Irish names starting with B

The B names in brief

• Bairbre · “BAR-bra” · Girl's name · also Barbara, Barbary
  From Greek barbaros, 'stranger' — one who does not speak your language. The Irish form of Barbara, from the third-century martyr who became the patroness of architects and engineers. Woulfe found it common in Connacht.
• Banba · “BAN-uh-va” · Girl's name · also Banbha
  One of the three names of Ireland; the derivation is not settled. Sister of Ériu and Fódla, and the first of the three to meet the Milesians. Each of the three asked that the island be named for her and each was promised it would; Ériu's name won out, and Banba survives as a poetic name for Ireland in verse.
• Barra · “BA-ra” · Boy's name · also Barry, Bairre, Finbarr
  Short form of Fionnbharra, 'fair-headed'. St Finbarr founded the monastery on the marsh that became Cork city (Corcaigh, 'the marsh') and Gougane Barra, the lake source of the Lee where he had his hermitage, still draws pilgrims. He is Cork's patron saint.
• Bearach · “BAR-akh” · Boy's name · also Barry, Berach
  From bear, 'a spear' — or anything with a point on it. A Connacht saint of the sixth century, abbot of Cluain Coirpthe in Roscommon and patron of the O'Hanlys. His Life explains the name as one who takes direct aim and reaches the mark, as with a sword point.
• Bébhinn · “BAY-vin” · Girl's name · also Bevin, Béibhinn, Vivian
  'fair lady' or 'melodious woman'. Borne by Brian Boru's mother and by several medieval princesses, and in the sagas by a giant woman of the Otherworld. It appears in Norse sources too, carried east by the sea-traffic between Dublin and Scandinavia.
• Bláthnaid · “BLAW-nid” · Girl's name · also Blanid, Bláithín, Florence
  From bláth, 'flower' — 'little flower' or 'flower-like'. In the Ulster Cycle, Blathnát betrays her husband Cú Roí to Cú Chulainn — and is thrown from a cliff by the dead man's poet in revenge. The name's real career, though, is as an Irish equivalent of Flora and Florence.
• Blinne · “BLIN-ya” · Girl's name · also Blinne, Moninne
  A form of Moninne, the name of a Louth saint. St Blinne, or Moninne, of Killeavy in County Armagh was one of the earliest Irish women saints, a contemporary of Brigid; her holy well on Slieve Gullion is still visited.
• Bran · “BRAN” · Boy's name · also Brann
  'raven'. Bran was one of Fionn's two great hounds (a transformed nephew, in some tellings) and 'The Voyage of Bran' is one of the earliest Irish accounts of a journey to the Otherworld across the sea.
• Breandán · “BREN-dawn” · Boy's name · also Brendan, Brendán
  Probably from a Welsh word for 'prince'; not from bran, 'raven'. St Brendan the Navigator sailed west from Kerry in a hide boat looking for the Isle of the Blessed, and the medieval bestseller 'Navigatio Sancti Brendani' described what he found. Tim Severin's 1976 voyage proved a leather curragh really can reach Newfoundland.
• Breasal · “BRASS-al” · Boy's name · also Brasil, Basil
  From an old Celtic word for strife or war. An Irish saint whose feast day was 18 May, and a name common among the O'Kellys and O'Maddens of Connacht. The mythical Atlantic island Hy-Brasil is not named for it, whatever the maps suggest.
• Brian · “BREE-an” · Boy's name · also Bryan, Brión, Bernard
  Possibly 'noble' or 'high'; disputed. Brian Bóruma, Brian Boru, rose from an obscure Munster dynasty to claim the high kingship of all Ireland and died victorious at Clontarf in 1014, praying in his tent. His name became so bound up with greatness that the O'Briens took it as their surname.
• Bríd · “BREEJ” · Girl's name · also Bridget, Brigid, Breda, Bridie
  From Brighid, probably 'exalted one'. The name of both a goddess and a saint. Brigid the goddess governed poetry, smithcraft and healing, and her feast, Imbolc (1 February), marked the start of spring; Brigid of Kildare, the abbess, inherited the day, the flame and much of the reverence.
• Brónach · “BROH-nakh” · Girl's name · also Bronagh, Brona
  From brón, 'sorrow' — 'sorrowful'. St Brónach of Kilbroney in County Down was invoked by sailors; her ancient bell, rung for centuries and then lost, was found hanging in an oak tree — the 'bell in the tree' that gave rise to local legends of ghostly ringing.

Also spelled with B

Listed on the atlas under another spelling, but the B form is the one many families carry — they are the same name.

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