Celtic Name Generator
Generate authentic Celtic names — Irish Gaelic, Welsh, and broadly Celtic given names with traditional surnames, for historical fiction and Celtic-influenced fantasy.
Generate Celtic Names
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Celtic names in fiction
Celtic names span several distinct traditions: Irish Gaelic (the largest and most widely used in fiction), Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, Cornish, and Manx. While these languages are related, their naming conventions differ substantially — an Irish name like Ciarán has a Welsh equivalent (Kieran) and they're not interchangeable without anachronism or cultural imprecision.
Irish and Scottish Gaelic names are often challenging for English-speaking readers to pronounce from spelling alone: Aoife is EE-fa, Caoimhe is KEE-va or KWEE-va, Siobhán is shih-VAWN. Whether to include pronunciation guidance in your fiction depends on your audience and your narrative voice.
Irish surnames
Traditional Irish surnames typically begin with Ó (grandson of) or Mac/Mc (son of), with feminine forms ní (daughter of Ó) and nic (daughter of Mac). O'Brien, O'Connor, O'Sullivan are anglicised forms of Ó Briain, Ó Conchobhair, Ó Súilleabháin. The anglicisation often obscures the original meaning — O'Sullivan, for instance, means dark-eyed descendant.