Irish Dog Names

Ireland is an enchanting land with an old culture and mythos that pre-date the Christian era. One legendary myth of Ireland that is still spoken of today is that of the fierce 54-foot-tall warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill, often anglicized as Finn MacCool. Finn had two loyal hounds, Bran and Sceólang, whose names mean raven and survivor, respectively. In one legend, Finn and the dogs were out hunting when they happened upon a doe. Bran and Sceólang, who had a human mother but were born as dogs, recognized the doe as an enchanted creature and prevented Finn from taking her life. They walked alongside the doe until they reached Finn's home, where the doe transformed into a beautiful woman who became Finn's wife.  

Bran may not be a common name, but fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels and the Game of Thrones TV series will no doubt be very familiar with it. Brandon Stark, or simply Bran, is one of the main characters of the medieval fantasy epic. Though he became crippled after falling from a tower as a young boy, he is one of the most powerful magic users in the series, possessing the magical abilities of greensight and warging. 

As a greenseer, Bran is able to see future, past, and distant events in his dreams. He also has the ability to influence past events, unless they were predestined to happen. Bran’s other power, warging, allows him to send his consciousness into the mind of an animal and see the world through their eyes and even control their body. Bran is a very powerful warg, able to enter the mind of other humans or multiple animals at a time, something that not all wargs can do. During the Battle of Winterfell, he warged into a crow to observe the clash from above.

Towards the end of the series, Bran became the new Three-Eyed Raven and the first elected ruler of the Six Kingdoms. George R. R. Martin has described Bran as the hardest character for him to write due to his age and magical abilities.