AIBU to think my DH has gone mad over this baby name?

It sounds like Nivea, the face cream. Agree, not a good name.

Unless you live in Ireland naming your daughter Niamh is not a good idea. Irish names never sound right in an English accent anyway.

My maiden name was Irish and difficult to pronounce and spell. No one could pronounce it apart from when I went to Ireland! When I was asked for my surname I gave up ever actually saying it. I would just say "I'll spell it for you." It had an apostrophe. I remember going to give blood once and the lady who took my details didn't know what an apostrophe was and I actually had to go round the desk and show her where it was on her keyboard. Hours of fun. 😂 I actually considered changing my surname to "I'll spell it for you." 😂

I went to school with a girl called Siobhan. She said that a lot of people, if they saw her name written down, would pronounce it SEE-OB-HAN rather than SHIV-ON snd it drove her mad. I would be inclined to stay away from names that the little girl will be having to spell out forever more. It's exhausting! I hope you can choose something nice you both agree on. 👍 Also, I really really hope you have some inside information about the government lowering the pension age to 50. 😉😂 Wishing you all the best with your little bundle of joy. ❤️

I thought this was really funny. I've never heard of Nevaeh as a name and I'm certainly one of the people who would need to have it explained to me.

I would never call my child a name that isn't straightforward to pronounce. I have enough problems with my surname which, although it's actually pronounced the same way it's spelt, seems to be an issue for many people. They find so many weird ways to pronounce it that it's laughable.

I think we owe it to our children when we name them to think how that name is going to impact them in their everyday life going forward.

There are so many beautiful, varied and characterful names in existence to chose from.I don't understand why people feel the need to invent names as a fashion statement. A statement that generally won't stand the test of time.

Are you Irish too?

Got to agree with posters saying spelling heaven backwards feels kind of demonic. There's a whole conspiracy theory about songs being played backwards and the lyrics are demonic. If anyone's interested in that kind of thing.

If he gets to veto six names you like then you can veto one he likes.

I think this is a lovely alternative, and yes she may have to spell her name out lots in later life, but its better than saying yep its heaven backwards all the time!
I also like Neve as in Neve Campbell.

It's a monstrosity.

If you like Niamh - I had a colleague with this name once and rather liked it - then I'd go with the conventional spelling rather than any of the variants. It's classic and will date much better.

FWIW, I have a conventionally boring name but it has several spelling variants so I end up having to spell it every time anyway! It's not a big issue.

Not unique, at all!

A cousin of my husband call her DD Nevaeh. She's a gorgeous child. Very sweet natured but everyone feels the name is very chavvy.

And I also know another little girl with this name too.

Eden is quite a nice name too.

Unless you reverse that as well - to Nede, pronounced 'Neddie', like a donkey giving rides on Blackpool beach!

Just ask him how he would feel if you were trying to railroad him into a name he didn’t like.

What would you use instead?

It perfectly sums up the name

Have you spoken to him about why he wants to give your daughter such a.. flamboyant name when you were both happy to give your son a very typical English name? I’d also remind him that what he loves today has to be her life forever. And from my own experience, there are some names you simply don’t grow into just because your parents thought it was a bit different at the time. I’ve also been called chavvy for it, it’s not nice for something that was never your choice.

No, you're spot on. I have a name I always have to spell and I would never do that to a child.

You need the E for the Ah sound after the Mh, like Caoimhe (Kee-va)

Irish names get a hard battering in the UK 😂
Grainne, Saoirse, Aoibhinn and even Siobhan have interesting attempts.

No it’s awful. It’s not even unique so I don’t know where he got that from. I would not budge from my refusal to have it. (Apologies to anyone is called it or has called it for their dd).

What about Neve (or Naimh) as a sort of compromise.

Why does anyone think spelling heaven backwards is beautiful? Is he a satanist, OP? Because it just gives upside-down-crucifix vibes to me 🤷🏼‍♀️

It is not unique.

Terrible chavvy name!

It also has a bit of a Satanic feel to me, writing any words backwards. It’s like some spooky thing teens would do before trying to do some kind of mock seance while stoned off their faces.

Its an awful name, a shocker! Naff and overused. Stand seriously firm on this one. Let him know she’s never going to be Neveah and you won’t change your mind so he’d better start thinking of alternatives instead of waiting you out and hoping you’ll concede.

Are there similar sounding names you could agree on (Niamh, Eva, Ava, etc?) or is it the specific meaning of Neveah he is fixed on?

fine if you think neveah is chavvy, but Florence, ivy and Matilda are the names of every girl from here to bognor regis.

so neither of you are right. one a bit rubbish and 3 dull. someone upthread said Niamh which is nice

I’m currently pregnant and dealing with all the comes with that, but I still want my husband to love our baby’s name. Naming a baby isn’t a reward for pregnancy and the name will (unless the child chooses to change it) last their life, so it’s something which you’ll both be saying a lot. You should be be allowed to veto names you don’t like. There are many other names than Nevaeh, Sophie, Amelia, Freya, Florence, Ivy, and Matilda that you both might agree on.

If Nevaeh is Heaven backwards - which kind of makes it equivalent to Hell, why not Gehenna?!

Most of Anne Hegarty's name is Gehenna backwards!!

I also remember reading ages ago about the dad who was a huge football fan and fiercely loyal to 'his' team, who managed to convince his wife to call their DD Lanesra!