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Nicknames for Oisin

Ossie

Meanings and history of the name Oisin

Literally means "little deer" or fawn, derived from Irish os "deer" combined with a diminutive suffix.

Famous real-life people named Oisin

Oisin was a legendary 3rd century Gaelic warrior-poet.

Oisin in song, story & screen

Ossie (Oisín) is a character in the film "Into the West."

Oisín was the son of Fionn, the leader of the Fianna (a band of warriors in Irish myth). Most famously, he went with Niamh Chinn Óir, a magical woman of exceptional beauty, to Tír na nÓg (the Land of Eternal Youth) for what seemed like three days but was actually hundreds of years. A loving son, Oisin eventually became homesick for his father and the Fenian warriors. Niamh gave him the lend of a magical white horse to make the journey across the waves but made him promise not to descend from the horse nor lay a foot on the soil of Ireland; if he did, he could never return to Tír na nÓg. Oisin returned to Ireland but was devastated to realise that his time in Tír na nÓg had not been the few days he thought but actually hundreds of years. The Fenians were all dead and gone. Whilst in Ireland, Oisin saw a ground of men struggling to move an enormous rock. He was astounded by their weakness but was generous of heart and, seeing their suffering, bent down from his horse and he threw the rock that the three hundred men could not move with the strength of one hand. However, the girdle of the horse's saddle broke under the strain and Oisin fell to the ground. The horse disappeared and, on touching Irish soil, Oisin transformed from a strong, handsome man into a blind, feeble man. He died soon afterwards in the care of St. Patrick (the patron saint of Ireland and the man credited with bringing Christianity to the Emerald Isle).