Irish-language set, distinct from an anglicised one.
Questions about celtic (irish) names
- Why do men and women get different surname banks?
- Male surnames are drawn from the 732-entry male surname bank (Ó and Mac forms) and female surnames from a separate 1,200-entry bank (Ní, Nic and Mhic forms), so the surname matches the chosen gender.
- Why are the spellings full of accents?
- Forenames are stored in Irish-language orthography (Roibhilín, Ceallach, Máen) rather than anglicised spellings.
- How large is the combination space?
- Male output draws 609 forenames against 732 surnames, female output 396 forenames against 1,200 surnames, so pairings rarely repeat.