Roisin

Róisín is the diminutive of “róis” which is the Irish-Gaelic word for “rose”. As a diminutive, Róisín essentially means “little rose”. While not popular here in the United States, Róisín does quite well as a baby girl’s name of choice in Ireland. The name has averaged around position #27 in the past 10 years on the Emerald Isle. The English equivalent would be Rosie (the diminutive of Rose). Offering additional uniqueness, Róisín is pronounced “RO-sheen” in her Irish-Gaelic tongue. Oddly enough, evidence of Róisín being used as a female first name dates back to the 16th century in Ireland thanks to a famous Irish-Gaelic love song known as “Róisín Dubh” (Little Black Rose). The song was later adopted as a hidden political statement during a period of time when England outlawed patriotic poems and songs in Ireland – the Irish people considered Róisín Dubh as a metaphor for Ireland herself, camouflaging their true patriotism behind a seemingly innocuous love song. Leave it to the Irish to come up a clever way to express themselves under an atmosphere of oppression. It is for this reason that Róisín is not only a lovely name (Little Rose), but it’s one loaded with symbolic meaning and synonymous with the Irish people’s love for their land.