Seamus

• This is my son's name. My husband and I knew we wanted a Celtic name (Irish, Scottish, or Welsh), a name that had meaning to us, an unusual name (well unusual in the United States anyways), a *real* name (not a made-up one), and something we liked the sound of. My best friend died in 2004 and his name was James. I knew I wanted to name my first son after him, but James is too common of a name in my opinion. Seamus was perfect to honour him. It fit every criteria we had: it's Celtic, unusual in the United States, we loved the sound of it, and Seamus is the Irish form of James, so it definitely had meaning for us. Shortly after my son was born, I was on a parenting forum and saw another woman who had named her son Seamus. At first I was annoyed (thinking "ugh, I gave my son an unusual name for a reason!"), but I have actually come to like it somewhat. My son is highly unlikely to have more than one Seamus in his school (big plus), but it's not THAT unusual of a name and if he tried hard enough, he could find other boys named Seamus (part of the reason why we wanted a *real* name). Also, I'm fairly certain he'll be the ONLY Seamus Padraig Scott D. in the world. ;-)
• the Gaelic form of "James", and an Irish playwright and journalist in the book "Trinity" by Leon Uris.
• Seamus Lucan: Seamus is a name I've always liked; it's the Irish form of James (a favorite great-uncle). Lucan is an Irish saint's name, and it was also the name of the town where my parents met, according to one family story!

Pronounced /SHAY mus/, Séamus is an Irish form of the name James. Anglicized Shamus, in the USA it was used as a slang term for a private detective from the 40s onward.
See Also: Seumas, James

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