That's Lughaidh to you
Posted: Wed, 18 Jun 2008, 13:36:53, GMT | 1295 views Share
Lughaidh: an ancient Irish name, borne by ten saints; a favourite name among the O'Clerys.
By all accounts, as well as I can figure out, my name should be Lughaidh. I'm home in Boston for a few days, and while rummaging through a closet to find an old copy of Microsoft Office (which is still in hiding, in case you're wondering), I found an old dusty book hidden in the corner. After taking it down, dusting it off, and sneezing a few times, I read its title. "Irish Names for Children" by Patrick Woulfe. Published in 1923 and revised in 1967. I sat down and started at the first chapter.. "the main reason why Irish names are not more frequent at the baptismal font is that parents are seldom acquainted with a sufficient number to enable them to make a satisfactory selection when the occasion arises. Besides, it's not enough to know that a name is Irish. Parents require to know something about the names they give their children, especially if they be new and unfamiliar." (I expect that he's referring to the names being unfamiliar, and not the new child. However, it's unclear from the context.)
In addition to browsing by names, the book also gives a calendar, and suggests a name for each day of the year. The suggested name for my birthday? Lughaidh. My parents chose Terrence. The suggestion for my brother's birthday? They could have chosen between Iarfhlaith, Colman, Lonan, and Faolan. His name? Michael. My sister's birthday? Cuimin or Ciaran. Her name? Margaret. I dare say that I'm speaking for all of us kids that we're pleased the book had been in the corner, gathering dust.
In other exciting semi-Irish news, the Boston Celtics won the NBA championship last night (against the LA Lakers). The series winner is the best out of 7 games, and last night's game was Game 6. While I'm happy they won and clinched the title, I was also a bit sad, because my dad and I had 2 tickets to Game 7, had the series gone that far. That would have been a great experience to attend the final game of the NBA Championships. (But I'm also a lot less poor as a result, so maybe it wasn't all that bad after all!)