Neve/Niamh

The Irish spelling is fine. It's one of the most popular Irish names in my area and most people would be familiar with it.

I love Niamh, was on my list for a girl

Niamh is infinitely preferable to Neve imo. It's not ok to spell names differently from the way they should be spelled to pander to ignorance or stupidity. I agree it is culturally insensitive to choose an Irish name and then change it.

Lebkuchenlover, if you can manage Phoebe, Chloe, Penelope, Persephone, Hermione, Xanthe then you can manage Niamh.

I love Nieve if pronounced as a Spanish name, which is not the same as 'Niamh'.

OP I think you can ignore a lot of people on this thread. Niamh is a normal name, people know how to pronounce it just like they can pronounce Siobhan and Sinead. I really think of you live in London and can’t pronounce Niamh, what rock do you live under??

Niamh!

It's on my shortlist too. Love it. I'm not Irish and have no Irish ancestry.

I absolutely love the Spanish name Nieve. It’s beautiful.

neve (pronounced nev-eh) is also Italian for snow. Just as an aside.

I know a Nieve, so called because she was born in a snowstorm and her dad walked home from the hospital in the snow after leaving his car there. That spelling is Spanish for snow.

In English Neve would rhyme with Eve, so it's actually a good anglicised version!

neve (pronounced nev-eh) is also Italian for snow. Just as an aside.

For the poster wondering where people come from who can’t pronounce ‘Niamh’ - the answer in my case (and colleagues) is London and the SE. We all work in a literary field so it’s not as if we don’t come across lots of different names either.
We can pronounce Niamh once it’s been explained (it’s not a difficult sound) but most people stumble when they see it written and a few (ahem my boss ) persistently get it wrong despite having had it explained. That may well be down to her eccentricities but the fact is it DOES frequently get mangled.

I say go with whatever you want OP! DS and I fell in love with a Scandinavian name- we are both British but loved the name so much we used it for DS and don't regret it at all. 😊

Neve looks like it’s said Nev

Does it? Then what's the point of the e after the v? That should change the sound of the first e from "eh" to "ee", according to my year 4 grammar lessons.

I'd say it's a perfectly good anglicisation.

Niamh is a beautiful name! Doesn't matter at all whether you are Irish

How is "Neve" badly anglicised? It seem quite well anglicised to me.

Because Niamh is pronounced Neeve (or Nee-uv) and Neve looks like it’s said Nev?

I think it’s culturally insensitive to pick an Irish name and then change the spelling.

The name only contains 5 letters and people manage on a daily basis to pronounce and spell names much more complex from across the globe

It's not the number of letters but the unusual combination of them!

Maybe a better anglicised version would be Neave?

Personally I wouldn't know how to pronounce Niamh. I know a male Niam pronounced Ni am.

I would be confused and wonder how you wanted to pronounce Neve - either Neev or Nev (Like Neve Campbell?)

But I would be clear of pronunciation of Niamh.

I prefer the look of Neve, however.

Blimey, I'm really not much use am I

I'm also irish. We don't all think the same But I didn't mean to upset you.

Yes, she had to be prevented from calling someone Shlow. Lol.

I love Niamh. Gorgeous, stylish, suits many kinds of people.

I teach at a uni and know a couple, so they're in their early twenties. None my own age - but then we all knew how to spell Siobhán and Roisín, which were among the most frequent Irish names in England our generation. And Welsh Siân. It's really no harder than any of those.

In fact it's barely harder than Chloë or Isla - their letter combinations are not pronounced in the most "obvious" way in English either. I remember when Chloe was still unusual my grandmother was very confused by the spelling. It's all what you're used to, and people learn.

Niamh has steadily increased in popularity beyond Irish communities in the last twenty years or so. It’s quite plausible that new parents who don’t come into contact with many children or young people might not have encountered any Niamhs. I know three, but they’re all under the age of twenty.

I often wonder where all these people live who cannot pronounce Niamh. It is not uncommon like Caoimhe and it is not hard to pronounce. The name has grown rapidly in popularity, there are thousands of little Niamh's running around the UK, most people should know how to pronounce and spell it.

I lived in SE England and had never heard of it until I started posting on this board while looking for names for my DC1. Never knowingly met one or seen it written down apart from here.

I often wonder where all these people live who cannot pronounce Niamh. It is not uncommon like Caoimhe and it is not hard to pronounce. The name has grown rapidly in popularity, there are thousands of little Niamh's running around the UK, most people should know how to pronounce and spell it.

The name only contains 5 letters and people manage on a daily basis to pronounce and spell names much more complex from across the globe. Please go with the Irish spelling. Anyone who cannot learn how to spell and pronounce the name correctly is in my opinion just being lazy.

Does my bap in when people badly anglicise Irish names

How is "Neve" badly anglicised? It seem quite well anglicised to me.