Dervla

Dervla and Derval are female Irish given names, anglicised from Deirbhile and Dearbháil, respectively. Dearbhla is a Gaelicised hybrid of the two names.^[1] Deirbhile means 'daughter of the filí' [poet]. Dearbháil, a common medieval name,^[2]^[3] may mean 'daughter of Fál', Fál being a poetic name for Ireland;^[2] or else 'true desire'.^[4]

People with these names include:

Deirbhile, Dervla

Darbiled or Deirbhile, an anchoress who founded a monastery at Erris in the sixth century
Dervla Kirwan (born 1971) Irish actress
Dervla Murphy (1931-2022) Irish travel writer
Dervla Burke, musician in the country band Crystal Swing
Dervla Magennis, contestant in series 1 of The Voice of Ireland

Derbáil, Dearbháil, Dearbhail, Derval

Dearbháil iníon Tadhg mac Cathal (died 925), aunt of Cathal mac Conchobair, king of Connacht
Derval O'Rourke (born 1981), sprint hurdler
Derval Symes, visual artist

Dearbhla

Dearbhla Walsh, film and television director
Dearbhla Molloy (born 1946), actress

Fictional

Dearbhla Dillon, character in the soap opera Fair City
Dervla Nolan, character in the novel Dead Famous
Dervla Dove, child character in the novel Flight of the Doves

References

^ Cresswell, Julia (1996). Collins Gem Irish First Names. HarperCollins. pp. 89–90. ISBN 9780004709420.
^ ^a ^b Corráin, Donnchadh Ó; Maguire, Fidelma (1981). Gaelic personal names. Academy Press. ISBN 9780906187395.
^ O'Brien, Kathleen M. "Derbáil / Dearbháil". Index of Names in Irish Annals. Medieval Scotland. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
^ Coghlan, Ronan (1979). Irish Christian names: an A–Z of first names. Johnston and Bacon. ISBN 9780717942503.