Boy's name
Pádraig
“PAW-drig”
IPA: /ˈpˠɑːd̪ˠəɾˠɪɟ/
from Latin patricius, 'nobleman'
Why it is said that way
The fada makes a long aw and the ai before the g is slender: PAW-drig. Pádraic and Pádraig are both used.
- dh, gh → silent, or a soft y at the start
- á é í ó ú (the fada) → a long vowel — and never optional
The story behind the name
Patrick was a Roman Briton, kidnapped at sixteen and enslaved as a shepherd in Ireland, who escaped, took orders and came back to the country that had held him. His own Confessio survives — one of the very few personal voices from 5th-century Europe. Pádraig Pearse read the Proclamation at the GPO in 1916.
Its age
Associated with AD 432 — Patrick & the Rise of the Uí Néill.
See Ireland in that year on the atlas ↗
Meanings follow Ó Corráin & Maguire's Irish Names and Woulfe; pronunciations give the commonest Irish-English form. Know this name better — a dialect pronunciation, a family tradition? Tell us. · All Irish names A–Z · The day named for him