Irish Sayings & Blessings

How do you pronounce Saoirse? It’s SEER-sha. Watch Saoirse Ronan explain her own name, plus what Saoirse means and how to say other Irish names people get wrong.

Two hearts, a dot for each child and one unbroken line. Here’s what the Celtic motherhood knot means, how to show your children in it, and the honest story of where this modern design came from.

What the Celtic love knot and Serch Bythol mean, how old they really are, the documented love knots of Chaucer, sailors, Welsh lovespoons and Scottish brooches, and how to choose one for a wedding or anniversary.

The Celtic shield knot is sold as the Celtic symbol for protection. The four-cornered shape really is carved on early Irish and British stones, but the name and meaning are modern. Here’s the honest history, with sources.

The Dara knot is named after the Irish oak and stands for strength. The knotwork method is early medieval, but I found no Dara knot before the internet age. Here is the evidence, the oak’s real history, and how it compares to the shield and trinity knots.

Merry Christmas in Irish is Nollaig Shona duit to one person and Nollaig Shona daoibh to a group. Here’s how to say it, how to reply and what to write in a card. You’ll also find the Scottish Gaelic version and 35 Christmas words in Irish.

Over 50 real Irish quotes about life, love, friendship, drink, home and writing, each with the speaker and source. Plus the famous lines Yeats, Wilde and Shaw never said.

The Irish passport gives visa-free access to 186 destinations in 2026. See the most powerful passports, what an Irish passport lets you do, and citizenship through grandparents.

St Patrick wasn’t Irish, Ireland never had snakes, and it’s Paddy, not Patty. Here are 20 myths about Ireland and the Irish, each with what’s actually true and where the truth comes from.

63 Irish toasts for every occasion: classic, funny, for friends, wakes, weddings, birthdays and St Patrick’s Day, plus toasts in Irish with plain pronunciations and the honest story of which “old Irish toasts” are really American, Scottish or English.

Over 120 Irish dog names for boys and girls, each with its meaning and a rough guide to saying it. Gaelic words checked in the dictionary, Fionn’s hounds, pub and place names, and Ireland’s nine native breeds.

Ah, Dry January – the annual attempt to give the liver a holiday and swap pints for pints of water! After the indulgence of Christmas, thousands of people across Ireland …

Time, the great leveller, is both our companion and nemesis. It speeds past us when we’re enjoying ourselves and drags its heels during life’s more trying moments. In Ireland, where …

The best-known Celtic symbols are the Celtic knot (eternity), the Triquetra or Trinity knot (three-in-one), the Celtic cross (faith), the triskele (life, death and rebirth), the Dara knot (strength), the …

57 real Irish proverbs (seanfhocail) in the Irish language, each with a plain pronunciation, a literal translation and the meaning, grouped by life, friendship, work, weather, talk, health and humour, plus where they come from.