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Baby names

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Think very hard about giving your baby an Irish name unless you live in Ireland!

213 replies

sunnydelight · 25/03/2008 04:10

DD is called Aoife. I am Irish and my mum died when I was pregnant so giving her an Irish name seemed very important to me even though I was living in the UK (as well as giving her her grandmother's name as a middle name). Five years later I want to scream. No, she is not called EeTHa, or A-o-fie. I have a smile permanently pasted to my face explaining that of course I wouldn't expect anyone to know how to spell or pronounce such a strange name, but it is pronounced Ee-fa. I even write it phonetically in brackets when I fill in forms now. I remind her swimming teacher (with a smile on my face) every week, ditto the guy who runs the gym club. I am glad that I am not allowed to watch her ballet class so I don't have to listen to what they call her. We have just had a friend around (first Aussie playdate so every excited) and her friend's mum called her EeTHa throughout. I have already explained how to pronounce it so resorted to the usual "mirror it back the correct way" every time. No deal. Don't do it to your babies, please don't do it

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Idobelieveinfairies · 25/03/2008 12:53

kate lynn

LambethLil · 25/03/2008 12:51

Slight hijack but how do think Caitlin is pronounced?

Idobelieveinfairies · 25/03/2008 12:48

That looks like the name winnie (not that i knew how it was spelt)..but seeing it written down is making me remember it now.

Thank-you!

Tiggerish · 25/03/2008 12:48

My ds is Ciaran and although most people pronounce it OK, their spelling is often bizarre! Various combinations of C, K A, E and I!

winniethewino · 25/03/2008 12:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

flossish · 25/03/2008 12:39

I felt very guilty a couple of weeks ago after realising I'd spelt sheikhs DS's name the english way, when I did know better.

RosaIsRed · 25/03/2008 12:38

All my three daughters have Irish names (one is Aoife) and we haven't experienced quite the degree of difficulty that the OP describes, but we deliberately give them nice English middle names in case they ever wanted to lose the Irish name. So far they love being a bit different.
I have found that having a famous person with the same name helps. There was far less of a problem with Aoife here after the Maria talent show on TV featured a contestant of that name.

Idobelieveinfairies · 25/03/2008 12:36

it does sound like maeve sazisi..and i think that is why i can't remember it ( i keep automatically saying meave)...it definately starts with an 'm'..and ends with a 'b'.

winniethewino · 25/03/2008 12:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

rosealbie · 25/03/2008 12:33

What a lovely name though. I was on a training course the other day and the course leader was an Aoife.

Bramshott · 25/03/2008 12:33

I have spent my life spelling Catherine (is that with a C, with K and a Y etc) so I think you get this whatever. My DDs are Niamh and Orla which are fairly mainstream I think but so many people struggle a lot, particularly with Niamh. I must admit I'm happy when we're in Ireland and I don't have to spell it out to people all the time! But then if we all wanted our kids to have the most common, easily pronounceable names they'd all be called Bob and Jill and the world would be a very boring place!

Sazisi · 25/03/2008 12:28

Idobelieve.. I think it's probably Maeve (there are a few different ways to spell it though!)

perpetualworrier · 25/03/2008 12:27

People have difficulty pronouncing all sorts of foreign names. I work in the East End and most of our Asian customers use English first names to help us out. e.g a customer called cchagan, goes by the name Chris. Perhaps your DD needs an English nickname, if it bothers you.

micegg · 25/03/2008 12:23

I have this problem with my own name. Hence why DD is called Hannah!People still call her Anna though.

Idobelieveinfairies · 25/03/2008 12:19

My dd2 is cerys....a lot of people have called her cerise-as in the colour pink!...

there is a lovely irish lady that comes to our playgroup, her 2 daughters have beautiful names. One is Aoife..the other i keep forgetting ....something like meab??? anyone??

mustsleep · 25/03/2008 12:13

owww

i was thinking of aisling for my next dc if its a girl and please tell me i am correct in assuming it's pronounced ashling?

dustyeastar · 25/03/2008 12:04

I have a welsh first name and, until i got married, a dutch surname. I spent my childhood spelling out my names for others and correcting their pronunciation. I can't say its ever really bothered me, either as a child or as an adult.

DS has a common English name that is spelt the Dutch way and people are always adding an h to his name as this is the usual English spelling. It only bugs me when family members continually get it wrong - even the ones on the Dutch side of the family. I also make a point of emphasising the different spelling to his school and to professionals involved with him.

FAQ · 25/03/2008 11:57

Isn't Eilidh (Ay-lee) Scottish??? not irish

belgo · 25/03/2008 11:53

how do you pronounce Eilidh?

ChickenSoupDragon · 25/03/2008 11:46

Why would they pronounce it with a TH in the middle when it clearly has an F?? It's the least ambiguous part of the name!

blueeeyore · 25/03/2008 11:32

I've been very lucky with DD's name she's also a carys,( as dejags has already said how to pronounce it) as most people say it right after the 1st time they hear it, although my father in law could never remember what it was and called her by her middle name. My dd1 has a friend at school called naryce (na-reece) who i thought for a while was a reece

fishie · 25/03/2008 08:42

i think it must depend a lot of where you live. i am in a very diverse community so almost all the children have unusual or foreign names and we are all used to asking how to spell or pronounce properly.

often things get anglicised too, look at caitlin. interesting really when we can cope with sean and even siobhan.

dejags · 25/03/2008 08:40

Yes - agree with Welsh names too. Our DD is Carys (Ca-ris) not difficult - we get many people who think she is named Paris...

Arrgh - can't win.

bozza · 25/03/2008 08:35

Thre is an Aoife in DS's class. DS pronounces it correctly. Not sure how he is on spelling it, mind you.

CatIsSleepy · 25/03/2008 08:25

tbh I would have had no idea how to pronounce Aoife if I hadn't seen it on this thread
it is not a name I am familiar with at all
would probably remember after being told once though!

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