Is Aoibhe a step too far in the UK?

DS3 would have been Eibhlin or Aoife had he been a girl.

I know folks roll their eyes at his name/pronunciation because we live in England, but tough shit - DH is Scottish and he likes the gaelic spelling.

This is may sound nasty,I don't mean it in that way,I'm just going to be honest....

I had absolutely no idea how to pronounce any of the names of your list for me they're too Irish and I just can't get my head around how you get the pronounciations out of those spellings but I've never known anyone irish,never been to ireland,never met anyone with those names and never read them anywhere so I can kinda plead ignorant I guess..I think depending on what you go for you will find yourself having to tell dd's nursery staff/school teachers how to say the name...Siobahn,Sinead,Orla ect are simple enough but Aoibhe and Caoimhe for example had me going "what the heck is that supposed to be?!" Obviously you put the pronounciations in brackets so I knew but they won't be putting that on the school register! Just something to perhaps consider....not everyone will have heard/seen those names before so will be as clueless as I was on how to pronounce them when they see them written down first off which will result in quite a few expressions until you tell them your dd's name.

I know an Aoibhe and I think it is a lovely name. Her parents pronounce it more ee-veh as opposed to ee-va...so it's not like naming your child Eva and just spelling it a weird way. It also has a different meaning to Eva so isn't the same name. If you like it, go for it!

ps, I love Siún but Siobhan is just to forty something for a baby. Couldn't do it. Can siún be short for anything else?

ps, just read your list and I don't think it's a bad idea to give an irish name with the option of an english nn. Roisin/rosie, Fraoch/Freya? I love Clodagh Maeve and that was a name I had chosen but it was never used in the end. I wouldn't have minded Clodagh nn Clo though.

Beibhinn with nn Bay is nice!

There is an Aoibhe in my Ds's class at school. It is unusual but, as with lots of non-english names, I think people only need to be told how to spell or pronounce it once. Wouldn't let that put me off as you don't know how fashions and trends will evolve also and how common or well known a name will become. Something like Siobhan or Sinead would have caused confusion 25 years ago but are very well known now.

Aoibhe is a very pretty name btw.

i think it's a step too far in ireland as well. i was reading a thread on an irish forum the other day and they were laughing at 'countdown conundrum with a fada' and sneering at spelling english names an irish way.

Either Aoife or Eva and not some hybrid that confuses everybody.

Unless your dd does not intend to live outside Ireland, yes, it would be a step too far.

Clodagh is lovely.

Imo nns can't be insisted on-they evolve.

And Chloe is unlikely to from Clodagh!

I do love Chloe as well tbh!

Love love Roisin both the short and long /o/ sound.

Ffion is sweet too and I think Bridget is very underused these days-nn Bridie.Also there are lots of Katherines and Caitlins but not many Kathleens.
I taught Irish twins in the 70's and their names were Grainne [?] and Emerald. Maeve is pretty too.

I went to school with a girl called Aoibhe who pronounced it Aoife. Used to drive the teachers crazy and does the same to me now. Anyway, that's beside the point!

Aoibhe is nice, I would've thought it would be more like Eev-uh than Eev-a, but it's a lovely name. There's also Aoibh and Éabha in a similar vein.

My favourite on your list Clodagh, although I see what you mean re Chloe. What about Bronagh? It's a lovely sounding name, but would the meaning put you off?

Hahaha Cooke I've got a common as muck name that has a few variant spellings, everyone knows how to do them but I always have to spell it out - has meant I'm so much more likely to support unusual hard-to-spell names, at least there's a point then :)

As a person with a non-phonetic, difficultly spelt name, I would never use a spelling like that dor my child's name when there is an alternate, easier spelling available. Sorry. I just spend half my life spelling my name for people and them going 'oooh, that's unusual!', it drives me nuts!

Oooooh I love beibhinn !! (sorry no help)

Siobhan
Sinead
Catriona
Maebh

Caitlin (pronounced Cat-lin) is lovely though I expect lots of people will call her Kate-lin.

I'm not Irish, but DH is, so we wrestled with this exact dilemma.

I think there are some Irish names which the average Brit may have encountered and can probably cope with (Niamh, Siobhan, Orla etc).

Then there are some which are more tricky (my friend has a Cliodhna.....at least, I think that's how it's spelled...). You will always be struggling with a name like that. Pretty names, but make sure that spelling/sounding out DD's name for the next 20 years won't drive you nuts.

We ended up with a Sorcha and an Erin (not Irish, but means Ireland....and no-one ever asks us how to spell it ).

Alba?

Roisin?

OK, just two more

Muirne

Líadan

Actually maybe not for a child in England.

Maeve?

Sadhbh? (tricky spelling, but v easy to say)

Róise?

Caoilfhinn?

I once knew a girl called Fionnula, which I thought was lovely.

Or how about Aisling?

Should add, that bit different & also reflects your heritage

I love all of your suggestions except Clodagh & I also love Nuala (& Fionnuala.)

I don't think Aoibhe is too out there at all (although I'm from NI, so all your names sound normal to me). Eva is vv popular around here, living in England (as is Eve, Evie etc) so Aoibhe would be great as its that bit different!