The Irish Family History Forum will hold its January meeting on this Saturday morning, with topic under discussion being “Old Irish First Names and Nicknames.” It will be a Zoom-only event, beginning at 10:45. For more details and membership information, go to ifhf.org.
The website says about Saturday’s meeting, “Can’t find an ancestor in the records? First-name aliases could be the root of the problem. Old Irish given names were often disguised by a variety of Latin and English ‘translations’ and nicknames. Our Irish ancestors used these aliases freely, blissfully unaware of the confusion this would create for their descendants centuries later.
“Irene Morgan will discuss Irish first names: how they were pronounced and translated, the culture of use, and most importantly, how they appear in the records. She will explain how Biddy and Delia evolved from Bríd, why Lacky can trip us up, and much more. Morgan, a native Irish speaker, is the resident genealogy writer for Ireland Reaching Out and founder of Irish Quest.”
Looking ahead, on Feb. 15, the topic will be "DNA in Irish Family History," with speaker Claire Bradley, Director of Irish Studies at the International Institute of Genealogical Studies.
