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Baby names

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Original poster

Names you aren't sure how to pronounce

387 replies

whatausername · 10/04/2020 20:22

Since we're all inside for the foreseeable future...

What are some names you're not quite sure how to pronounce? We'll see if we can help each other. But do take answers with a pinch of salt given the wide variety of accents we all have!

For me: Hebe (hee-bee?) and João leave me feeling uncertain.

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BeFire · 12/04/2020 10:51

Jadzia

Dandarabilla · 12/04/2020 10:45

Blursula Anything in Irish ending with an agh is just an a sound.
So Darragh is like Dara. Kenneth Branagh will be Brana. Ranelaigh will be Ranala.

LizzieAnt · 12/04/2020 10:28

Dara is pronounced the same as Darragh. Another spelling is Daire. The Darragh spelling is more popular for boys today. Outside Ireland, and to a lesser extent within it, the Dara spelling is also used for girls, although it was traditionally a male name. Darragh is always male though afaik.

Blursula · 12/04/2020 10:04

Loving this thread. So many beautiful Irish names.

Is Dara pronounced the same as Darragh? Is the former spelling used much in Ireland? I love the name Dara but have no Irish connections!

LizzieAnt · 12/04/2020 09:54

@mathanxiety
@Heygirlheyboy
No, I said Conchúr can be pronounced Cun-a-hoor as well as Cru-hoor, not the OP. It wasn't for a laugh Smile I've heard that pronunciation in Munster, but have also come across Cun-a-khoor in Connaught. Cruhoor is more popular in my experience too though.

Heygirlheyboy · 12/04/2020 08:59

Ah ok Sealettuce, that's interesting, I had an uncle Timothy myself and they did sometimes refer to him as Thadeus! I alsp know a Thady but th not pronounced and hard A. I didn't know it was an Irish associated name!

Bingeslayer · 12/04/2020 08:49

Someone I went to school with called her Dd Aoife but pronounces it "eye-ofi" 😨 I cringed every time I heard it.
I'm absolutely hopeless at pronunciation myself though,Irish names bring me out in a cold sweat as I know I'll have no chance of pronouncing it right without googling first.

SeaLettuce · 12/04/2020 08:44

It's Latinised Aramaic in origin, but I'm talking about how it's pronounced and used in Ireland -- it was popular in Cork and to an extent Kerry because of a local 'saint' from the 1400s, sometimes also used as a pet name for Timothy, as in the ballad of 'Bould Thady Quill', something you still see in gravestones. Very much an old man name these days, but there's one at DS's school and I have one in my extended family, so maybe having a slight vogue.

Heygirlheyboy · 12/04/2020 08:21

It's Greek I thought so I thought the same as mathsanxiety pronunciation of Thaddeus. Mathanxiety no one said it was Cun-hoor, the op guessed that with a laugh.

SeaLettuce · 12/04/2020 08:10

Thaddeus - Ta-DAY-us

Definitely not any of the ones I know -- rural Munster. All THADDy-us.

mathanxiety · 12/04/2020 00:26

Did it in university - then left for the US Smile

mathanxiety · 12/04/2020 00:24

Alicia - I would pronounce this A-LISS-ee-uh. However, in the US it's nearly always A-LEESH-uh.

I would pronounce the name Kezia/h 'KEE-zee-uh'.

AngelaScandal · 12/04/2020 00:24

@mathanxiety do you teach Irish? You know everything

mathanxiety · 12/04/2020 00:17

Przemyslaw is Shem-e-slov.

The L is what would in Irish be a broad L, pronounced with the tip of the tongue against the back of the front teeth. It's almost a W sound.

The V at the end is a very soft and indistinct V, again almost a W.

Lesleyharp · 12/04/2020 00:16

seersha..

mathanxiety · 12/04/2020 00:12

Nuala.

Noo-uh-la

The UA diphthong should always be sounded in Irish. (So should the IA diphthong, as in Niamh).
The A turns into the schwa in both cases (a barely heard 'uh' sound).

mathanxiety · 12/04/2020 00:09

Tadhg/Tadgh

These spellings are not interchangeable.

T-a-d-h-g is the correct spelling.
Tadh = 'tye'
G = 'g'
Put them together and you have Tye-g, like tiger without the 'er'.

If you spell it T-a-d-g-h you get something like Tod.

mathanxiety · 12/04/2020 00:05

Thaddeus - Ta-DAY-us

mathanxiety · 12/04/2020 00:00

'im in Ireland and all Madeline's I know are pronounced Mad-uh-leen. It's how the French pronounce that spelling of the name too'

Irish Madeleines are pronounced Mad-uh-leen too.

mathanxiety · 11/04/2020 23:55

You get Cru-hoor from Conchur in Connemara Irish, and also cruk for cnoc (hill). I'm sure there are other instances of CN turning into CR.

mathanxiety · 11/04/2020 23:51

Mhairi is 'varry' according to the few I know. I swear I have heard that some people say 'marry' though.

Mhairi is the vocative case of Mairi. It is pronounced with the V sound as the M is lenited (with the H) in the vocative case.
It's what you would say to Mairi if you were hailing her - 'Hi, Mairi'.
Mairi is the name (nominative case).
The comma is used strategically in English to indicate the vocative case. The different cases in grammar cause differences in initial sound and also in endings of nouns in Irish and Gàidhlig.

mathanxiety · 11/04/2020 23:44

Caolaidhe is not pronounced 'Cali'.

It's Quail-uh.

mathanxiety · 11/04/2020 23:40

I have never in my life run across a Conchúr or Conchubhar who pronounced it Cun-a-hoor. Mind you, all the people I know of that name have connections to Connemara Irish colleges (as opposed to Munster).

Caoilfhionn - Kee-lan. Means slender and fair.
Cailín = girl (anglicised as the noun colleen and the name Colleen).

Louis - Loo-ee.

Ruaridh/Ruairi/Ruairidh etc - Ruhr-ee

Jean-Baptiste - Zhann-Ba'teest.

Adrienne - Aid-ree-enn

Naomi - Nay-O-mee

Mika - Meeka.

Beaux - Bo (this is a plural of beau, and shouldn't therefore be a name.)

Bijou - Bee-zhoo.

Anoisagusaris · 11/04/2020 23:40

Beaux - Bow

Bijou - be shoe....kinda like that

Zantedeschia · 11/04/2020 23:27

Louis: Lou-ee or Lou-iss

Ruaridh/Ruairi/Ruairidh etc: Rory

Naomi: Nay - oh - me or Nay- oh-my

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