Talk:Ballyhuppahane

Questions concerning placename etymology and article name.
The article says the place name comes from 'Baile hup na hauna in Irish, meaning "John's Townsland"' [sic]. (By the way, should that not be the more usual "townland"?)

The English name John is usually equated to the Irish names Seán or Eoghan, neither of which features in the town name, yet John is claimed as an element of the translation. The translation alleged here does not seem convincing. I researched Ballyhuppahane at the official placenames database but Ballyhupahaun has not yet been documented properly by the database compilers; in particular, no etymology has been offered yet, nor even an Irish language name. The hauna element of the place name suggests the Irish word abhainn to me, meaning river — not John. My own incomplete attempt at translating Ballyhupahaun would be the town of the (something...hup?) river.

Another question is that this article claims that the name of the townland is "Ballyhupahaun, also spelt Ballyhuppahane" but the official Irish placename database, favours the spelling Ballyhuppahane that is suggested by this article to be secondary or a variant. This apparent anomaly might require resolution by one more familiar with the facts than I am. I am inclined to wonder if the article should not properly be entitled Ballyhuppahane. --O&#39;Dea (talk) 20:03, 30 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Follow-up no. 1: Posted question at User talk:Heshs Umpire seeking reputable citation for "John's Townsland". --O&#39;Dea (talk) 17:45, 3 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Follow-up no. 2: Posted question at User talk:A5y seeking reputable citation for "Tunnel of the Goats. --O&#39;Dea (talk) 17:55, 3 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Note: The translation of baile hup na hauna suggested by the the originator of the article (User:A5y) was Tunnel of the Goats, but this appears to be equally dubious because the Irish words tollán (tunnel) and gabhar (goat) do not appear in baile hup na hauna, either. It could be indicated, furthermore, that goats and tunnels are not commonly associated with one another, but perhaps there is an explanation. --O&#39;Dea (talk) 18:08, 3 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Follow-up no. 3 (resolution and corrections): Finally discovered definitive information at the Irish Placenames Database by digging further. Found correct Irish langauge name (Baile Uí Shopacháin) and translation into English (O'Soppahan's town). Updated article and also renamed the article (by move) to make it correspond to the offical Ballyhuppahane name from the Irish Placenames Database. Ballyhuppahane is also the official name used by Google Maps. --O&#39;Dea (talk) 19:02, 3 June 2010 (UTC)