Pointless debate about names gender etc

**the scout** · 19/03/2004, 6:56 PM

Originally posted by Aberdonian Stu

you need to be one hell of a dufus to not know that it's a guy's name. [/B]

well said aberdonian stu

**SÓC** · 22/03/2004, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by eoinh

Sean and Eoin (as well as Eanna) are unique (like all names). There really are no translations. Eoin means Eoin. John means John. I suspect that by saying Eoin means John that they were trying to tie an Irish name to a christian name.

I mean what does Tadgh translate as?

BTW all names like John, George etc arent strictly english.

John is an Aramaic name (as are most names in the Bible).

Yea true to an extent but John, as you say is Aramaic but Seán is a form of it.

John (English/Aramaic) Jean (French) Seán (Celtic) Juan (Spanish). You can see how they came from each other.
Just as Eoin, Owen and Iain are the same Celtic name just spelt or pronounced different in each country.

Eoin is the name given to everyone in the Bible as Gaeilge who was called John in the English version. Dont know why, what the link was though.

What an odd thread.

**Éanna** · 22/03/2004, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by sadloserkid

To be fair to him he wasn't afraid to chat to the ladies (in particular my ex) when he popped into my birthday celebrations last week.

i was just makin conversation

**the 12 th man** · 22/03/2004, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by Éanna

i was just makin conversation

first time i ever heard it called that before

**Paddy Ramone** · 22/03/2004, 1:49 PM

Originally Posted by eoinh

Sean and Eoin (as well as Eanna) are unique (like all names). There really are no translations. Eoin means Eoin. John means John. I suspect that by saying Eoin means John that they were trying to tie an Irish name to a christian name.

I mean what does Tadgh translate as?

BTW all names like John, George etc arent strictly english.

John is an Aramaic name (as are most names in the Bible).

Eoin is a Christian name actually. It was the Gaelic name used for the biblical John which is Johannes in Latin. It only dates back to Christian times. The Irish didn't call their children directly after saints prefering to use the prefixes Giolle (Gille) meaning servant or lad or Maola also meaning servant or monk. This is where the surname Malone (O Maol Eoin) came from.

Iain is the Scots Gaelic version of Eoin and the surname MacLean (Mac Gille Iain) is derived from it. John is derived ultimately from the Hebrew Johannan and George is Greek. Sean is the Gaelic version of the English John and isn't as old as Eoin. Real English names are names like Edwin and Edward which date back to Anglo-Saxon times.

Tadhg was translated to Timothy. Maybe this is how Celtic got their nickname. Tague a derogatory name for an Irish Catholic who came to Glasgow as Tims.

**eoinh** · 22/03/2004, 2:20 PM

Originally Posted by Paddy Ramone

Eoin is a Christian name actually. It was the Gaelic name used for the biblical John which is Johannes in Latin. It only dates back to Christian times.

Yeah but they only "tied" it to a christain name. If christainity or the english had never come to ireland you would still have eoin in ireland and john in england with no connection between them.

Its not the same as changing something subtly like Corcaigh to Cork.

BTW Dublin obviously come from Dubh Linn - "Blackpool". So why is Dublin known in Irish as Baile Ath Cliath - that means something totally different.

John or a version of john must have exisited before christian times as one of the disciples was called john. Jesus and the jews in that region spoke aramaic not hebrew.

**John83** · 22/03/2004, 2:24 PM

Originally Posted by eoinh

Yeah but they only "tied" it to a christain name. If
BTW Dublin obviously come from Dubh Linn - "Blackpool". So why is Dublin known in Irish as Baile Ath Cliath - that means something totally different.

Always thought that was a bit silly alright. Dubh Linn isn't as clumsey either.

I've been told that BAC is the old Irish name, while Dubh Linn is what the Vikings called it. Or something like that - it's been years.

**Paddy Ramone** · 22/03/2004, 2:50 PM

Originally Posted by eoinh

Yeah but they only "tied" it to a christain name. If christainity or the english had never come to ireland you would still have eoin in ireland and john in england with no connection between them.

As far as I know Eoin is a Gaelic Chrisitian name. The Gaelic monks must have used as the Gaelic version of Johannes the Latin version of John. I could be wrong. I don't think there is any evidence of it in Ireland before St Patrick came. There were certainly no Seans until the English came hence Seanin pronunced Shoneen which means Wes Brit. Sean is is just a Gaelic version of John the most common Englidsh Christian name.

Originally Posted by eoinh

John or a version of john must have exisited before christian times as one of the disciples was called john. Jesus and the jews in that region spoke aramaic not hebrew.

Obviously the Hebrew Johannan a did exist before Christian times. The Jews kept Hebrew as the language for scripture but spoke Aramaic. John is a just an anglicized version of the Latin variant Johannes which was derived from the Greek version Ioannes which ultimately comes from Hebrew.

**Paddy Ramone** · 22/03/2004, 3:52 PM

Originally Posted by SÓC

Yea true to an extent but John, as you say is Aramaic but Seán is a form of it.

John (English/Aramaic) Jean (French) Seán (Celtic) Juan (Spanish). You can see how they came from each other.
Just as Eoin, Owen and Iain are the same Celtic name just spelt or pronounced different in each country.

Eoin is the name given to everyone in the Bible as Gaeilge who was called John in the English version. Dont know why, what the link was though.

Eoin was the original Irish version of the biblical John as I said before. Sean is only a Gaelicicized version of the English John.

There's also a distinction between Eoghan the Irish for Eugene and Eoin the Irish for John even though they're pronounced the same. Ewan and Owen are the same as Eoghan. Iain and Iuan are the same as Eoin.

**Paddy Ramone** · 23/03/2004, 8:40 AM

Originally Posted by Kenetic

Just asked my mate Éanna for his translation and Enda is what he gave.

I think Enda is just an Anglicized version of Eanna like Donald is an Anglicized version of Domnaill and Sean is a Gaelicized version of John (no J in Irish). Non-Irish speakers found it easier to pronounce Eanna as Enda. The Gaelic version came first.

**Éanna** · 29/03/2004, 12:11 PM

yeah, Enda is often given as the translation but its just a get-out clause for people who are too lazy to pronounce the name properly- something that really bugs the crap outta me.