Should I call my daughter Aoibhín in England?

I’m not remotely Irish, nor do I spent time there, and I nearly got it. I think after the first few goes most people would manage it

Love it. I am a teacher - if I don't know how to pronounce a name I either ask a fellow teacher if they know or google it. Failing that I say before I do the register 'if I say your name wrong just correct me'.
Kids have always been fine with that and one I know I am fine. Other than when I had a Sorcha and a Saoirse in the class and kept getting them the working way round.

But Aoife is Eefa, so why is Aoibhín not Eeveen?

Please don’t. I have a fairly common Irish name, and my childhood was hell. Constant teasing, nobody tried to say or spell it properly. Just don’t.

I know at least 4 Aoibhín/ Aoibhinn/Aoibheann and all pronounce it Ay-veen, but I know aoi is pronounced ee.
Go with what you want. I'd take what MN says on baby names with a pinch of salt! Unless you're calling your baby Lily/ Evie... then no one will know how to pronounce it & even then they're too popular 🙄

There is absolutely nothing wrong with naming a child from their own culture, ever. I would go for it and having a similar name, the people who aren't arsed about pronouncing it properly are dicks and my name acts as a decent litmus test for wankers and racists.

It’s a beautiful name, I say go for it. It will be a lovely connection to her Irish heritage and English people can just learn something new :) I’m in the north of Ireland and we all would say Ay-veen, not Eeveen - maybe it’s a provincial difference? Like Caoimhe can be Keeva or Kweeva?

Given the sister's name, my first thought is that the two are quite similar. But then I had a friend who was one of four girls whose given name initials were M.A., the same as their Dad, and it caused a lot of confusion when the post turned up, so maybe I'm overreacting.

A lot of people are getting the two names mixed up, yes. It doesn’t make it right though. Please don’t add to it!

Please don’t. I’ve had 70 years of having to spell my Welsh name to people in England. To be fair to my parents the plan was for us to stay in Wales but Dad had to come to England for work.

Were you born and reared in Ireland? I'm asking because that name is pronounced Ee-veen, so where did you get Ay-veen from?
If you call her that, her name will be pronounced differently to what you think in both countries.

Its E veen. Don't give her an irish name and then mispronounce it. She'll get a hard enough time in the uk and then a worse time in ireland if she visits for not knowing how to pronounce her own name properly.

Yes I don’t see why not, there’s lots of Irish names used in England, my sister was born in Ireland and now lives in England and her name is Siobhan, I know lots of Caoimhe and saoirse too, yes perhaps the first few weeks of school/nursery people might mispronounce but once they’re corrected it’s ok and it’s unique here which is better than being the 10th Layla or Dolcie in her class

@lovebeingmuma according to google it is pronounced Eeven!! not Aiveen

I wouldn't. She will be forever having to spell her name to everyone, always, every time, forever..............

Just don't...........

Are you planning to send her to Catholic school? She'll be fine in a Catholic school and after that she'll be an adult and be able to deal with it.

i thought it was Eeveen

My son goes to school with an Aoibhin (in the middle of England) and it’s fine. I was corrected once when I first got it wrong, and then I knew. It’s a beautiful name.

Just name her Aiveen ... unusual and quite lovely

Mine has a much simpler name, Naoimh, and nobody can get it. She's frequently called Naomi. Also people that know she's "neve" rarely spell her name right much to her annoyance (and she's only 8) Had I known that at the time I wouldn't have done it.

We're in south east England. This is a throwaway username as it's probably very outing!

Irish is phonetic; it’s a different language so combos of letters make different sounds to English. It is actually “orthographically shallow”, which means there are very few exceptions in terms of pronunciation, unlike English which has loads. Once you learn the rules you can pretty much always work out how something is pronounced.

OP, for this reason please don’t call your kid Aoibhín if you want the name to be pronounced as Ay-veen. It is totally wrong, even though unfortunately it is a mistake that is becoming more common. You’ll be in a situation where British people AND Irish people with any understanding of the language will all say the name wrong.

I wouldn't. Not because I don't think it's a lovely name, I do. I would never have known how to pronounce it without your explanation, and I think that that will be a regular occurrence for your child throughout her life.

Perhaps you could spell it Aiveen to make it a bit less complicated if you really want to use it?

I have to admit that although I do love a lot of Irish names, Irish spelling and pronunciation are something of a mystery to me. I can't be alone there.

Ava would go so well with Aoife though Aoibhin is beautiful too