Irish names help!

OP just to warn you, I've known two 'Eimhin's and both have been male and pronounced it 'Evan'. (There are fadas, I just can't do them on this phone) So you run the risk of it being mispronounced in the UK and in Ireland, which would be quite frustrating.

Also, the UK-born 'Ayveens' I'm aware of have spelled it Aoibhin (again, with appropriate fada) so if it becomes a popular name among this generation of Irish settled in the UK, which wouldn't surprise me, and its pronunciation becomes 'known' like Niamh and Siobhan you might find the one people recognise is the 'wrong' spelling. I know a lot of Irish-speakers, and quite a few Aoibheanns of various spellings, and my extended family are native Irish speakers, and while its incorrect I think Ayveen / Aoibheann/Aoibhin is definitely the most common spelling/pronunciation in current day Ireland.

Also, because nobody else has mentioned it - what about the boy's name 'Aodh'? Again, my understanding was that was pronounced like the letter 'A'? So some precedence there?

I think of all the options you've been given either Eabhaoinn, which most Irish people would get first or second time, or the Heaney version seem like the best compromise. I'll also say, from knowing the mother of an Oisin in London and working with another, that once people in the UK see a letter written down they will unable to pronounce an alternative vowel sound so I really think you'd benefit pronunciation-wise if you start it with an 'A.'

In regards to Oisin, I was constantly saying 'no, its like a 'U' sound, and people who hadn't seen it written down could generally make a sound like 'Usheen' but those who saw it written first could still only say O-sheen. I think if you start it with an E, you'll get E-veen, no matter how many times you correct people.

The book only gives one pronunciation. There's a Look Inside preview.

Aibhín is quite different. With an a fada it might by Ayveen on Tory Island but not a lot of people know that.
Éibhín is close phonetically.
I'm coming round to the spelling "Aeibhinn", because the language is literally spelt "Gaeilge" so I hope people would agree that would be pronounced "ay", and you'll only have to educate them on the inn.

Thanks very much @SeanChailleach.

Aibhín doesn't work for me at all... seeing it written down I would automatically say Ah-veen. Like Ailbhe would be Alva

I have no idea whether this is right or wrong... but when I look at Éabhín written down (and I would pronounce this Ayveen) it makes me think 'Little Eve' which I think is lovely! So that would be the spelling I would choose

@LizzieAnt no we don't have a complete picture. Women's names in particular were written down less often and used in place names less often and used as surnames less often. So we have less source material to go on than with men's names.
The pronunciation of the name may well have been influenced by the gorgeous name Bé Bhinn. Or Étaín.

The very best book on Irish names is
"Irish names" by Donnchadh Ó Corráin and Fidelma Maguire
www.amazon.co.uk/Irish-Names-Donnchadh-%C3%93-Corr%C3%A1in-ebook/dp/B006YZWAFS?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

These are two great scholars who do know what they are talking about. Does include the spelling Aébfhinn which I do like and this is strong evidence that the name was pronounced the way the OP wants. It isn't Modern Irish, but I do sometimes feel like the Modern Irish orthography, genius as it is, still needs some more sounds.

The A at the start is needed because in Irish we join words together.
"B'Éibhinn í." has a slender b. "She would be Éibhinn."
"B'Aoibhinn í" has a broad b. "She would be Aoibhinn."

A whole freaking Irish phonics lesson in a single name... I'd better tell you that mh nasalises the surrounding vowels, like in French, whereas bh doesn't. This effect is most noticeable in Munster where we talk like North Wales Welsh funnily enough. And least noticeable in Ulster. The 2nd vowel in this name Aobheann is already nasalised by the nn which then affects the bh... Maith thú féin má tá tú fós ag léamh.

If you are going to live in the UK you really do need to consider how easy any Irish names are going to be for the general public to pronounce though? I sometimes throw out Irish names in the office and ask people to guess how they are pronounced and Tadhg is one which causes much rolling of eyes and laughter. I also had a period of dealing with someone call Cathal and anyone else from the company who spoke to him mis-pronounced his name even after being told how to pronounce it. Love the name Lochlainn though - it's my youngest son's middle name!

[quote nothingseasy]@spookycookies

I appreciate your input but I'm looking for constructive help. I'm enjoying learning about words and where they come from and how they are pronounced. Please stop telling me not to use this name. I don't want negative input thank you very much.[/quote]
You might not want it but your kids going to get a lifetime of it.

We don't have a clear understanding of the evolution of this name and its pronunciation though SeanChailleach, at least not on this thread.
There are some hypotheses, and your ideas in particular are very interesting, but we're not sure, or at least I'm not. I know very little about Old Irish. I certainly don't want to erase traces of the past, but I do want to make sure I interpret and understand them as accurately as possible. That's why I suggested to the OP that more research was needed.
I don't want to erase the past, but I don't want to misinterpret or misunderstand the past either.

That was in response to Ovine, by the way.

Yes, I think I'll be tongue-tied the next time I meet an Aoibheann

My tuppence for what it's worth :)

I would strongly consider Aibhín. It matches the pronunciation that you like, it's short and fairly uncomplicated from a spelling point of view. Living in England too, it should be straightforward for people to grasp. 'Siobhán' is quite well known, I think. It's not too dissimilar. I think it's lovely to have the Heaney poem as a reference too. I think it's a pretty name!

Congratulations! DS was going to be Sadhbh if he'd been a girl, and England, where we were living at the time, was just going to have to deal.

(Is anyone else now completely incapable of thinking of the word 'Ayveen' and its various cognates as any kind of normal word after reading this thread? Every possible spelling now looks deeply peculiar to me, and I suspect I will be paralysed next time I meet an Aoibheann-Ayveen.

I'm with Lizzie, I think it's more likely to be a mistake and Aoibheann (Ayveen) probably has sisters Sorcha (soresha) and Caitlin (Kate Lynn).

The thing is, even if Ayveen was an old way of pronouncing the name, shouldn't the spelling have changed over the centuries to reflect this? Varying spellings would have diverged to reflect different pronunciations. In modern Irish the pronunciation Ay-veen makes no sense when coupled with the spelling Aoibheann/Aoibhinn. Moreover, the word aoibheann is pronounced something like 'eevan' in every dialect of modern Irish afaik.

Maybe the Ayveen pronunciation is a 'throwback', a way of saying the name in the past as SeanChailleach suggests, a spoken version of the name passed down the generations. Or maybe it's a more modern mistake, possibly based on some confusion with another name, perhaps even one with similar origins. I'm not sure OP, and because of the uncertainty I think I'd stick with a spelling that makes sense in modern Irish - there are many suggestions upthread. Or else I'd do more research to find an answer if I could

That book would be great all right! Best of luck with everything.