Niamh

[Nsr4u2c]

Hi, just wondering want your thoughts are. I really like the name Niamh, however I wanted Anne as a middle name after my grandma but I don't think they go, what are your thoughts?

It's beautiful, it's common enough that everyone, except me, can get their head round the spelling.

I'm dyslexic and it throws me totally, much to DD2s amusement.

I'd definitely have put Niamh in the Siobhan and Sinead bracket - in that they are well enough used that everyone would know how to say them.

I once called out Siobhan XYZ in a hospital waiting room. Mum and daughter just looked at each other. I said, it is Siobhan isn't it?

They said "Yes but you are the first person to get it right"

This was in the North West of England, in a town with a lot of Roman Catholics, many with Irish connections.

Mrs Wolowitz, how strange, we also call ours Niamhy Noodles! Although now she is 10 she finds it a bit embarrassing.

Squoosh, We pronounce ours Neeve. We were told when we were expecting her that the pronunciation depends on where abouts in Ireland you come from. So yes in some areas it is pronounced nee-uv. I hope this is right as we were told this by an Irish person.

Pretty sure it isn't a regional thing, I've never heard it pronounced anything but NEE-uv in Ireland.

I'm fully Irish.

Anyone who can read Irish can see it's a two syllable word. I'll call the Neeve pronunciation a commonly used anglicisation. As it does seem to be a popular pronunciation in the UK.

"I'm sorry but I don't think they do. UK people pronounce it Neeve when it's actually meant to be pronounced NEE-uv."

It should be pronounce NYEE-uv (narrow n sound).

But yes, definitely 1.5 syllables.

It's only regional in the sense than people in some regions don't know how to pronounce Irish words.

It can be either way.

But one is wrong.

In all dialects.

Really.

squoosh is right - Neev is a common anglicisation.

You're all assuming that baby Niamh will want to live in the UK her whole life...

just to say there were 2 niamhs in my class at school (and one nieve) and one pron it neeve and the other pronounced it niaff (rhyme with piaf) so not sure pronounciation is fixed.

My Irish Doctor pronounces it Neeve, and always comments on how it's great I spelled it properly, and not phonetically.
I do know an adult Niamh, who is Nee-uv though.

It's not a matter of opinion, it's a matter of fact.

Irish pronunciation is very regular.

That lots of Irish people don't know how to pronounce Irish words properly doesn't change that.

Neev is not a correct Irish pronunciation of the word Niamh.

Any more than Keen is a correct Irish pronunciation of the word Cian.

You can decide that you don't care how the name should be pronounced in Irish, but you can't declare an obviously wrong pronunciation right in a language you clearly don't speak.

Ultimately the name Niamh had been anglicised and even many Irish speakers (including me at times) go with Neev when speaking English.

But the point stands - people think it is easy to say, but in fact that is because it is so commonly mispronounced.

I'm Irish and i've ever heard of it pronounced "knee-v" (if that makes any sense). If you were a fluent Irish speaker with Irish as your 1st language, you might emphasise the last syllable, but that's pretty rare, even in Iteland.

You would never stress the last syllable.

Sorry, that was meant to be I've only ever heard of it "knee-v". If you're a native Irish speaker w a strong (to my Dublin ears), the vowels in the middle are slightly elongated which makes the "mh"/"v" sound appear to be emphasised (if that makes sense! Anyone who went to the Gaeltacht and remembers how bean an ti pronounced it will understand what I mean!)

I have Niamh Elizabeth too. It's v popular now, in the top 50 or something so I do not think it will be like Aiobheann or Granuaile in terms of unfamiliarity.

Mrs Wolowitz, those websites you have cited are both American, Americans are fond of doing wild and wonderful things to Irish names so I really wouldn?t trust them on this matter.

And it?s not of a matter of agreeing or not, Niamh is an Irish name and in the Irish language Niamh is a two syllable word. Neev definitely is an anglicisation. And as for you saying Nee-uv is much less common, well that's just not true. English Niamhs seem to be called Neev but all Irish Niamhs I've met (and it's a very common name in Ireland) are Nee-uvs.

It would be like me naming a child Katie but insisting it?s pronounced Kate.

This is how it is pronounced