Hello all,

I am hoping to get a tattoo when I revisit Galway. My hope is to get one with the Irish word for "home" above a symbol, and the Irish word for "family" beneath it. The other idea is for me to get "family" "heart" and "home" in script, side-by-side.

Just a little background: I spent a summer studying on scholarship at NUIG, and I fell in love with the place. I actually get homesick for it. My grandmother passed away last year and left me a little bit of money - just enough for me to afford a trip back - with the stipulation that I use it for something fun - *not* something responsible, like my mortgage.

While I am there, I am going to get a photo during my visit to the county our family is from, and I am going to put it in a frame next to a picture of my grandmother and me together. However, I would also like to get another tattoo while I am in Ireland, since it is like my heart's second home, and since my amazing, phenomenal grandmother's family came from Ireland.

Can anyone tell me which would work best when using Irish, and if so can anybody help me ensure that I am using the *correct* words for "family," "heart," and "home" for the tattoo? I would truly appreciate any assistance, and I am extremely grateful to those of you who are able to spare the time to guide me!

In Irish, teaghlach usually refers to the folks in your household, while muintir usually refers to a broader category of people (depending on the context, it can mean your whole family or clan, beyond just the ones in your home, or even your tribe or your “people”).

heart = croí

"Home" is a somewhat difficult term to translate with precisely the same meaning as the English "home", especially as a stand-alone word. The word "baile" can mean both home and town/city, depending on the context, but a native speaker on the forum has said that she thinks it's ok to use it for home. Another suggestion made in previous threads was to use "áit mo chroí", meaning essentially, "the place where my heart is", and several people (including that same native speaker) thought that was a good choice.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

mo chroí = my heart
a chroí = my heart (as a term of address)

but standalone without h:
croí = heart,
an croí = the heart

Yes, my error.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Thank you for the replies! If I want to say "my family, my heart, my home" how would that be phrased?

Thank you thank you thank you!!!