Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
Methe · 24/02/2012 17:26

Thanks Math, I appreciate you taking the time to do that.

I have the same problem with Shawn and Sean though. Sean bean will always be Seen Bean in my mind Grin

brandybabycham · 24/02/2012 17:24

Aoife is actually pronounced EEFA

brandybabycham · 24/02/2012 17:24

It is pronounced Eve. I have a cousin with the samename/spelling.

mathanxiety · 24/02/2012 17:19

Methe, it's offputting to see all those BHs, etc., but in Irish correspondence of sounds to letters is actually much more regular and predictable than in English.
AOI = ee (The other letter that makes this sound is í / Í)
BH = v
Final E = eh (like the initial vowel sound of 'every')

Methe · 24/02/2012 14:37

I'd pronounce it ay-oi-bh Confused

Irish names boggle my brain.

Smellslikecatspee · 24/02/2012 14:33

My Cousin calls her self Eefa I'd describe it a hard E

3boysgirlontheway · 24/02/2012 14:25

Eve, the one I know is pronouced Eve anyway.

chipmonkey · 24/02/2012 14:00

Aoife is pronounced eefa
Caoimhe is pronouned Queeva
So surely Aoibhe is eeva rather than ava.

Winkly · 24/02/2012 01:07

Eeva. The aoi letter combo makes quite a long ee sound.

scarletforya · 24/02/2012 00:56

It's pronounced Ava

ifitsnotanarse · 23/02/2012 22:56

I would have though Aoibhe is pronounced Eva as Ava is spelled Éabha.

FilterCoffee · 23/02/2012 22:48

I'd have guessed Ava.

NeverKnowinglyUnderstood · 23/02/2012 22:44

Eeva?

Original poster
lemniscate · 23/02/2012 22:43

Thanks! I will check pronunciation when I talk to them but wanted to be able to say 'is it pronounced Eva?' rather than 'how the hell do you say that?' Grin

OP posts:
chipmonkey · 23/02/2012 22:36

Eva.

Tooblunt2012 · 23/02/2012 22:36

I would say Eva.

LizzieChickens · 23/02/2012 22:34

I'd just ask them how to pronounce it, tbh. I checked Google, though, and they mostly said 'Eev'.