To never have heard of the name naveah

[Littlejayx]

I just went to a toddler class with my two year old, really lovely arty (or as arty as a a toddler can be) and I saw it on the sign in form and thought it was pronounced like Niamh (had no clue how to say it so asked the mother) and just said it was a lovely name, to which I was rather abruptly told its Na-vay-uh I’m so confused!

@IHaveBrilloHair I honestly recommend you never re read them as an adult then - I bought them when I was on mat leave a few years back and really should have left them to nostalgia

Nivea? Astral? Clinique? Quite like Clinique actually, can visualise myself bawling it across the playground "Klin-i- kay,! Come here'

@FlyMayBe
I know someone called Niamh who pronounces it as Nee-yam

So do I!
They spell it Niam, pronounce it Nee-Yam and when he was much younger (a few months) it confused so many people. She would say his name, they would spell it ‘Niamh’ , she would correct them and you could see the look of confusing when they looked at a baby boy!
Just sounds so very made up to me

Even worse ist that Niamh, is a girl's name, you would think it people were going to use Irish, welsh etc names they would learn the correct pronunciation .

The equivalent in Ireland seems to be ‘Fiadh’ it’s one of the most popular girls names now and I have had about 4 people who had girls this year tell me they chose it as it was so unique!! Basically it wasn’t a name before but I’d part of a new trend of parents taking random Irish works and deciding they’re names! It means ‘wild’ and for some reason this is a good thing to call your daughter!!!

Sorry typo trend of taking random Irish words and saying they’re a name! I think it’s in the top twenty girls names now so the parents will be in for a shock when their unique name is one of 5 in the class!

Even worse ist that Niamh, is a girl's name, you would think it people were going to use Irish, welsh etc names they would learn the correct pronunciation .

THIS!! ⤴️

I was in a baby naming group on Facebook where a lady proudly presented her child--Evoleht. It's "the love" backwards. I fear the poor mite has a lifetime of "no, not Violet, its E-V-O-" ahead of her

Youvegotafriendinme pretty sure Niam is a long established boy's name in another language (Arabic maybe? Can't remember) and not just a bastardisation of Niamh.

And yes, Caitlin is Cotchleen or Koytchleen depending on dialect. Not Kate-lynn

How is Niamh supposed to be said, then? I always assumed it was Neemer, like Beemer.

Those Irish names are a minefield.

I think the worst girls name I've ever seen was Lanesra, I'll leave that one with you

Rivers - Niamh is pronounced as Neev or Nee-uv (with a very short second syllable) depending on dialect. There isn't a huge difference in the pronunciations, even to Irish ears.

Irish names are actually hugely phonetic in Irish, the language is much more regular in terms of phonetics than English - but of course if you don't know the rules, it is tough.

AnneField you are so wrong.

Or maybe both are right, A F.

Citadiel OMG poor thing.

When I saw the thread title I was reminded of a tv show I used to watch A LOT called Spartacus - it was basically porn for girls - and there was a Naveah as one of the main characters.

If I met someone who introduced their child as Naveah I would automatically assume that they, like me, spent an awful lot of time watching that show.

Might try to find it on Netflix, actually .......

well, you learn a new thing every day, I had never heard of this.

Round my way (large west African community) they'd just use Heaven, along with Blessing, no messing around with spellings and whatnot. Which are understandable and pronounceable, if perhaps unusual in British terms.

Some bible-basher poor woman on One Born Every Minute announced her newborn daughter was going to be called this.

'Oh that's lovely, different'
'It's heaven spelled backwards'

Repeat for the next 80 years.

I think that if a name is going to be deemed to "belong" to a particular nationality and should only be pronounced the way it is pronounced in that country, then a lot of people called Ruth, Michael, Sarah, David, Mary, Peter and so on are going to be in trouble, because I bet in England they are not pronounced as they were in pre-Christ Israel. And they are not pronounced the same in other European countries, either.

I was rather abruptly told its Na-vay-uh
Never heard of it. I thought it would be pronounced Navy (like gravy) going by the spelling. 😂

Never heard/met anyone inRL with the name but only seen on parenting forums. I have seen/heard Xavier pronounced hav-ee-er and zay-ve-er but only heard one pronunciation of Caitlin (kate-lyn) ....including from irish parents. My DD has a fairly common name but its still regularly pronounced and spelt wrong.and our surname is often spelt wrong too
I don't get "different" spellings of a standard name. Like Aimee or Zoey. Surely you'd spend the whole time correcting someone spelling it...?

My daughter is in a class with a Nevaeh, but she’s pronounces it Nuh-Vuh, 🤔

Aimee isn't different, it's the French version (minus the accent)

I think hav-ee-er is spelt with a J, so Javier?

Xavier is French, Javier is Spanish, I think. I'd pronounce Xavier as Gzaviay or Zaviay. Don't know what a French person would make of that!

Those Irish names are a minefield.

Scottish ones as well. Bloody Mhairi. Among my acquaintance (lowland) it's a pretty much exactly even split between the people who pronounce it Marry and the ones who pronounce it Varry. But they're all equally outraged if you get it wrong