Irish names starting with O

The O names in brief

• Odharnait · “ORE-nit” · Girl's name · also Ornat, Orna, Odharnaith
  From odhar, 'pale' or 'olive-coloured'. The feminine form of Odhrán, and the name of an Irish saint venerated on 13 November. Shortened to Orna, which is still given.
• Odhrán · “OH-rawn” · Boy's name · also Oran, Odran, Orin
  From odhar, 'dun, sallow, pale-brown' — 'little pale one'. St Odhrán was one of the twelve who sailed with Colmcille to Iona, and the first of them to die there; the island's oldest burial ground, Reilig Odhráin, where Scottish kings were laid, still carries his name.
• Oisín · “uh-SHEEN (also OSH-een)” · Boy's name · also Ossian, Osheen
  From os, 'deer' — 'little deer, fawn'. Son of Fionn and of Sadhbh — the woman who had been a deer, which is why he is 'little fawn'. He followed Niamh to Tír na nÓg, returned three centuries later, and lived just long enough to tell St Patrick the tales of the Fianna.
• Órlaith · “OR-la” · Girl's name · also Orla, Orlagh, Orlaith, Órla
  Ór + flaith, 'golden princess' or 'golden lady'. A genuinely royal name: Órlaith was a niece of Brian Boru, and the annals record several princesses of the name in the 10th and 11th centuries. It vanished for most of a millennium and returned in the 20th century, usually spelled Orla.
• Oscar · “OSS-kar” · Boy's name · also Oscur
  Os + cara, 'deer-lover' or 'friend of deer'. Oscar was Oisín's son and the fiercest of the Fianna, killed at the battle of Gabhra. Macpherson's 'Ossian' carried the name to the Continent, where Napoleon's admiration for the poems led to a king of Sweden being christened Oscar — and Oscar Wilde being named after him.

Also spelled with O

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

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