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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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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'.

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