Names similar in style to Brenna..

[katemcnamelover]

Looking for names of Irish origin, but not with the traditional tough to pronounce Irish spellings (I'm intrigued by them but hubby likes the more modern touch.. at least we agree on Irish). My daughter's name Brenna is the exact kind of style we're looking to achieve.

This is where it gets hard... I don't want a name beginning with "M" or "B". Also, would prefer not to have a name ending in "n" or "a"... This pretty much leaves the "y" or "ie" ending. Tough one in the Irish world!

I could break on the rule about the endings if I find the perfect name.

Names that we're considering so far but are not sold on:

Neely

Cory/Corie

Thanks for the help

[maripal]

I love the name Brenna! I have a son named Brennan, or I would consider Brenna for our first daughter. Yes, it is hard to find an Irish name that fits that style, especially for girls, I think. Clare is nice... How about Tierney? Kerry? Nora? (though that ends in A...)

[stephaniebrooke]

I love the names Caoimhe, Aine and Saoirse, but the obvious difficulty would be pronunciation. The first two could easily be changed to phonetic spellings of Keeva and Anya though.

Some others that break your rules but are much easier to pronounce:
Bellamy
Fallon
Finola

[stripedsocks]

Kathleen/Caitlin is pretty much the gold-standard Irish-but-approachable-and-known. These are my two favourite spellings but there's a bunch of them. Caitlin is pretty traditional and I massively prefer ones without the trendy -lyn ending.

Rosaleen is a very old Anglicization of Roisin that makes it straightforward but Rosaleen is like the opposite of Caitlin in terms of popularity - this could be good or bad. It was used as a allegory for Ireland in the poem Dark Rosaleen.

Erin is of course not actually-Irish as much as it is American-Irish-missing-home, but I like it.

I realize these all have -n on the end, please don't kill me!

Aisling has an okay ending but not a straightforward pronunciation - it's like Ash-ling. I really love it though.

Wait, wait! There's Clare. Clare is very, very Irish thanks to County Clare which is itself named after St. Clare. And its simple as it gets, spelling/pronunciation-wise. A favourite of mine, along with Caitlin.

Brenna and Clare?

[katemcnamelover]

Of course, my little girl is Brenna Claire! So Clare is off the table as well.. Ha, I really screwed myself! Thanks for all suggestions so far.. and keep em coming! Maybe I should drop all rules? Just any names of Irish origin please, but maybe keep to the anglicized versions if you don't mind?

Also.. any thoughts on Neely? I'm not totally sold on it, but I wasn't on Brenna at first either.. and that's more than grown on me! I thought it was similar in style to Brenna but maybe it's too... I don't know?

[stripedsocks]

I like Nora, which I've known on some Irish immigrants, more than Neely, but it ends in -a?

I think Maeve could work well depending on how strong your M-aversion is? Maeve is relatively simple to pronounce, too, and flatters Brenna without being "more of the same" iykwim. I also like Moira which feels very Irish to me, but it's also very vintage and not everyone's taste.

Deirdre is one I love but my Irish-Aussie husband finds it too old.

A couple pages from a UK site that might be helpful, or not:
http://www.britishbabynames.com/blog...sy-celtic.html
http://www.britishbabynames.com/blog...ky-celtic.html

I did see some goodies but I maybe have a higher tolerance for weird due to being used to it - my husband is carrying on about how he wants Niamh and Siobhan for girls and Eoin for a boy.

[amandas1536]

What about Keely? Keely Jane would be adorable with brenna claire

[goodkarmavt]

I know a Riley and Brennan. G/B sibset.

Logan and Delaney also fit your rules.

[elska]

I thought Bellamy was french.

Anyways, I like Neely a lot. Kelly is nice too although it's traditionally masculine in Ireland.

[spring13]

Keeley/Kaileigh
Ailish
Casey
Emer
Molly
Maeve
Neve
Shea/Shay