Caitrìona, Ùna and Mhàiri

jenny... are you really a Vhairi?

Cairistiona - how's it pronounced?

the red-hot gael i know of pronounces it the same... but i am still confused by the spelling thing. is caitriona right?

i think it's Ca-tree-yun-nyuh. Who knows but.

My cousin Catriona pronounces it 'Ca- tree -uh-nuh', not Catreena, or Catreeohnah IYSWIM. Is this wrong?

incidentally, what to we think to Cairistiona?

yeah, yeah, you're all dead to me now. sniff.

ah yes aitch, get you, totally ridiculous!

oh yes re Bhetty, but the point is surely that it would look ridiculous to use it as their main name?

Aitch, a'Bhetty and a'Khirsty would be correct if you were directly addressing the person in Gaelic. Amusing anecdote re your friend Mairi!

Jenny, I certainly did not intend any bashing - I merely think it is preferable to use language as accurately as possible and I personally would be pretty embarassed if I used a name from another language or culture and later discovered that it was wrong. I would always do what the OP did and seek advice.
You will not be addressed in the Gaelic vocative spelling/pronunciation if being addressed in English,
e.g. 1. Here is Mairi (nominative).
e.g. 2. Mairi, come here quickly (vocative).
Grammar works out differently in different languages.
You do not use Gaelic grammar rules for English, unless they ever happen to be the same coincidentally.

technically i said anyone spelling it that way 'marks themselves out as a bit of a numpty'. i meant any parent spelling it that way, of course, not the child, it wasn't their decision. but i did like the example of Bhetty or Khirsty for comparison.

i have a friend who is a Mairi... she has spent her entire life being informed that really she should have an 'h' in there... think of this as a blow on her behalf.

also, if a name has two pronunciations in one language, but not in another, surely it makes sense to be called by the vocative because that's how you will be addressed?

saying that it's a wrong name, that anyone spelling it that way is a numpty, etc.

plenty of names are different from their precise origins for one reason or another. i don't know how you can be wrong for being called something, or using a given spelling.

Why do you think it's bashing? Not being narky, genuinely interested .

Thanks. I wasn't trying to be provocative or rude, but I am not familiar with Gaelic pronunciations. Also I was thinking of Una Stubbs and her name is pronounced Yewna.

I still like the names though.

gutted at all this mhairi-bashing tbh.

Vhairi is double-extra wrong!

Una is Oona, Mairi is Maarie with the stress on the first syllable. Um, that doesn't look very clear, and I'm having trouble thinking of things that rhyme with it. Maybe Bari in Italy?

Just another point
How irritated would you be if people spelt the names correctly but missed off the accents? I don't even know how to get them from my keyboard.

I like all the names.

Can I just say, as an ignorant Sassenach, that I would pronounce the names;
Catreeona
Yewna
Mary

I now know that Catriona is pronouced Katrina, but I don't know how many oher people would.

Was I right with the other two?

Wow, didn't know the whole Mhairi thing was wrong...

PEDANTS AND PURISTS READ NO FURTHER

I know of someone who has just named their baby Vhairi. Which if I understand correctly, is the wrong spelling, of the wrong pronunciation, of Mairi (with squiggly Gaelic lines)

From experience the name Mairead is pronounced Myratt in Scottish Gaelic and MA-raid in Irish. That is what I have always heard.

Celtic Fringe - Unite!!

Does Gaidhlig not follow the rule that Irish does for the vocative case where a name starts with a vowel?
'A hÁine' for instance is how you would call Áine to her dinner in Irish.

I love Eilidh but I have probably been murdering the pronunciation. And Marsaili too. Of the names in the OP, I like Una best.

Mairéad in Irish and in Ireland would be pronounced Mah-RAID for the most part (depends a bit on regional accent). The D is often a bit softer than the English D, more like a French D.

Lorna isn't a Scottish name as such (actually, I don't know how watertight the theory that R.D Blackmore made it up is).

It sounds Scottish though, and is certainly v popular in Scotland (around women of my age anyway, the ones who weren't called Rhona or Claire), which is probably good enough.

with the new Gaelic orthographic conventions the only remaining accent is the grave as shown here on the a - à

this is Good Stuff.

DP is Irish / Scottish and has a yearning for a "hardcore" Gaelic name for forthcoming DS2. I'm all for it but seeing as I'm English and we live in the heart of Bumpkinshire this could get interesting..