Should I call my daughter Aoibhín in England?

I think even with pronouncing them differently it’s more like Lilian and Lila or something like that. It just looks bizarre together

Obviously op wants to pronounce it as Aiveen, and despite what people say on here that is a valid option nowadays. All Aoibhíns I know are Ay-veen, not ee-veen.

Because as everyone is telling you, it’s pronounced Eeveen. And visually they are similar as well.

I think stress varies with dialect.

For example Ciarán is KIER-awn in Connacht and Kier-AWN in Munster.

I’d say Aoibhín could be EVE-een or Eve-EEN depending on the speaker.

She's assuming you would pronounce it the correct way - Ee-veen.

That said, I don't think they are similar enough to be a problem. Aoife has the stress on the first syllable while Aoibhín has the stress on the second syllable. I'd put them at similar levels of similarity to Jack and Jason.

Eeveen sounds similar.

Are you going with Aveen for sure?
Up to you of course, but it seems a pity to me to choose an Irish name, and to go to quite some trouble to use the correct spelling (even when you’re somewhere it’s more difficult to do so), but to then not use the correct Irish language pronunciation.

But it’s your decision of course.

why? My children’s names start with the same consonant and vowel at the start. Why is that odd?

it’s a beautiful name but Aoife and Aoibhín are such a ridiculous combination for siblings I’m semi convinced OP must be trolling

Unfortunately, I think they are ! I think the mispronunciation is becoming so widespread that it’s almost accepted ?

To me Aoibhín is Eve - Een.
Aoibhinn without the fada is Even.

The name you are looking for is Éimhín - A - veen .

Good for you OP. You have chosen a beautiful name. Never pander to other people's stupidity. I am Irish but have lived in England for many, many years. As someone who has an Irish name and has an adult daughter with an Irish name I know there will be a lot of people who just won't get it. That's on them. All it takes is a modicum of effort. It has proven a useful tool over the years to sort the wheat from the chaff. If people cannot be bothered to get our names right then I won't be bothered to waste my time with them.

London is a massive global melting pot! And, no offence intended but as your British hosts enjoyed hundreds of years of occupation in Ireland, I’m sure they can handle a sprinkling of Irish names here and there 😁

Absolutely- there's so much more awareness now of how to pronounce names. Go for it

*came

But have I come on here and say you don’t pronounce Luke as Look? It depends what area you are from as to how you pronounce things.

Edit: anyway I feel we have derailed the thread enough now. I only can on here to make a light hearted comment to the op’s original question.

@Mumofnarnia , It was only when a friend of mine had a baby and named her Siobhan did I realise that it was actually pronounced as Shavonne 🤣
I only picked up on it because of what you posted. It's nothing personal, but your alleged pronunciation looks as wrong as my Look for Luke.

The emoticon didn't help. Let's leave it.

@lovebeingmuma , it's gonna be a boy.

In my accent they end differently, that’s not to say that particular pp is wrong. It’s just that it’s not fair to come on here and tell me that I don’t pronounce something a certain way because the way they pronounce it is slightly different. That pp doesn’t know me or my accent to tell me how I do and don’t pronounce something. I get that might be confusing to that particular person but there was no need for them to pick at me about it.

I think pp was confused too because Seán and Siobhán have the same ending…strictly speaking they end with the same sound. @Mumofnarnia said she says the final part of the names differently. I know it’s just a local accent thing, but it’s what caused some of the confusion I think.

Whatever. Luke and Look sound the same in my local accent.

Exactly! As I said earlier, people will just argue about anything and find something to pick at. Just a difference in accents that’s all but the end result is still the same.

@Emanwenym i think you’re just objecting to the way the pp has rendered it phonetically.

If you take Siobhan as an example, I’d probably write that as “shuh-vawn”, but I’d pronounce all of these words in exactly the same way: Siobhan, shivon, shuhvon, shavon, shavonne, shivawn, shivaun, shuhvaun etc etc. Unless you’ve got a degree in linguistics you’re probably not going to use the precisely correct phonetic rendering of the sounds.

I think the correct term is a schwa which is an unstressed syllable. Just because the pp used an “a” to represent this doesn’t mean she was pronouncing it with a long “a” like “have on” for example.

Yes but you was trying to tell me that I don’t pronounce it the way I said I do. You don’t know me, my accent, where I’m from or how I speak to be able to tell me that I don’t pronounce a name in a certain way when I’ve clearly stated that I do.

@Mumofnarnia It was only my business because you posted something that looked completely wrong and nothing like the IPA.

It goes to show why spelling names phonetically doesn't work. The IPA is an approximation.

Haha. Yes I agree. A lot depends on where you come from, your accent and what you pick up from other places you may live during your lifetime. I can understand that people have different accents and things may get pronounced slightly differently due to that reason - but the end result is still the same.