Hi everyone,
First of all I just want to say that I think it is amazing what all of you do. I am of Irish heritage and I just visited Dublin about 3 weeks ago for the first time and it was amazing to be in Ireland. I didn't realize that there were so many Gaelic speakers still out there. Also, I was wondering if I could bug you all for a translation for a tattoo that I'm getting to celebrate my heritage. In english its "Live the life of Riley" being that Riley is my last name. I appreciate any translations thank you so much!

"The life of Reilly" would be "saol Uí Raghallaigh", but I've never seen/heard the phrase used in Irish, only in English.

The best phrase in Irish would be 'Saol an Mhadaigh Bháin', which translates as 'The life of the white dog' but has the same meaning as 'The life of Riley'.

Maybe you could have 'Ó Raghallaigh - Saol an Mhadaigh Bháin'.

Maith an smaoineamh! (Good idea!) Ós dubh sa chraiceann atá i gceist, áfach ... (since it's a tattoo) the correct spelling is "saol an mhadaidh bháin", or even "saol an mhadra bháin" using the more standard version of the word.

Nach leis an "maide bán" .i. slat na ríthe a bhaineann an nath sin ó cheart, seachas le gadhar? Sin an scéal a léigh mé in áit eicínt...

Níor chuala mé an scéal sin riamh. Tá "saol an mhadra bháin" in FGB. Conas is féidir le slat sult a bhaint as an saol -- nó an é an rí atá i gceist, pars pro toto, nó rud éigin mar sin? Is suimiúil an míniú é sin, ach shíl mé riamh gur measán a bhí i gceist sa nath seo. Féach freisin gur féidir úsáid hypocoristic a bhaint as an bhfocal "bán".

Ar ndóigh tá an litriú ceart ansin agat a Dennis agus gan aon amhras is madra atá i gceist sa nath cainte sin.

Wow! you guys are so fast and punctual lol thank you. So The life of the white dog means that same as the life of riley. So from reading all your posts live the life of riley is an english only saying. So 'Ó Raghallaigh - Saol an Mhadaigh Bháin' means in english "Riley - the life of the white dog", which means live the good life basically? and as dennis said the correct spelling is "saol an mhadra bháin"? Thank you so much for this I appreciate it so much

Faraor, ní chuimhin liom anois cén áit ar léigh mé é - ná fiú amháin cé acu a léamh ná a chloisteáil a rinne mé. Má thagann sé ar ais dom...
Ach is ea, is é saol an rí a bhí i gceist seachas saol na slaite.

Ryan, you're fine to go ahead with this. The "white dog" may or may not originally have been something else - that's what we're discussing - but it's a white dog now and has been for ages. "Saol an Mhadra Bháin" is the form given in the dictionary.

Thank you all so much, I appreciate all of your time!