Calling all FRENCH and IRISH MNers, yes I know odd, but really need some help!

[Laurarj84]

Hi all,
My daughter is nine months old now and her name is Aoife. We both love this name and we chose to pronounce it Ifa, with the I pronounced as in lIke. However, the Irish pronunciation is EEfa, as it is the Irish version of Eve or Eva. I'm having a bit of a panic about it still now because even though some Irish friends of ours told us it could be pronounced Ifa, certain people we know insist on calling DD EEfa. I'm starting to wonder if we've been really silly choosing a name that we love but are pronouncing wrongly. So, we googled and googled and I found a few threads saying that Aoife can be pronounced Ifa and some said that this is the French pronunciation, which suits me fine as I love all things French. So, what I was wondering is whether there are any Irish and French MNers out there who could put my mind at rest about the pronunciation of Aoife's name.
Thanks all so much.

Aoife pronounced "ee + fa" in Ireland, English translation Eva,Ava.
Means "beautiful, radiant, joyful."

Known as the greatest woman warrior in the world, Aoife was the mother of Cuchulainn's only son, Connlach. Aoife Dearg ("Red Aoife") was a daughter of a king of Connacht who had her marriage arranged by St. Patrick himself.
In 2003 Aoife was the third most popular Irish girls name for babies in Ireland.

I would either change the spelling of her name (legally, formally) or change the way you're pronouncing it. Seriously.

A couple of years ago a child left our secondary school. He has a fairly common name, with a less common (Welsh) spelling. But the family insisted on a bizarre pronunciation, which was certainly not Welsh or anything. Every single adult who ever came in contact with him, would comment in the staffroom afterwards about how peculiar this was, and also the rude manner in which the child pointed this out. In addition the bonkers parents used from time to time to write letters in to school to complain about it, or raise it at parents' evenings, etc. On Thursday I was chatting to some colleagues and one of them brought up this anecdote about this child, and this is 2-3 years since he left school! But it's still in people's minds!

Do your child a favour and sort it out now.

PS I love the name Aoife, pronounced correctly ee-fa.

My DD has Aoife as her middle name (my parents are Irish - my own name is Irish) and I only know it as EE-fa I'm afraid.

Sorry to continue the trend but it's never I-fa as far as I know and it is getting more and more common in the UK so people will know it. Everyone we sent our birth text to knew it (British friends I mean) so I'm not sure you can defend its pronunciation really - even in the UK.

However, the way it came about for you is fine. Just tell people that if they ask............you didn't know Aoife was (almost universally as far as this thread would have you believe......and most google sites - sounds like you had to search quite hard to find an I-fa pronunciation) EE-fa - you'd heard I-fa, presumed that spelling and went with it. Nobody else's business really is it?

Just front it out! ;-)

Ooooo - hate that! Always forget that gets you a wink and ;-) doesn't!

I would always say EE-fa.

I live in wales and Ifa, is too quite close to welsh Ivor.

DH is Irish and I am French. Nobody has heard of the name here, and they wouldn't have a clue how to pronounce it. Which is sad as it was a contender for DD2 (together with Niamh).

Congratulations Chipmonkey! Remind is DD or DS's or a mix of both you have? I'm due mid August. I'll have 3 under 3 and 4 months.

Sorry or diverting Lauraj84/ I can't help but think it might be easier if you just start pronouncing Aoife EEfa. That said why were you drawn to the name in the first place? If it was because you thought it was pronounced Ifa and liked that then maybe just respell it - it can be the invention of a new name!

All ds's, Molly and no reason to think that's going to change! Bit of a complicated time, was originally pg with twins but lost one. All seems ok now, though.

Valium, my eldest two are 14 and 12 so luckily not a babysitting challenge! They are very spread out but it has worked out well for us.
Was relieved today when ds1 showed me a pic on FB of a classmates new baby brother. I was wondering whether he'd be the only one in his class who would have to admit to his parents still having sex!

So sorry to hear you lost one twin. I hope the rest of the pregnancy goes smoothly. It will be lovely to have five regardless of what it is. Big families are fab!

Aoife is definitely EEfa and only EEfa.
The AOI combination is always pronounced EE in Irish.

I would either change the spelling or change how you pronounce it.

(Well done Chipmonkey!)

Actually come to think of it, I have heard it pronounced AYfa (like 'hay') but that's still not I as in 'like' -- Ifa.

Another Irish person here saying Ee-fa. I also live in London and know several young girls called Aoife, so I think of it as a bit like Siobhan or Sinead, as in an Irish name that British people know how to pronounce.

But she's your daughter, so you're entitled to pronounce it how you want. I personally think I-fa sounds lovely, but I'd need to be corrected (probably repeatedly!) if someone asked me to pronounce Aoife in this way. Perhaps re-spelling may be an option...

Yes I'm also Irish and live in London (the family moved here when I was 16).

My sister is called Aoife and although she gets a few people asking how to pronounce it and spelling it strangley, she likes having the name. Lots of people know how to pronounce it now (Ee-fa). She was only saying the other day that lots more people are spelling it or pronouncing it correctly these days!

I have never heard of it being pronounced eye-fa though. That's like a completely different name to me really, like pronouncing Amy, Eye-me or something.. but it's up to you whether you want it to be an "issue" (however minor) for your daughters entire life.

I know I'm late coming to this party, but I wanted to share a suggestion for re-spelling...Aifa. What do you think?

In Japan, Ai (pronounced like eye) means love and affection, and is a common part of girls' names. Phonetically, Aifa makes more sense to me. Aoife has always been, and will probably always be, pronounced Ee-fa. I love the name Aoife, but if you fell in love with the Eye-fa pronunciation, then I would go with re-spelling. Best to do it now, rather than when she is older.

i have a friend called aefa, pronounced ay-fa - this is the only variation i've ever come across, otherwise, it's aoife, pronounced EEfa. i think respelling might be the way to go.

Hello Laura,

Irish person here. Aoife is universally pronounced ee-fa and is a name familiar to all Irish people Irish Names + Genuine Pronunciation. There is no other pronunciation.

I would suggest that you change to the usual pronunciation or make up your own name to capture the I-fa pronunciation. I think it may be (become) a bit embarassing for you and for Aoife to have to ask people to use a mis-special pronunication for this very widespread and pretty name.

By the way, I have lived for ten years in France and am a professional translator/interpreter and any French attempt at pronouncing the name would be random and "I" is not at all the most obvious solution in French.

Sorry that this is not what you were hoping to hear

I have Niamh on my list, but I have always read it a "Nee-ma" rather than "Neeve", and I wondered if I could just pronounce it how I wanted but worried bout this too.....I love the name Aoife too, although do pronounce it Ee-fa as I have a friend with the same name

No, most people know how to pronounce Niamh, and would consider it silly that you don't pronouce it correctly. Sorry, for being mean, but it is true.

I'm an Aoife. Never heard any other pronunciation for it other than EE-fa. The worst I get over here is Ay -oh-feee!