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Baby names

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Original poster

Aoibhe

42 replies

lemniscate · 23/02/2012 22:29

My cousin in Ireland just had a baby girl called Aoibhe. Would you pronounce it Eva or Ava? Or something else?

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MrsJoeDuffy · 05/03/2012 23:11

SayBoo is right.

Methe · 04/03/2012 18:07

No-one seems to be able to agree on the pronunciation Grin

SayBoo · 04/03/2012 11:14

Its Eva.

Aoife = Eefa
Aoibhe = Eva

sashh · 04/03/2012 03:09

I have always wondered what Sean Bean's parents were thinking

They were thinking Shaun - he changed it.

I'm slightly embarassed about the only phrase I know in Irish now. Ah well.

Gooseysgirl · 02/03/2012 10:50

To get back to OP's query, Math is correct with pronunciation guide Smile

HardCheese · 02/03/2012 06:11

It is indeed the opening line from Peig, ifitsnotanarse. Are you getting flashbacks?

SquirtedPerfumeUpNoseInBoots · 01/03/2012 23:18

It's eefa.

ifitsnotanarse · 01/03/2012 23:12

Shh recklesspixie Miss Slevin will hear you.
(Pulls up socks and does top-button on shirt)

Sorry OP, don't mean to hijack your thread.

mathanxiety · 27/02/2012 17:40

Initials don't ring a bell - southside here.

recklesspixie · 27/02/2012 08:27

erm ifitsnotanarse I'm a past pupil of MH, north Dublin??!

ifitsnotanarse · 26/02/2012 23:25

Erm Mathanixiety are you a past pupil of MH by any chance.
Though I guess many schools have a room 104.

ifitsnotanarse · 26/02/2012 23:22

Hardcheese is that the opening line from Peig?

chipmonkey · 25/02/2012 22:15

Thanks for that, hardcheese, I now have the vision of my Irish teacher in front of my brain. I cried when I found out he was going to be my Irish teacher because he was a terrible teacher and I knew my Dad would want me to do well in Irish.[swotty teenager emoticon]

mathanxiety · 25/02/2012 18:32

Thank you for that flashback, HardCheese.

HardCheese · 25/02/2012 18:23

'Is seanbhean mise anois, le chos amhain san uaigh 'is an eile ar a bhruach...' Wink

Coconutty · 25/02/2012 18:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mathanxiety · 25/02/2012 18:18

Twould be sean bhean though unless my memory of far distant Irish classes is really faulty (distinct possibility).

chipmonkey · 25/02/2012 17:27

And Sean Bean means old woman!

mathanxiety · 25/02/2012 17:09

V true, in NI accents can identify the foot you kick with. The word sean (meaning old) would not be pronounced the same as the name Seán in the Derry RC accent. More like 'shone'.

Actually 'Bean' in Irish means 'woman', pronounced 'ban'. So doubly confusing.

HardCheese · 25/02/2012 07:18

I have always fancied Sean Bean, but my partner insists on calling him Seán Bán (after Seán Bán Breathnach, fellow Irish people Grin).

recklesspixie · 25/02/2012 07:17

I know one called Eve

HardCheese · 25/02/2012 07:16

Methe, I have always wondered what Sean Bean's parents were thinking, to be honest. Maybe he himself spells his first name properly with the fada, and it just never makes it into print, but there's something pretty confusing about putting together a name that operates on non-Irish people being able to distinguish between how two different languages pronounce something that looks like the same vowel sound...

chipmonkey · 24/02/2012 23:55

I knew a Seán from Derry who pronounced it Shan. He told us that Catholics in the North pronounce it Shan and Protestants pronounce it Shawn. I was very puzzled by this!

mathanxiety · 24/02/2012 17:43

Sean should really be Seán, with the accent on the A lengthening the vowel sound.
Without the accent, the word is pronounced 'shan', meaning 'old' (hence the prefix 'shan-' in many Irish placenames, even names in NI such as the Shankill Road in Belfast = 'old church road')

SE / SI = sheh / shih
SLI = Shlih.
SCE = shkeh (as in 'uisce' = ishkeh. 'Uisce bheatha', pr. 'ishkeh vaha' = the water of life, aka 'whiskey', a corruption of the Irish term).

With the other vowels, A, O and U, S has the usual sss sound.

Original poster
lemniscate · 24/02/2012 17:42

So her name is pronounced "Eeva" :)
Thanks all!

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