Reader Question: A Native American-Irish Wolf Warrior

HI there,

I saw your website and was wondering if you would be able to help. We are looking for an Irish or Native American name meaning "wolf" or "warrior". We found a few but we couldn't find any with pronunciation help.

Thank you

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Thank you for coming to me for help!

First of all, there's always Wolf if you have a boy. It makes an interesting and straight-forward middle name option. In Irish for boys we have Faolan (FEH-lon or FWAY-lawn), meaning "little wolf," and Phelan (can be pronounced both FAY-lan and FEE-lan), meaning "like a wolf," Conan (KO-nan), meaning "wolf," or Conall (KON-all), meaning "strong wolf." There is also Canagan, which means "wolf cub," Connor, meaning "wolf lover," Maccon (MAK-kon), meaning "son of a wolf," and Conry, meaning "king of wolves." Most Native American wolf names are very hard to pronounce, but one does stand out: Mahigan/Maheegan/Mohegan, "wolf." It is important to note that at times, wolf and warrior are synonymous.

For both girls and boys we also have Seneca, a tribe name meaning "People of the Great Hill," or "old" in Latin. It can be paired with a name meaning wolf to make a wise and elegant "old wolf." There are not any options meaning "wolf" that come from Ireland for girls, though, so it might be a good idea to simply pair an Irish name that you like with a Native American name that you like. Cheyenne (SHAY-enn), Oneida (oh-NY-dah), Tallulah (tah-LU-lah) and Dakota are nice Native American names, and Siobhan (sha-VON), Saoirse (SEER-sha), Caoimhe (KEE-va), Deirdre (DEER-dreh), Fiona, Maeve, Regan, Alannah and Brigid make excellent Irish girl names that are either already well known in America or are becoming more accessible.

As far as warrior names go, here is a really good list that includes pronunciation. http://www.namenerds.com/irish/meaning6.html The names are a little more in depth than just "warrior," so you should really check it out. My favorite name here is Tressa.

Here's more on strong Irish/Gaelic names. For boys, Rowan is one of my favorite names, as are Cashel, Finn, and Alasdair. I like Rowan because I always see tree names as being strong. Adair (meaning oak grove) and Labhras (there is an accent on the second a that I don't know how to type) fall into that category, I believe. I also like Casey (vigilant in war) which has been the name of a lot of male actors, and others I have recently come across that are attractive or rare are Argyle, Lachlan (which means "warrior from the land of the lakes") and Declan, who was an Irish saint. Ryan has always been very popular, but it means "little king." Bearach is practically unheard of, but means "spear." It is pronounced BAHR-ahk/BEHR-ahk.

 For girls, some of my favorites are Fionnuala (white shoulder) pronounced finn-uu-lah, Siobhan, Saoirse, Caoimhe, Alastriona, and a lot of people are really liking Aoife (EE-fa) who was a legendary female warrior, and Aoibheann (EEV-uhn). I also really like the idea of Avalon in the first or middle name spot. Bedelia (meaning "pwer, strength") was a name popular ages ago, so it falls into today's trend of "vintage reborn." And Morrigan is the name of an Old Irish goddess of battle, meaning "great queen."

For other names that mean wolf that are not Irish or Native American, please see this list: 

Names that mean wolf