I didn't think this name would be so unpopular

I haven’t rtft but your family are being rude, imo, especially given you’ve told them how to pronounce it and they’re not.
FYI - My son would have been an Aoife had he been a girl. I recognise that living in England people would mispronounce it, but the name is significant to us as parents so we would just have to correct them. You gave your son a beautiful Irish name that has meaning and significance to you - so in answer to your title, it’s defo not unpopular and he’s got a lovely lovely name. Xx

Killian from Once Upon A Time 😍

Sorry but that's first thing I thought of

I also think they're doing it on purpose. In the scheme of Irish names (I've one myself) it's not hard to pronounce at all once you know it's a hard c. I also think it's a lovely name!!

@Bignanny30.
If you want to remember how to say Eleri, all you need to remember is Lerry. Rhymes with Terry, Kerry and Cherry.

If anyone tells you otherwise, they are not right. It is a popular name in my age group and you hardly sound the initial E.

Aicha has a diaeresis on the i, Alt+0239, and the spelling is French or Maghrebi. It is also written Aisha. (cf. Natacha/Natasha or Sacha/Sasha. Or, if I'm right, عائشة

Aicha was the third wife of the prophet Muhammed, I had to google. It is a lovely name.

@Bignanny30 - Eleri is El-erry to rhyme with Terry and Ceri (Kerry). My husband used to keep saying Ellery as in celery, but the Eleri Lingo character on Duo Lingo's Welsh course helped him crack the pronunciation.

Families will do this on purpose, sad but true. Unless they are elderly/ SEN there is no excuse after being corrected once.
I have an Hermione - she is almost 19, but children never had an issue pronouncing it, which I guess is thanks to Master Potter and chums.
Total coincidence by the way, it was the name of an actress at work when I was pregnant, and it stuck!

Oh, and your family are doing that on purpose. They're twats. Sorry 💐

It's a great name, sounds unusual and memorable. DS1 has a good friend called Cillian who is a great lad so I may be slightly biased towards it (!), but no matter. If someone mispronounces it, it's one correction. Fuck, I have to correct people's spelling of my name occasionally, and it's not even that unusual... should my parents be worried?!

I would have mispronounced it

@eggandonion I used to know an Aicha when I lived in Indonesia. I always loved that name

Aicha's dad is Algerian. We are very cosmopolitan. We also have Cillian across the road who is fabulous, he's seven.

@Bignanny30, I don't think you can assume that about teachers just because of your issues.

@eggandonion ooh Aicha is nice. Is that indonesian?

Teachers in England must have to get used to names from all around the world - Wiktor, Ismene, Oliwia, Aicha are amongst people my kids know in a small town in southern Ireland. (southern as in very far south, not just Republic of Ireland).

I've always loved this name although I'm Irish with an Irish name myself. My previous job meant dealing with English customers who just couldn't seem to get it right. I would get called duck and darling!

He's probably going to be very frustrated when he gets to school because the teachers will probably always pronounce it incorrectly. My granddaughters have Italian names and they are always correcting people! My daughter in law (who isn't Welsh but lives in Wales) gave her youngest daughter a Welsh name - Eleri , which I cannot pronounce correctly even though she has told me the correct pronounciation a hundred times !!!!

You can either toughen up and put up with an interpretation of your name (e.g. Kalid, Halid, Kaleed, Haleed ) or cringe.

It really doesn't take that much toughening up, speaking personally. And if you choose not to toughen up, if that is needed, then cringing is essentially your choice.

'Orla' is properly spelled, 'Órlaith' in Irish

...not since An Caighdeán Oifigiúil was developed in the 1950s/60s, with simplified spelling and standardisation of pronunciation (to Connacht Irish, though with elements of all three dialetcs included). You can use either, or even go full on Órfhlaith, but Orla is the modern spelling.

It's a great name!!!
Some people are too lazy to learn a name! When you've told them once they should remember it!

Australasian. I meant Antipodean.

@mathanxiety
Without knowing the names, you can't really tell.

It's not always as simple as, say, correcting Iain to sound like Ian.

Certain languages have sounds that don't occur in English (UK, International, US, Australasion). (e.g. Khalid)

You can either toughen up and put up with an interpretation of your name (e.g. Kalid, Halid, Kaleed, Haleed ) or cringe.

Kill-E-an but only because of my Irish background.

I have a Niamh and Siobhan and get some great pronounciations and spellings. We often jokingly refer to Nee-am and Si o ban. Lol I'd be miffed if family were not joking though!!

I've taught a Cillian -pronounced Killy-an