OK, this is scary

[rolanni]

It's always startling when I'm reminded how much more my back-brain knows than I do. From BabyNamer:

"Keleigh: Its source is Ceallach, an Irish Gaelic name meaning "Strife, war"."

Comments

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

I'd prefer to think of "Ceili" (KAY-lee) - a dance or party

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9ilidh

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

The noun form anyway. The verb form of ceilidh (that's the scottish gaelic spelling anyway) means 'to visit'.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I didn't know about the verb form, thanks for increasing my knowledge.

Thinking about the number of clan wars, a 'visit' may not have been all that different from strife and war *g*...

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

Céilidh seems to be more linked to gossiping than raiding (might have links to latin for servant according to MacBain's etymological dictionary)

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Ah, possibly 'visit' in the sense many Americans use it? Meaning to chat or gossip rather than a physical visit (it puzzled me for a time how one could 'visit' on the phone). Interesting. I'm not sure how a servant ties in.

(I know very little Gaelic, only slightly more Welsh, but I'm always interested in language derivations and history...)

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

I didn't follow the logic fully myself. It may have been due to the belief that the servant classes tended to gossip a lot.

And it would normally involve an actual physical visit, as I think it came in common use before telephones.

[(Anonymous)]

Ceallach wouldn't be pronounced as Keleigh (KEL-lee), more like Callaghan (Ceallachan), which supposedly means "strife."