Aoife?

It is of course a fab name and pretty well known now in the Uk, can't see it being a problem.

Eefa sounds pretty it when I see it written down I always think heffa for some reason which isn't so pretty!

It's pretty, but it would condemn your child to a lifetime of having to correct people.

Very beautiful name! but can be problems with it's pronunciation;-) lots of problems;-)

Ive got an 11 year old SBT named Fifi

Ive got an 11 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Fifi

Fifi for Aoife! God no. Definitely a poodle name.

You'd get short shrift from my teenage niece Aoife if you called her Fifi. We sometimes call her Aoif (Eef), which she doesn't mind, but she is usually known as Aoife.

Whenever someone tried calling me Fifi as a child, I'd give them a Chinese burn. Fifi is only fit for a toy poodle in my opinion.

tangent but fifi is a cute nn for Aoife! Never heard that before but I like it.

Indeed, Sillylass, and those British university presidents standing on a podium calling out names of graduates won't always be people whose first language is English or whose lives have been spent entirely in Britain. It's not outside the bounds of possibility that they could even be Irish.

Like I said living with it for the last 10 years the only time it is a issue is with grandma (who is a story all in herself so I dont count) and the first time people see it. My own name is English but not very common I admit however I have that misspelled far more than dd3's name is.

Good friends name is Claire (with or without an i with or without and e?) she always has to spell her name as does work college who is Lynn (with or without an e?) Friends dd is Gemma has to be spelt every time (with a J or a G?) Names considered quite normal in the UK.

dh's name is Nicholas people misspell that all the time (I cant work out how as well thats imo how it is spelt but we have seen ALL sorts of spellings)

IMO if you love a name and feel your dd is one then go for it. Off course dd1 was going to be Elizabeth right up until she was born where the first words she heard was " well this is not Elizabeth" in unison from both dh and I.

Wake up people, we live and work in a global economy

Wide awake here. People will still pronounce it wrong and spell it wrong.
Many people I have come across, who have a difficult foreign name, either Anglicize a shortened version of it, or give themselves a British name.
People will get it wrong - not intentionally, but it will happen (a lot)

PS the only person who persistently gets her name wrong is her maternal grandmother. rolls eyes (aka my mother) who insists on spelling it Fifi..

We have an Aoife she is 10. I still utterly adore the name. We live in England, Only times it gets mis pronounced is the first time people come across it. Most common mis pronouncion is " O e fe makes me chuckle each time.

I do on a regular basis get asked " How do you pronounce that?" or "How do you say your little girls name" However it is one of those names you get so many " ohhh thats soo pretty " where you can hear it is utterly heartfelt.

I have never once regretted that we named her Aoife. I think it is a gorgeous name and every time I see it written down it makes me smile it feels like a "happy name" to spell I know that may sound insane but I feel that way about it. (only thing I am slightly worried about is that both dd1 and dd3's name are here on the board today and dh and I did wish more unusual names - though dd1's name is SO not unusual anymore but 17 years ago it wasnt common) & yet to see dd2's name or DS grins

going back to Aoife. I dont think you will regret it. Our Aoife doesn't mind it either she just rolls her eyes when someone cant spell it (we need to work a bit on manners there)

I guess, I'd personally draw the line at any name where I couldn't walk down the street unnoticed in its country of origin. Like Africa, Japan, China, but that's a purely personal line. I wouldn't judge anybody else that called their child Kimiko

When I said up thread that it was difficult to pronounce, I meant when reading the name.

I worked with someone called Aoife about 7 years ago, when I first saw it written I didn't know how to say it. I had no trouble remembering once I had been told the correct pronunciation. It's become a lot more popular in England since then.

As I said, I like it.

I love Suki!

Why draw the line at Japanese names, they are really easy to pronounce.

I agree with Nigella'sdealer. I lived in the UK for years and knew lots of people with some irish ancestry. I don't think calling your child Sean or Niamh is in the same league as calling your child jean-christophe or Alejandro!

Mind you, I wouldn't say that people shouldn't use french or spanish names. they can if they want to. I guess we all have our own 'line' though. Personally i'd draw the line at a Japanese name, like, Akiko or Kimiko.

Oh gawd, reading this I have a bad feeling that I say a friend's wife's name wrong all the time (we are not super close but see each other about once a year). She is an Aoife and I think I say it Eether, but never been pulled up on it. It's a nice name but is a fright to spell or say if your dd will spend a lot of time in England.

Lovely name, if you have Irish heritage. I pronounce it Eefa/Eefer.

In my accent there's no difference between Eefa and Eefer but I can see there would be if you had an accent that emphasises Rs (like west country)

What do you like about it. The way its written or the way its read. Is the name pretty the way it looks written down iyswim.

Be prepared for xmas cards and invites at school to be adressed the way an English person sounds it out,

And I do think it's a slightly odd choice for anyone who isn't Irish.
Like me calling my child Jean-Christophe or Alejandro

a bit of a silly comparison rreally - an awful lot of English people have Irish parents or grandparents, don't they?