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Baby names

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Original poster

Keeva for a girl

232 replies

shuz1980 · 01/07/2021 09:26

Whats people's opinions on Keeva? I love Irish names and like that Keeva looks like it sounds unlike other Irish names. Whats peoples opinions?

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LizzieAnt · 03/07/2021 18:58

Controversial...Smile

SeanChailleach · 03/07/2021 17:15

Aibhinn, pronounced Éibhinn. That's what I was thinking. It breaks the caighdeán of course, but next to raibh, ais, air, it looks less wrong.

LizzieAnt · 03/07/2021 15:01

So without any fadas, Caitlin could well be Kate-Lynn.
Still don't agree with this though, not for the first syllable Grin. Can't think of an example where ai is ever said as é.

LizzieAnt · 03/07/2021 14:44

I'm not saying stát is same vowel-sound as state, but that it is standard to change the vowel sound like that between Irish and English.

Right, thanks, I get your point now. I did think I was misunderstanding Smile. I thought you were saying that the spelling Cáitlinn would be pronounced as Kate-lynn when said in Irish.

SeanChailleach · 03/07/2021 14:18

Sorry, crosspost. I'm not saying stát is same vowel-sound as state, but that it is standard to change the vowel sound like that between Irish and English.

SeanChailleach · 03/07/2021 14:15

Also, while we might think of the letter a as in "cat", some of the most common words have letter a like é or e.
"Táim ag dul ar ais," arsa Con.
"Ní raibh an rud aige." ar Síle.
Ní raibh an rud aici.
Bhí air teacht ar ais.

So without any fadas, Caitlin could well be Kate-Lynn.

LizzieAnt · 03/07/2021 14:05

Also, the á in Ulster, though different to Munster/Connacht, isn't the same as the a in Kate either (I think).

LizzieAnt · 03/07/2021 13:43

Stát isn't pronounced the same as state though? Sorry, I'm probably just getting confused here Smile...I know the á is said differently in Ulster than in Munster/Connacht, but the slender t there wouldn't give the sound in Kate either.

SeanChailleach · 03/07/2021 13:24

I mean like in English Mary, Irish Máire; English place, Irish plás; English state, Irish stát.

LizzieAnt · 03/07/2021 13:12

Cáit gives a different sound to Kate, SeanChailleach. In Munster it's more like CAW-it, but there's dialectal variation. It's a name in its own right, also a form of Catherine.

LizzieAnt · 03/07/2021 13:06

Caitlín was the Irish form of the French Cateline, a form of Catherine, I think. Kathleen is an anglicisation of Caitlín.

SeanChailleach · 03/07/2021 12:40

I always thought Cáitlin was an interesting Gaelicisation of Kathleen, which I thought was an anglicisation of Cathailín.
Kate-Lynn sounds nice as a name but I guess in Irish you would change the vowel to á - giving Cáitlinn.

HeronLanyon · 03/07/2021 12:38

Thanks classica yes that ‘uh’ sometimes creeps in. When I think about pronouncing it full on correctly (or my ‘understanding’ if what that might be) I imagine everyone and her looking at me as if I’d gone mad or was being disrespectful ! Apologies to derail a Caitlin thread.

Classica · 03/07/2021 12:35

Caitríona Balfe is prob the most famous holder of that name and she seems to go for the ca-treen-na pronunciation Smile

Classica · 03/07/2021 12:33

Caitríona is pronounced ca-tree-uh-nuh but I find that the uh syllable is often skipped over and many of them just pronounce it ca-tree-na (emphasis on the tree).

HeronLanyon · 03/07/2021 12:28

May I please ask the Irish (or Irish living) posters to help me with various pronunciations of Caitriona ??
I know someone called this and my own pronunciation wavers and changes a bit. Have checked with her but forgotten - would like to at least be close to a recognisable pronunciation.
I tend to say cat - reen - a with emphasis on reen.
But I often say Kay - tree- ona with more emphasis on Kay and an odd unexpected sound on the ‘tr’ like ‘chr’. That sounds ‘pretentious tosser Londoner’ trying to get it right to me sometimes.

TatianaBis · 03/07/2021 11:57

@DramaAlpaca

It can be kat-LEEN, but depending on area it can also be cawt-LEEN, coit-LEEN or coitch-LEEN.

Sorry, it's hard to represent on here how to say Irish names, but as you can see there's considerable regional variation depending on dialect.

Thanks. So much nicer than Caitlin.
MareMare · 03/07/2021 11:49

@ViciousJackdaw

Yes, call her Keeva. Then, have another daughter and call her Caitlin. Pronounced Kate-Lynn.

I have the Worst Irish Name Ever. Thankfully, my initial sounds like a name in its own right (except in Ireland, where it means a fanny!) and I generally go by that.

If you’re really a Gobnait, can I just say I rather like it, you’ve a cool patron saint, and that Attracta, Assumpta and Concepta are in fact the worst Irish-used female names by far.

My childfree cousin Bríd, who has spent her adult life out of Ireland, says she gets very tired of remarks about why she didn’t ‘breed’, given her name.

MareMare · 03/07/2021 11:45

@EmmaGrundyForPM

Every Caitlin I've ever known has pronounced their name as Kate Lynn with the emphasis on "Cait" and the Lin bit being softer. How else should it be pronounced?
Kate-Lyn is an Irish diaspora mispronunciation based on how Cáitlín ‘should’ sound phonetically according to English-language rules. Unfortunately it got re-imported.
Classica · 03/07/2021 11:42

@ViciousJackdaw

Yes, call her Keeva. Then, have another daughter and call her Caitlin. Pronounced Kate-Lynn.

I have the Worst Irish Name Ever. Thankfully, my initial sounds like a name in its own right (except in Ireland, where it means a fanny!) and I generally go by that.

Oh wow, a real life Gobnait! I've never met one before, in person or virtually.
DramaAlpaca · 03/07/2021 03:06

It can be kat-LEEN, but depending on area it can also be cawt-LEEN, coit-LEEN or coitch-LEEN.

Sorry, it's hard to represent on here how to say Irish names, but as you can see there's considerable regional variation depending on dialect.

HidingFromTheChildren · 03/07/2021 03:06

Keeva really isn't a name. She'd always be telling people how to spell it.

TatianaBis · 03/07/2021 02:55

I’d imagine it would be more like Kat’leen but I’ve no idea.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 03/07/2021 02:44

Every Caitlin I've ever known has pronounced their name as Kate Lynn with the emphasis on "Cait" and the Lin bit being softer. How else should it be pronounced?

SionnachRua · 03/07/2021 00:33

@ViciousJackdaw

Yes, call her Keeva. Then, have another daughter and call her Caitlin. Pronounced Kate-Lynn.

I have the Worst Irish Name Ever. Thankfully, my initial sounds like a name in its own right (except in Ireland, where it means a fanny!) and I generally go by that.

Does your name feature in Frank Kelly's 12 days of Christmas? G has to be the initial anyway Grin
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