I'm Irish, living in the UK and due DD1 in 4 mths. I really want to give the baby an irish name - DH has reluctantly agreed - and had come up with an extensive list of boys names i liked (and was convinced it was a boy!) but now i know it's a girl I'm still struggling. Not helped by the fact that a lot of them (Ciara, Tara, Niamh, Beibhinn, Saoirse, Siun) have already been taken by my very extended family. At the moment this is the best we can come up with;
Clodagh (klo-da) - but DH is insisting on nn chloe (which defeats the purpose of giving the baby an Irish name IMO)
Aoife (ee-fa) - pretty, but v v common in ireland and getting more so here?
Caoimhe (quee-va) - I love, but DH isn't so keen
Aoibhe (eva) - alternative to aoife, but a bit more "out there" than the others as even Irish ppl seem v confused on how to pronounce. And with such an obvious english alternative, can see DH/DD giving up and spelling it Eva eventually
Thoughts on the above for a baby growing up in the uk? And any other suggesions gratefully received!
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Is Aoibhe a step too far in the UK?
mika2 · 09/05/2013 23:09
I don't like the name pronounced Quee-va. Maeve is also nice but Orla would be my first choice, then Aoife. 
Ha ha, I remember Sorcha-gate too, Irish name threads never go well. 
Look, unless your name is Anna or Jack, you might as well get used to the fact that you will have to spell your name out to people. My name is Isobel, and I always, always have to spell my name out to people. Always. Without exception. It's not that big a deal...?
And I absolutely adore the utter irony from MummyBurrows offering up Penelope as an example of a simple name. A Greek name, which absolutely does not follow English phonetic rules at all. If we can all get used to Penelope to the point where it's touted as a simple, easy name - then surely people can use Irish spellings for their own children with gay abandon, if they so wish.
Yes that is how I hear Fionnuala in my head.. (It's really hard to convey the sounds using the Latin alphabet when you try to type it 
)
Irish is very phonetically consistent, and even within the different accents/dialects the consistency remains. And actually the grammar is very like Latin, I have been told by DS who never learned any Irish either (school in the US). I think most children attending school in Ireland pick up a bastardised hybrid of the accents their teachers speak. I learned Kerry Irish in junior school and then Connemara Irish in secondary. My mother's national school teachers (two room school, only two teachers from junior infants to 6th class) were from The Rower, Leinster's last Gaeltacht, and her Irish is more like the dialect of An Rinn in Waterford. Dad never learned any as he was home schooled and then went to boarding school where they focused on Latin and Greek. (I speak French godawfully with a Waterford accent thanks to Miss H).
I'd love to use Enya but DH's cousin loves it so will leave it for her.
Penny don't feel down - it's just people's opinions and they're bound to clash sometimes. 
Fwiw, Penny, I also think Aoibhe is a very lovely name. Always have. Don't let any of the guff on this thread get you down. You chose a great name for your dd and if there are many more threads like this it will soon become a very well-known name in the UK which will help counter some of the current opposition to it!!
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