Aoife - if not Irish?

Tbh there a couple of ways of spelling Ann....

Tbh I can't get worked up about people misspelling my name. They pretty much have, my whole life. Until they get to know me.

Main thing is, I know how it's spelt.

I have an Irish name and live in the US, and also a surname that has several spelling variations. Both of my names are routinely mangled, both in spelling and out loud.

It isn't a problem unless you let it become one.

We can't all be Jane Smith, and even if we were, some of us would end up being addressed as Jan / Smiff.

@mathanxiety , it's annoying to have your name misspelt. I had a surname with probably the least popular of several spellings, and it caused problems.

Wrt misspellings - so what?

Is there a suggestion that you should dumb down name choices in order to pander to people who are not very bright?

There are only a few guarantees in life, and one is that people who can't spell are going to make a mess of pretty much any name they're faced with.

Just choose a name you love. It's fine, regardless of its country of origin.

@sunglassesonthetable , I wouldn't use Angharad either because it is too popular in Wales either as a first or middle name, and because I dislike the anglicised pronunciations. The name itself is nice enough, but Ann-garrud, Ann-harrud, Ang-garrud etc sound ugly.

@AnonymousArmadillo , that's 3 on a thread where the name is written clearly in the thread title, and the posts are by people who are interested in names, so not representative of real life.

Fair enough. I don't expect everyone to agree. Still think its wierd though 😂.

Just out of interest, I counted the misspellings on this thread. 2. Aofie and Aiofe. I might have missed a couple but it really isn’t very many.

As it’s my DD’s name, I’m well aware of the issues people have with the spelling and pronunciation. Most friends and family have made the effort to learn it though. With the wide variety of names these days, people aren’t so quick to make assumptions I feel. People will always make mistakes in spelling people’s names. I have a very common name and people still spell it wrong.

I wouldn't use Angharad if I wasn't Welsh so why Aoife if not Irish?

Because that's just you🤷‍♀️?

Aoife is very Irish. The examples you gave are widespread across Europe. I've never met an Aoife who is not Irish or who has not got strong Irish heritage. It's just not comparable. OP Aoife is a lovely name but if you use it bear in mind that she will have a lifetime of people assuming she's Irish. It's just odd. I wouldn't use Angharad if I wasn't Welsh so why Aoife if not Irish?

@Stepuptowardsinfinity

"Bizarre. Like using Manuel if you are not Spanish, or Haru if you are not Japanese. Aoife is a lovely name but screams Irish heritage.''

So where does that live the many Juno, Orlando, Olivia, Dominic, Sofia, Zara..?

It is a very middle-class thing to give kids a name with a latin, greek or French origin without having any link to Italy/France/Greece. Or in the case of Zara, a name with an Arabic origin.

Can't see the issue with someone wanting to use an Irish name if they like the sound of it....

It’s quite popular now so wouldn’t let it worry you. Anyway you do have Irish ancestry

I'd scroll through this and other Aoife threads and count the misspellings.
Anything with two or more consecutive vowels tend to get them transposed.

..would have loved to name a daughter Aiofe. Go...

Aoife is more like Eef fa than Ee fa. Whereas Eva is Ee va. The Aoif is part of both the first and second syllable almost. Aoife ad Eva do not sound alike when pronounced correctly.

*but we just politely…

not because! 🙄

I’m Irish and would have loved to name a daughter Aiofe. Go ahead…it’s beautiful

Love it! It’s my DD2’s name and we live in England, I’m English (and Scottish) but DH is Irish. Not sure if I would have used it had she not had the Irish heritage. I would have been sad not to.

I have had some interesting pronunciations though because we just politely correct them and laugh about it later. My favourite so far has been Oof! 😂

I'm shocked that people can't pronounce Aoife. It's simply Eee-Fa! It's not that unusual!! What about Siobhan?

Nice name but she'll forever be explaining how to pronounce her name if she's not in Ireland. Unless you're aware of Gaelic phonetics it not easy to decipher.

Go for it OP. It's lovely and in mho totally pronounceable.

Every name is from somewhere and these days children have all the names of the rainbow.

There always the shouldn't brigade on here but nobody owns a name.

In answer to " do you have Irish heritage?"
Your DD will answer " yes, my great great grandmother ".

End of.

I'm Irish and have no issue with people using it. It's a completely different name to Eva though. I've an Irish name (one of the hardest to read/ spell) and lived in England for 10 years and had no issue. It's actually easy to say so once people knew it was grand.

@PropellerDance no I haven't, and lots of Spanish and Italian names become mainstream in English speaking countries. Japanese names don't.

Reading the name would be difficult if you weren't familiar with it or weren't an Irish speaker, granted. But I'm surprised that actually saying Ee-feh is difficult for an English person as @DramaAlpacadescribed. I'm not doubting you at all @DramaAlpaca, just surprised. I hadn't Aoife pegged as a name that's difficult to say, as well as to read, if you're not Irish.