Is Aoibhe a step too far in the UK?

[mika2]

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!

Yes AThing, it was a sign of my deep dickishness and pretentiousness. I mentioned it was an Irish version of Olaf, anglicised on baptismal forms in the days when Irish names weren't allowed as Humphrey of all things. I had an uncle Free and a cousin Lee, both of whom had Amhlaoibh as a given name.

Apparently giving a name that looks like someone threw up a scrabble board was disgustingly twattish. And pretentious. And designed to bring about bullying and lack of employment forever more, even though it was only ever going to be a second name. I think at the time I was looking at Finbarr Amhlaoibh but in the end we went with Rory Amhlaoibh with an English spelling and pronunciation. We pronounce it Oh-lee-iv with a dark l, though in many places in Ireland it would be Owl-leev as this is the most common pronunciation with the Oh for amh being a West Cork thing.

Outed myself massively there to anyone who comes across this .

(Oh and when I asked about Rory separately, I was told THAT was "very difficult to pronounce" at which point I just rolled my eyes and got on with it!)

Oh yes, I remember Amhlaoibh! It was you :)

So glad you went with it. It's awesome.

Uncle Free and Uncle Lee, love it :o

Conchubhar is pronounced Cruthúr :o

I believe there might be another Ulster pronunciation, with that being the Munster version, but that's how all the Conchubhars I've known have said it.

The (anglicised) Conor is so much nicer.

Oh yeah, Rory is such a tongue twister!

I think as far as middle names go people should feel free to go as crazy/medieval/foreign/Gamoe of Thrones/quirky/bat shit mental as they like.

Not that I'm referring to Amhlaoibh as bat shit mental!

To be fair Rory is difficult to pronounce if you are David Bellamy

I think it's Ruairidh.

If I was being a pedant maryz aye, they're not quite right. They are very popular spellings though amongst non Gaelic speakers, in fact I think in Scotland Ruaridh is the most popular one.

I don't know any Irish Ruairis with a ''d' (can't do fadas on my phone), it's a Scottish Gaelic thing, though I'd imagine the old Gaelic for both variants is Ruadhri (red king)?

I don't think the broad/slender vowel thing exists in Gaelic.

Hence Irish Ruairí/Ruaidhrí and Gaelic Ruaridh.

Irish Caitríona and Gaelic Catriona (not sure where Gaelic accents should go.)

Totally agree, squoosh, about all bets being off when it comes to middle names. Why be sensible with a name most people will never even hear?

Nooo, not Síofra! It means changeling. I have never understood people calling their daughters that.

The changing fashions in terms of Irish names are interesting, if you look at this link to the 1901 and 1911 census you can search for all of these Irish names mentioned upthread - there was only one Niamh in the whole of Ireland in 1911, for example, two Aoifes, 10 Clodaghs, and no Orla/Orlaith/Orfhlaiths! It just shows how relatively recent (and deep) the process of gaelicisation after 1916 was. Of course it's entirely possible that people used anglicised versions of some names on the census forms but it's an interesting glimpse into how baby names operated all the same.

As it happens, I believe Rory/Ruairi became really popular after August 1916, when Roger Casement was hanged.

AThing I'm not sure about your distinctions between Irish and Gaelic, I think you might mean Gallic (if you mean the language spoken in parts of Scotland) ...Gaelic also refers to Irish/Gaeilge

I think Irish people using Irish names took off in a big way in the late 60's early 70's. Before that there seems to stock Irish names that were used like Micheál, Finbarr, Seán, saints names I suppose.

But the trend for using names from Irish myths and legends is recent-ish.

In Ireland though the Irish language is generally referred to (in English)as 'Irish', in Scotland it's always referred to as 'Gaelic' (pr. Gallic).

Exactly, squoosh.

Apologies if I misunderstood you AThing.

No worries :)

It definitely does exist in Scottish Gaelic AThing, though not all the spellings of names demonstrate this. I use Gaelic to refer to both languages, sorry, have relatives fluent in each and a couple in both.

Does it?

I've long wondered that.

Good to know :)

I just guessed that it didn't from seeing names that clearly didn't obey any such rule.

Haha - yep you wouldn't know, Ruairidh is particularly interesting as Ruaridh is now the dominant spelling, due mainly to non Gaelic speakers attempting a traditional spelling (also there's a Scottish rugby player who spells it like that..)

It's meant that even people who have Gaelic who should know better go with this spelling for 'ease', worse than a full-on anglicisation for some, compromise for others...

But aye, caol le caol and all that... :)

Erm....has anyone seen this?
thedailyedge.thejournal.ie/irish-name-problems-891769-May2013/
I know the pain...

The photo captioned 'It's ok, the fada just isn't that big a deal' made me giggle.

I agree with the remarks about Orla perfectly acceptable modern Irish spelling. Agree about Gaeilscoil-inspired extraneous letters too (and also Gaeilscoil-inspired stripping away of letters, Medb being the result). Also agree Ruaridh looks all wrong makes my teeth itch--

Well done for using Amhlaoibh, Working. It was indeed a humdinger of a thread but not as humdingerish as Sorchagate.

Harking back to the 'old African man' who had a name nobody could be bothered trying to learn or pronounce. Being renamed for the convenience of others is just sad. Your name is a vital part of yourself and it is a connection to your parents and family. I think it's horrible for others to have so little respect for other people as individuals that they couldn't get a name right.