Names for a large Scottish-Irish family

[annie85]

I'm writing a story that starts in the 30's and goes until the present (or thereabouts). The main character is Emmett McCarty, and he's from a large Scottish-Irish family. He's the baby of the family, the youngest of eight children, and I'm struggling with the names of his family members. Mainly, I need names for his parents and siblings.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

[lucykate219]

For the parents, I'd go with something old school. I live in Ireland and some of the more common "mom and dad" names include:

Mary, Eileen, Fiona, Margaret, Catherine nn Kay, Anne, Maureen, May, Aileen, Pauline, Patricia, Joan and Bernatte.

John, Frank, Timothy, Paul, Micheal nn Mick/Mike, Padraig/Patrick nn Pat, Noel, Joseph nn Joe.

For the children, I'd go with Irish names that haven't quite made it mainstream in the USA yet, such as:

Aoife, Ciara, Alva, Aideen, Niamh, Aine, Roisin, Evanna, Orla, Saoirse, Aoibheann, Caoimhe/Keeva, Cate, Maeve/Meabh, Sinead, Emer, Aisling or Nessa.

Cillan/Killian, Cian, Liam, Cathal, Oisin, Colm/Callum, Owen, Kieran/Ciaran, Ruairi/Rory, Darragh/Dara.

Hope that helped

[michaela]

Suggestions;

Mum and dad;

Mary Catherine and Dermot John McCarty


Children:

Ciaran John McCarty
Daniel Eoin McCarty
Maria Catherine McCarty
Patrick Kelly McCarty
Fiona Kay McCarty
Roisin Abigail McCarty
Andrew Sean McCarty
and Emmett Francis McCarty

[annie85]

@ lucykate219 & michaela: Some of those names feel a little too...modern. The early part of the story is set during the Great Depression, in rural Tennessee, so Ciaran, Roisin, Saoirse, Aisling might be a bit too out there, at least for this particular family.

[michaela]

ok, I'll give this another go...

Emmett McCarty...

Gerard
Gerald nn Gerry
Kevin
Hugh
Brian
Kenneth
Cahal/Cathall
Charles
Colin
David
Desmond
Eamon
Edmund
Alan
Alasdair
Alec


Evelyn
Aine
Brigid or Bridget
Bronagh
Kathleen
Catriona or Catherine
Clare
Colleen
Deirdre
Eileen
Eithne
Enya
Finola
Grainne
Maeve
Mairead
Sheila
Sinead
Siobhan

[lucykate219]

Hmm, I see. I understand why you'd feel like that when those names are only becoming popular in the UK/USA now, but those names have been popular here since before the Great Famine (1845) so they are really old, and would have been used back then.
Some other ideas:

Noreen
Maureen
Fionnula
Eithne
Mary
Maire (Mara)
Elsa
Doreen
Nora
Eileen
Eilis (Eye-leash)
Bridgit

[negaiboshi]

Because it's set in Tennessee, I think it's fair to guess that the names don't all have to be Scottish or Irish in origin. I believe Emmett is German, though it sounds like it would fit in with Irish names. I checked some popular names for the time period, maybe some of them you'll like?

Robert
John
Eugene
Calvin
Russell
Marvin
Edwin
Frederick
Leon
Cecil
Dean
Gene
Glen
Morris
Patrick
Edmund
Ivan
Merle
Allan

Mary
Dorothy
Evelyn
Irene
Lillian
Catherine
Edith
Hazel
Vivian
Elsie
Marilyn
Rosemary
Leona
Georgia
Mabel
Sara
Miriam
Estelle
Laverne
Eloise
Victoria
Adeline

Hopefully that can be of some help.

[samipants]

Hugh, Mairead, Maire, John and Patrick would be some of the best for that time.
I don't think you could not have some form or other of Mary if its Irish, and John or Sean too.

I don't know much in the way of Scottish names, so I'm no use their.
My own (Irish) Grand parents who would have being born around the 30s are Felix and Annie(who has been called Nancy her whole life) and Maureen(mo) and Joseph.

Hope that helped you.