Rosaleen is an Irish female first name. It is an Anglicized version of the Irish name Róisín, the diminutive of "rose" in the Irish language; it therefore means "little rose". It has use in Ireland since the 16th century, possibly popularised by Rosaline in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

The name featured in "Dark Rosaleen" by James Clarence Mangan, a patriotic poem disguised as a love song, in a time when nationalistic expression was outlawed in Ireland. Thus the name is a poetic symbol of Ireland.[1] Dark Rosaleen is also the name of a novel by Elizabeth O'Shea Dillon, published in 1884, which was serialised in United Ireland.[2]

People with the given name

References

  1. Deffenbacher, Kristina (2014). "Revisioning of Cultural Memory and Identity through Dialogic Mythmaking in Roddy Doyle's The Last Roundup Trilogy". Nordic Irish Studies. 13 (1): 149–168. ISSN 1602-124X.
  2. Murphy, Nancy (2009). "Elizabeth O'Shea In O'Shea, John Augustus". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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