Cíarán

See also: ciaran, Ciaran, ciarán, and Ciarán

Old Irish

Etymology

From cíar (“black”) +‎ -án. Popularized by Irish saints dating back from the 5th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʲiːa̯raːn/

Proper noun

Cíarán m (genitive Cíaráin)

1. a male given name

Declension

Masculine o-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	Cíarán	—	—
vocative	Cíaráin	—	—
accusative	CíaránN	—	—
genitive	CíaráinL	—	—
dative	CíaránL	—	—

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

• ^H = triggers aspiration
• ^L = triggers lenition
• ^N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Irish: Ciarán
  • → English: Ciaran, Keiran, Kieran, Kieron
• → Old Norse: Kjaran
  • Icelandic: Kjaran

Mutation

Mutation of Cíarán

radical	lenition	nasalization
Cíarán	Chíarán	Cíarán pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Corráin, Donnchadh, Maguire, Fidelma (1981) Gaelic Personal Names, Dublin: The Academy Press, →ISBN, page 51
• Patrick Hanks, Flavia Hodges, Kate Hardcastle, editor (2006) “Ciarán”, in A Dictionary of First Names, second edition, Oxford University Press, →ISBN.