AIBU to give my child an Irish name in the UK?

[FolkSongSweet]

Posting here for traffic. I’ve seen a few heated debates on this on baby name threads recently. I’m considering giving my child an Irish name where the pronunciation isn’t obvious from the spelling. We live in London. Will this be a huge burden to the child when they grow up/a mild annoyance, or not an issue?

(NB this issue could obviously theoretically apply to lots of names, not just Irish ones, but Irish ones are what I’m considering)

YABU - don’t give your child a tricky name
YANBU - it’s not a big deal, people will learn

@diplodocusinermine

Londoners will hear names from all over the world - they'll cope.

What she said. Though I'm a Londoner of Irish descent which may colour my views. I've a bog standard name but ive cousins etc with Irish names in London with no issues.

I'm Irish living in London. My name is spelt exactly you would pronounce it but most people still can't do it. Annoys the hell out of me so my kids don't have the gorgeous Irish names they could have

People will learn how to say the name! I’m Irish living in London too - baby due in feb - will
Most definitely be giving child an Irish name!

I have one myself and yes people get it wrong - but I like it, it’s not unique and not many others here have the same name.

Not at all.

@DanDean Eabha is pronounced as aava, its a long a at start. BH in Irish is v. The fada over the E makes it an a sound. Apologies I cant type the fada over the e on my computer

@DanDean Eabha is pronounced as aava, its a long a at start. BH in Irish is v. The fada over the E makes it an a sound. Apologies I cant type the fada over the e on my computer

If you press altgr and the letter you want it should put a fade over it

@AryaStarkWolf cheers for that. Have a fada in my own name but could never get it when type :)

It it Ah-va or Ay-va? I know the bh is a v sound but when i googled it the first link said it was pronounced Ebba, which I thought was wrong, hence the grin

I guess at Ay-va Ea like in Eammon, bh like in Siobhan

@FolkSongSweet it’s not the Irish spelling of my user name is it?

Eabha = Avva. Éabha = Ava

Too complicated.

[quote Keeva2017]@FolkSongSweet it’s not the Irish spelling of my user name is it? [/quote]
No it isn’t. I do love Caoimhe but it’s my cousin’s name and we’re not close so it would be a bit weird to name my daughter “after” her!

@DanDean Éabha is Ava, though people leave the fada off for speed. There’s no such name as Eabha (without fada) as far as I know.

British people have learned to cope with Spanish/Polish/Nigerian/Japanese names. They can handle adding Irish names to that mix, it really isn't that hard.

Plus Irish names are some of the most beautiful names out there (imo, obviously). Don't hold back on giving your child a lovely name just because of narrow minded, lazy people.

Given that London is such a multicultural place I can’t see how this would be a problem. Yes your child will probably go through life having to tell people they don’t know how to spell/pronounce their name but I don’t think it’s a big deal.

I have an Irish name, lived in England my whole life, my kids have Irish names. Hard ones. People just learn how to say it.

@FolkSongSweet I had my heart set on the proper spelling but my dp is dyslexic and just couldn’t manage it.

I’m not Irish but my second choice was Saoirse FYI. Which dp could spell but not pronounce!

But spanish names are quite easy in comparison and I doubt that they are pronounced authentically over here.

Polish names - some of them look comlpicated. Marek, Magda and Oliwia no problem, Szymon, Jerzy and Kacper not so much.

I'd guess the last three to be Shim-on, Yer-zhay and Kass-per. Feel free to correct me.

So I've google Eabha and had the three pronunciations Ebba,Avva and Ava, and on here had Aava and Ava.

Way too complicated., I don't even like Ava as a name.

Just to make everyone’s lives more difficult, Caoimhe is pronounced differently north and south of the border.

Kee-va versus Kwe-va.

Gorgeous name.

I have a Celtic name, and my favourite names are Siobhan, Sinead, Aoife, and Angharad* - also love Demelza, Morwenna and Loveday.

*I loved watching Angharad Rees in Poldark and my dh was half Welsh and my df was Irish.

I don’t know where anyone is getting Ebba. It’s Ava, with a slightly longer A sound than the English version.

I live in London and have an unusual Irish name. It’s a total pain in the ass. I dread being introduced to people and seeing the confused look on their face when I say my name, and it’s constantly misspelt, mispronounced or just shortened. Even something like going to Starbucks and having to say your name becomes a pain - I usually just give them a fake one.

Honestly don’t make your child’s life difficult if you don’t have to. Could you make it their middle name instead? Or go for something easy to pronounce like Orla?

I really REALLY like Irish names but Ava looks so much nicer than Éabha.

I respond a lot on threads just like this but as someone with an Irish name that I regularly have to spell/correct, it's not enough of an issue that I would prefer an "easier" name.

I find it difficult to understand how anybody gets het up about this!

It was on Reddit.

Angharad Rees was lovely wasn't she - all twinkly. The name Angharad is quite popular if not slightly overused now. The 'ngh' is a bit tricky.
The Ann Garrud and Ann Harrod pronunciations are quite unpleasant.

How do you spell Ava in Irish?
Ava in Irish is Eábha.

SWIM?

@Dbrook

I live in London and have an unusual Irish name. It’s a total pain in the ass. I dread being introduced to people and seeing the confused look on their face when I say my name, and it’s constantly misspelt, mispronounced or just shortened. Even something like going to Starbucks and having to say your name becomes a pain - I usually just give them a fake one.

Honestly don’t make your child’s life difficult if you don’t have to. Could you make it their middle name instead? Or go for something easy to pronounce like Orla?

Can you share your name? This is what I’m worried about so thanks for posting.

As I said a couple of times earlier in the thread, the name itself isn’t difficult to pronounce. There is only one way to say it in Ireland and it sounds the same in English and Irish accents. Orla is easy to spell but I think it sounds absolutely awful in an English accent (“awla” when the “r” isn’t pronounced). Her middle name will be Mary in good catholic tradition!