Neve/Niamh

How about spelling it Neev?

I’ve met a Niamh, Neve and Nieve and they were all pronounced “neev”.
I’d personally go for Niamh and it’s common enough in the UK not to cause confusion.

I've known how Niamh is pronounced for a long time and I don't think it would cause too much confusion in England. However, if you do decide to go for an anglicised spelling, I think Neve would be by far the most sensible. I used to know a little girl called "Neive" - I always felt the I and E should be the other way round to get that pronunciation!

My little sister is called Neve, lots of people comment on it & love it !
A lot of people miss pronounce it as Nev or Nev'ey

When there's a split in the country as to how to pronounce it, I think OP will be fine pronouncing it as Neev abroad. It's a widely accepted variation in Ireland. Would be different if she was taking the name and using some pronunciation no native Irish person would dream of, like perhaps Ay-oh-fee for Aoife.

Technically it's incorrect. It would be like pronouncing Brian as brine.

Niamh doesn't have two syllables to all Irish people, though. I know plenty that call themselves Neeev. It's not incorrect.

Neve and Niamh do not make the same sound. Neve sounds like neev whereas Niamh has two syllables. But I've heard English parents calling to their little Niamh and realise they don't hear the distinction.

Well there you go, I've just posted about how mine feels!
She's generally not bothered by the mistakes, it was just in hospital when she wasn't well and in a huge grump anyway.

I've just asked her as well, and she says whilst it's occasionally annoying, she's happy with it and wouldn't change it, she also said, "Oh fuck do not spell it Neve, ever "
There's a few amusing FB memes featuring it too.

We should listen to the kids who are actually called Niamh/Neve about how they feel.

Niamh is fine. I'm in London and I know several - it's a well known name. I've never come across a Neve - it just looks very odd to me.

Knife

My 17yr old is Niamh and she's had all kinds of odd spellings/pronunciations (Knife is my favourite), and its never bothered her until literally last week when she was in hospital and the nurses kept getting it wrong so she told them to use her middle name-Elizabeth.
That's exactly why I gave her a classic, easy to spell, lots of short options middle name!

Just re read it, I think she said she’d use Neve as a first name but if she’s going to spell it Niamh she’d have it as a middle name.

So there a poster on this thread who’s going to call her DD Niamh Neve? First name and middle name Did I get that right?

This reminds me of all the jokes in Catastrophe when everyone pauses very briefly before attempting to pronounce Sharon’s choice of name, Muireann.

I’ll wait until I see any other language or culture’s names get discussed the same way Irish names are here

Polish names don’t do terribly well, either. I’ve seen some very snotty comments about ‘youneeq’ spellings in response to posts about Szymon, Maks, and Krzysztof.

I think that is absolutely true, PennyMordauntsLadyBrain.

There is nothing innately difficult about Irish names RCohle. Many rhyme with English words. Many are short.

There seems to be an inability to accept that the spelling of Irish names will involve Irish orthography, not English. There is incredulity and complete inability to wrap heads around the spellings. Why would the spelling and pronunciation of an other language entirely be the same as English spelling and pronunciation? Do people think that Irish is just English with a funny accent?

Meanwhile, there are lots and lots of words in English whose spelling makes no sense at all, but they are accepted.

Not having a link to Ireland doesn't mean you can't use an Irish name (in the opinion of many Irish people though, parents should take care to spell and pronounce the name correctly). I am not sure how the issue of using a name outside of one's culture would cause annoyance if the name was apparently difficult to pronounce. There are many names that are not ethnically English whose pronunciation is not obvious but I doubt there is a problem - thinking of names like Penelope here.

I am not as familiar with names from some African traditions, so I can't address difficulties with them. From what I see of names from African traditions, though, they seem to be spelled phonetically.

at Niamh being a difficult name to say.

I’ll wait until I see any other language or culture’s names get discussed the same way Irish names are here, and then I’ll maybe accept your point

I'm pretty sure if a British couple with no links to any African countries wanted to give their child a difficult to pronounce and spell African name people might raise some issues with it Penny.

Definitely agree - but I think there are also more people calling out that kind of attitude these days, which is good. It's often met with a wide eyed faux innocent "ooh I was only trying to help the Irish with their silly names", but at least gobshites are being pulled up for being gobshites.

Maybe mathanxiety, but I’ve noticed that certain criticisms regarding difficulties with spelling and pronounciation are reserved just for Irish names.

If anyone made the same comments about a traditional African name for example, they’d be rightly called out on it. Silence though, when it’s an Irish name.

I often wonder where this particular form of stupidity about unfamiliar names comes from in people who are clearly capable of expressing themselves intelligibly and holding down responsible jobs. How did any of these people manage to learn new words in their vocabulary (or am I assuming too much here).

Is it an incredibly odd social awkwardness?
Some hyper-consciousness of difference from the English norm that makes people stop caring about coming cross as stupid or closed minded?

Or is it just that really, really bad manners are actually very much tolerated in the UK, despite the famous British -preoccupation with rules and regulations and the niceties of afternoon tea?

How rude! What a jerk

For the second time: I think if anyone can make jokes about the Irish, it's going to be the Irish. Maybe you havent read the thread, but if you have it's not a hard concept to wrap your head around.

If the jerk comment is about me being rude to OP, then you're misinterpreting the tone.

Who do you think is going to stop you, the Leprechaun Police?*

How rude! What a jerk

My friend is Irish and is called Niamh. Her inlaws are from Belfast and had major problems getting their heads around it at the start so the only way to explain it to them was to say "think of Eve and stick an N in front of it". After 20 or so years of having them as inlaws they finally got the hang of it.