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Baby names

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

Original poster

Aoife?

137 replies

clairemiss79 · 26/06/2014 20:08

I love the name Aoife but living in England I'm worried that it will be constantly mis-pronounced. Does anyone know any aoifes?

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GreyTS · 26/06/2014 20:58

Pronunciation is eefa so pretty simple, like Eva but with an f

Catsmamma · 26/06/2014 20:50

i'd have used that for dd if I had heard of it!!

Always always loved Imogen for a girl but a couple of years before dd was born Imogen was everywhere, anyhoo, dh liked Eve and not my other choice but I think Aoife is just the loveliest name.

greyts .....how do you pronounce it? I never found out cos she was about two when i discovered it.

sandberry · 26/06/2014 20:43

Will probably get mispronounced sometimes but it is the 205th most popular name in England and Wales and going up, more and more people will be familiar with it.

GreyTS · 26/06/2014 20:32

However English people often call me eefer which I hate

GreyTS · 26/06/2014 20:31

I'm an Aoife, and although I'm irish I grew up elsewhere so was the only Aoife I knew. It was fine, no one ever forgot my name after the first time, everyone liked it, in fact I never had any negative reactions to my name. My sister on the other hand struggled with her irish name, no one ever remembered it or pronounced it correctly.

meerschweinchen · 26/06/2014 20:23

I absolutely love Aoife, but I'm afraid I don't know anyone with the name. Just wanted to say what a lovely choice.

I'm afraid it will get mispronounced though.

Pico2 · 26/06/2014 20:23

I think people might struggle with the spelling, so you need to decide whether it bothers you. We really liked it, but the spelling/pronunciation issues made us decide against.

ShatnersBassoon · 26/06/2014 20:23

And I do think it's a slightly odd choice for anyone who isn't Irish.

Op might be Irish Smile

ShatnersBassoon · 26/06/2014 20:21

It's a lovely name. One of the nicest, warmest women I know is Aoife.

MaloryArcher · 26/06/2014 20:19

It's a lovely name (and my sister's name). It will get mispronounced to shit in the UK though.

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.

VictoriaOfHouseMN · 26/06/2014 20:17

I like Aoife. I used to pronounce it Eye-orf but I think the girl from Saturdays named her daughter that and I looked up how to pronounce it.

Janek · 26/06/2014 20:15

I've got an Aoife, she had a year with a lot of supply teachers in year 1 and the class got very used to chorussing 'it's Aoife' when they got to her name on the register.

Her year 2 teacher insisted on calling her Ether, despite being corrected by me at least twice ('i do usually call her that' - really because i just heard you say Ether, why do you ever get it wrong?!? You've got the hard bit right!).

Oh and a french passport control man called her 'waf' the other day, which was so confusing i didnt even realise he was reading her name until we'd left him.

But other than that, oh and people thinking she's called eva, no problems. Most people get it right, certainly after the first time they meet her!

I still love the name and she's 8.

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