Fairy Names [Origins]

Fairy Names
Trooping fairies names


Sheoques in Irish Literature occasionally steal a child and returning them unharmed and happy. They usually dressed in green coats and haunt sacred thorn bushes and the green raths or forts of royalties. They are very gay and often steal beautiful mortals and make them their bride. They are usually seen in the air over a river fighting with the solitary red coated fairies. The male sheoques have green teeth, green hair, pig’s eyes and red noses. However, the females are very beautiful. The females prefer handsome fishermen over their green haired males. They marry the mortals they had enticed into their world in the raths or forts. Alvens are also water fairies who hate fish and love to float on bubbles. They dance and play on the land during full moon.


Merrow usually wear a little enchanted cap. Losing the cap would mean losing the power of going away into the water. The cap may be used by divers to dive down into the ocean. A merrow’s tear looks like salt and her low mournful cry sounds like the cry of a new born infant. Merrows have fish tails that looks like a mermaid and cohuleen driuth or red cap. Merrows are not commonly seen. They usually inhabit the island and shores of Scotland and Scandinavians. Merrows are best known as the sea maid of Ireland. They are the equivalent of morgan or morverch in Brittany, nix of Germany and havmand or havfrue of Scandinavia. They were seen to be half fish and half man. Merrows prefer to marry humans so their children will have greater chance reaching heaven. This was because of the presence of human blood in their veins. Merrows are sometimes regarded as messengers of doom and death. Those who have unfortunately seen merrows combing their hair while sitting on a rock are said to perish within a year (Curran 1998).




Solitary fairies names


Leprechauns are Ireland’s national fairy. They were self appointed guardians of ancient treasures which were believed to be left by the Danes. They were described to be aged, diminutive men who buried their treasures in crocks or pots at the end of the rainbow. They were about two feet in height and were always found to be in an intoxicated state with home-brew poteen. Leprechauns were known to always carry two leather pouches: the silver shilling and the gold coin. The silver shilling magically returns to the purse after being tendered as payment while the gold coin was intended to bribe him out of difficult situations and turns to leaves or ashes the moment he vanished. They are very tricky and wear green clothing with funny little hats and shoes decorated with buckles. Leprechauns were believed to be shoemakers of the elves and fairies.


Gnomes live under rocks. They were described as short, dumpy and gray brown color in appearance. Their limbs have different color than their bodies. The body’s color is darker than the legs and arms. Their feet are large, pointed and not shapely. Their arms look long and strong. Their hands are not well defined and look lumpy. The gnomes space between the nose and eyes and mouth is wider giving it a shovel like flattened head look. It has an exceedingly long and sharp chin. They love to live in gigantic boulders and wear a fierce appearance. They usually live in groups of four or five. Gnomes can live for several hundred years. They work as healers, plant growers and protectors. They have extreme knowledge in the use of wild plants and herbs for cure and maintaining good health. They are excellent healers and magicians.


Bogies are mischievous types of English fairies sometimes called as bogeyman. They have hollow, gleaming eyes and appear like a puff of dust or wispy wavering in the air. They like to live in closets, basements, caves, hollow trees and under the sink. They usually come out at night but also appear at daytime when no one’s around. Bogies are extremely difficult to evict and continually create an atmosphere of chaos and disruption in the house.


Brownies originated in Scotland. Brownies are scattered throughout the highlands and lowlands of Scotland. They were also reported seen in the northern countries of England. Documented sightings reports described them as three feet tall flat faces male. They looked hairy and ugly. They have brown wizened faces (Knight 2002). Sometimes they wear brown cloaks with hoods. Most of them can be seen at night. They love human company and may stay with a family for generations. They were known to be cheerful helpful creatures. Some of them can be found in hollow trees or old ruins. Brownies bring good luck if treated well. They love animals and take good care of household pets. They are about one to two feet tall and love to mow, thresh, care for the laying hens or tend sheep and cattle. They adore milk and honey cakes. They appreciate gifts of food and drinks. Bwca is the Welsh version of a brownie.


Puck is the king’s jester who loves to wander throughout England at night. He delights in playing devious pranks frightening maidens in the villages. He often skimmed milk, keeps beer from fermenting and leads night travelers astray. He sometimes transformed himself into a stool and topples anyone sitting on him especially the housewives. He may, at time, guarantee good luck to man. The norms of behavior for fairies are like irresponsible children all throughout.


Hobglobins and goblins are guardian look hideous mainly because they have a hole instead of a nose. They also have no separate toes or fingers. They are so cunning and nasty that other elementals avoid living near them. They are small and have eyes that glitter with malice. They have stubby ears and usually display an evil wide grin. They are very strong moving frequently in gangs among old ruins, basements and dead trees. It was believed that goblins came from Pyrenees Mountains. It entered Europe and rapidly spread across the continent. They were known as goblins by the German. The Scots called them brags or boggart. They were known as padfoot or hobgoblin in northern England. The British usually call them Robin Hobgoblin.


Banshees, the less common ones, usually appear to foretell an unlikely event or tragedy when men are about to meet a violent death. Warning comprise of washing blood stained clothes when seen. They were described to be web footed one nostril buck toothed hag. Banshee means a woman of the fairy. It wanders over the moors at dusk. Sometimes it wanders through the woods and lures travelers to death. They were once sociable fairies who became solitary because of sadness and grief. Their wail can kill or instantly age people who hear it. They basically travel at great distances and appear in tattered gray clothes. Woodland elves are monkey-like, brown clad creatures over two feet high. Banshees are also known as attendant fairy who mourns on the death of any family member to which it attached self.


Dullahan and its origin were thought to be from the ancient Celtic god known as Crom Dubh or Black Crom. Crom Dubh was said to be a fertility god who demands human lives each year. The worship of Crom was done by Ireland’s prehistoric king Tighermas. When Christian missionaries arrived, old sacrificial religions banished. But then Crom Dubh took on a physical form known as dullahan and victimized human souls. The dulahan is said to be the devil’s own man. It is a fierce sullen spirit found in most countries as headless. He can be heard at night dragging a heavy chain along the roads of the villages. Some stories said that dullahan sometimes drives a black immense coach drawn by headless horses mounted by a coffin. They have the ability to go anywhere a fog goes.


Pooka is the most feared fairy in Ireland It is always out at night victimizing humans. It was known to create harm and mischief by assuming a variety of terrifying forms. Pooka’s favorite guise is a sleek black horse with sulphurous yellow eyes and a long wild mane. It will then tear down fences and gates and tramples on crops. It roams in County Down in the guise of a goblin demanding a share of the crop harvest. The reapers will dutifully leave the share behind for his taking. Pooka sometimes guise as a huge hairy bogeyman in County Laois, appears as an eagle in Waterford and Wexford and appears as a black goat with curling horns in Roscommon. They are very vindictive fairies known to vandalize properties. They sometimes stop in front of certain houses and call out names for its midnight dash