Sadhbh (ryhmes with five!) for girl

I have a comparatively easy name Oonagh and not a day goes by without me having to spell it out ten times, explain it, have a massive discussion about where it comes from. If you think your dd will cope with that, go for it.

OTOH, no-one EVER forgets me once they know my name! It makes me very memorable... That and my stunning good looks.

Saddled with Mathilda? I have a Mathilda. It's a bloody great name.

Sadhbh is pretty but problematic. Aoife fairly popular and I think most can pronounce/spell it, but runs the small risk that it might be pronounced Eva here which is also ten a penny. What about Caoimhe? Although I have a friend called this and she was v surprised on the day we met that I could spell it without instruction.

You have to put these things in perspective; the majority of the world does not speak gaelic or know how to pronounce it, your daughter could potentially live anywhere in the world, but on probability alone, she's less likely to come across a person who'll know how to pronounce Sadhbh than will. To me, and I suspect most people, Sadhbh would be pronounced "Sadderbberh" It's up to you whether you want to saddle your child with having to constantly explain how to say it.

Also, "Sive" sounds like "Scythe", so I don't think the proper pronunciation is particularly attractive either.

I wouldn't go with it she will spend her life either having it mispronounced or having to spell it for people. Think Ellen is by far the nicest from your list.

My middle name is Mhari and I loathed having to explain it when I was young - "M-H-A-R-I pronounced Vhari, the M and the H make a V in Gaelic like a P and H make a F in English".

Saying that I have saddled my baby DD with Mathilda (with an H) Mae (as in West)!!! What a cruel mother. And don't even get me started on our surname!!!

To English eyes, DHBH makes no sense anyway -- why not just get rid of superfluous Hs which give a string of four consonants, all the same height for trying to read, and put in the right order when writing.

The only drawback I can see to Sadhbh is when learning to write children reverse d and b frequently -- although maybe having them both in her name would help her sort them out quicker, who knows.

I know a Medb who chose that spelling because it struck her as more gothy than Maebh.

But without the "h"'s it doesn't make sense - it just becomes sad-b (sad bum, more like).

Eilidh -- I would pronounce Ay-lee.

I would even be tempted to use the old spelling (Sadb) and eliminate all the baffling Hs, which can be confusing to anyone who knows no Irish.

Sadhbh? Really? You must be joking. Totally ridiculous.

I think it is a really ugly name - don't do it!!

I have a name which no-one can spell and, honestly, it is so maddening having to explain yourself to people over and over again.

How about Ailsa?

I don't like it. It has a rather ugly sound imho.

I love it, would love to use it if I had a girl, and think you should take courage and use it! Sadb (old spelling) in tradition was the mother of Oisin the fenian hero, and turned into a deer - it's a lovely story.

mathanxiety how do you pronounce Eilidh?

I've never heard the name before, and would have no clue how to spell it - but it's ok. Doesn't quite sound like a girls name to me, but maybe that's because it's unfamiliar?

Just to point out that Urban Dictionary is full of ridiculous 'definitions' of virtually every name, all done by teenagers I should imagine. Either they are glowing (done about their own name) or scathing (done about mates). Check out 'Helen' for example. So don't let that put you off!

I'm Irish and love it. I think the comparison with Niamh is a good one, and you're going to bump into people who can wrap their heads around different pronunciations more and more. Siobhan is now commonplace and has crossed every ethnic border even in the US, and apart from the odd report of someone pronouncing it See-ob-han, the correct pronunciation is used.

Aoife is gorgeous though, and there are probably more little Aoifes than Sadhbhs running around.

May I suggest Eilidh too?

I'm Irish, so very familiar with the name. To be honest, I've never liked it. I think it sounds a bit harsh. I know two Sabhas (pronounced Sava) which is much nicer.

Just me who thinks it´s horrible?

Aoife OTOH is lovely.

I prefer the other names on your shortlist.

Are there any other Irish or Scottish names you're keen on?

Lol dis that is what I was saying in my head too, I have a cousin called Niamh pronounced Neeve but I call her Neemaha for fun!

Funky, I love anchorman and know the smelly pirate hooker line but have never heard that word before, not sure it is used in the film tbh.

Ooo, loved Sadhbh until I saw the definition. I have a neice who is Aoife, and I think it is lovely, but so are all your choices. We upset all our family by our choice of name our youngest dd, and pronouncing it the US/European way. My mum and sister still continue to pronounce it differently. It did really annoy me for a while, (that is me using polite language for how I actually feel about that), but I have given up correcting them as by ds and other dd do it for me!!!!!

When people blatantly mispronounce a name it is rude and disrespectful. If you choose Sadhbh or any other name that is more "unusual" people may struggle with it, but if your dd grows up knowing that it isn't easy for some people and to acknowledge that to them I don't see what the problem is. How sad it be if we lose the rich variety of names because because they might be difficult to pronounce. You can always give her an easier middle name and she can use that instead if she decides that when she is older.

oh dear funky!!!!

You may want to look at the definition on urban dictionary first

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Sadhbh

My cousin has a daughter called Sadhbh,even though she lives in Ireland it is never pronounced correctly.