Thoughts on Niall?

[Linguaphile]

Is it too crusty old-man or nerdy? DH mentioned he liked it the other day, so I thought I'd garner some popular opinion. What do you think? For what it's worth, we're having twins, and in the event it turns out to be two boys (won't find out for another week and a half), his brother would be Felix Peter.

Gray would most likely be the middle name (it's a family name), but that's not set in stone.

Other potentials are Maxwell, Robert, or Isaac.

[Bumpsadaisie]

May I suggest Nye? It's close and would avoid the Irish Question.

But then, Aneurin Bevan - would it open up a whole new Welsh Question?

[bollockstoit]

I know someone called Nile, spelt like the river. Could that solve the problem?

[OhBuggerandArse]

We went through quite a lot of similar issues here.

[SoulTrain]

I came on to say I liked it, especially with Isaac.

This thread has gone a bit batty.

[squoosh]

Call him Niall Cromwellian Confiscation. It'll be a vigorous conversation starter.

[renaldo]

Am loving this pdebate . Has to be called Niall Oliver now :)

[mrspaddy]

I like the name .. it is a common Irish name and very nice I think. Have only ever heard it said Nye all

[squoosh]

Umm, yeah, by pronouncing Niall as Nye-ull you're basically condoning 'violent colonisation and ethnic cleansing'

[DeirdreOfTheSorrows]

Don't shoot the messenger. Blame the Statutes of Kilkenny, or Spenser, or Cromwell, or the penal laws, or An Gorta Mór.

There are good historical reasons for people having become disconnected from the linguistically natural pronunciation, but Nye-ull is an incorrect reconstructed pronunciation based on a lack of understanding of Irish orthography, not a natural variation.

By all means say it how you like, so long as you realise that it's a result of violent colonisation and ethnic cleansing, not just an innocent alternative.

[AThingInYourLife]

The Irish name Niall is a name in the Irish language.

Just like the name Niamh, the name Cormac, the name Oisín, the name Sadhbh.

Those names, although popular with English speakers in Ireland, have correct pronunciations in Irish.

Nye-ul is not a correct pronunciation in Irish.

It is a standard pronunciation in English based on a mistake in pronouncing the Irish name using English pronunciation rules.

As OhBugger said to begin with.

[KobayashiMaru]

It's not in the Irish language, its in the English language. Which is what Irish people speak. So what has the pronounciation of it got to do with Irish?
It is by far the MOST common way to pronounce the name in this entire country. So by no means a mistake, but an established and accepted variation that is actually now the default.

[AThingInYourLife]

It is a mistake.

There is no "variation" in the Irish language that makes the word Niall be pronounced Nye-ul.

It would have to be spelled Nadhal or something.

People can pronounce their names however they choose.

But Niall, pronounced Nye-ul is based on an English mispronunciation of an Irish name.

That mistake has become standard in Ireland.

But it's not the correct pronunciation of the name in the Irish language.

Which probably doesn't matter to most Nialls.

[MummyBurrows]

Niall from One Direction is Irish and pronounces it Ny-al...both pronounciations are right due to variations,just like Naomi (nay-omi or ny-omi),and depends on how you personally want the name to be pronounced rather than one way being "right" and the other being "wrong",its purely personal choice and will vary. One pronounciation is (in this case) just more common and widely used and the other is more traditional but rarely used,in the uk at least anyway...

I personally am not keen on the name Niall (I'd say it as ny-al) and much prefer the other 3 names,in particular Isaac and Maxwell :) That's probably not much help though seeing as I wouldn't choose Felix either because its my cats name

[Bumpsadaisie]

I really dislike Neil, but actually quite like Niall. So a thumbs up from me.

Again not sure it sits immediately obviously with Felix but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Felix and Oscar, Felix and Ludo, Felix and Theo blah blah blah, they are ten a penny in some places.

Felix and Niall - much more interesting!

[KobayashiMaru]

no, she's not. It's called a variation, not a mistake, and you've some kind of arrogance to tell generations of men that they are saying their own names wrong.

[AThingInYourLife]

in Irish, not is Irish.

[AThingInYourLife]

No, OhBugger is right.

Niall is Irish should be pronounced Nee-ul (or really Nyee-ul).

Nye-al is (very common and ugly) mistaken pronunciation.

[KobayashiMaru]

The very very common pronounciation of niall as ny-ul is not a mistake! Its the correct way in Ireland. The scottish traditional way is pron neil but spelled niall.

[Debbie37]

My partner is called Niall he hates it ,mostly because people say Niels or Nigel .

[OkayHazel]

Niall is great. Actually dislike Felix.

Niall Quinn!

[Linguaphile]

Wow, I had no clue about the pronunciation thing! Food for thought.

[forgetmenots]

OhBuggerandArse is correct, but even the Irish Nialls I know are all Ny-ull, happy to accept it's a going back and forth of anglicisation and then re-use in Ireland, even though I'm usually a stickler only because it sounds nicer than Neil, or Nee-all as it is in Scotland :).
Lovely name and a strong boy's name, the fella from One Direction might make it more popular. Never met a bad one.

[OhBuggerandArse]

Yep.

[CounselorTroi]

Niall = Neil? Like Niamh?

[OhBuggerandArse]

Conor is a spelling that derives from the kinds of changes living languages go through, so that's completely different. Nye-all is a pronunciation that comes from people who don't speak or understand the language they're reading. It's a dead language pronunciation. You'd be giving your child a dead name. Actually not a dead name, a zombie name. Bwah hah hah .