Countdown is on... Aoife or Fiadh??

[mika2]

Hi, with 4 weeks to go I'm starting to panic about names. I'm Irish and DH is English so after months of heated debate we've finally agreed on an Irish name for DD1 and narrowed it down to;

-Aoife (ee-fa) - really like it and our "safe" option but worried it's very overused. Feel like I'm tripping over Aoife's in Ireland and becoming increasingly popular in the UK? Also have a (not very close) cousin with the same name and mum's best friend has an Aoife (so can see imagine lots of "your Aoife" or "my Aoife" confusion between them)

Or

• Fia/Fiadh (fee-a) - means deer in Irish and I saw 3 deer while pregnant so thought it was a sign :) DH liked it, but now keeps saying it sounds like "fear". Does it?? DD will grow up in the UK and don't want her tormented for years in playground with "what are you afraid of" etc.
  

Also don't want to use one as middle name in case we have a DD2.

Thoughts please??

[NapaCab]

Well, if it makes your DH feel any better, mika, Sadhbh has posh connotations for me as when I was growing up my best friend's older sister had that name and she was the epitome of posh. Always perfectly dressed, very pretty and highly intelligent. She became a lawyer and is now a successful exec with a major US corporation - so her name was definitely never an issue!

[babyblabber]

Love Fia, don't think it sounds like fear at all.

[curlew]

How do you say it so it doesn't sound like fear?

[Want1morechild]

What about Fiana? (Pronounced Fee-ean-a, would rhyme with Raina). Know a little girl with Irish parents called this and think its lovely. Also love Orla, Cara, Clodagh, Erin, Tara.

[squoosh]

Fiana isn't really a name though plus it would remind me of Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael (two main political parties in Ireland).

[squoosh]

In an Irish accent Fia sounds nothing like fear.
In an English accent it sounds very like fear.

[April13]

I like Aoife, but I know what you mean about it being common. Roisin is my favourite name for a wee girl, and also love Saoirse and Orlaith too x

[PointyDogs]

Amazed at how popular Aoife seems to be - I haven't come across any round here (south-east England). It was my favourite for DD until I found out how popular Eve/Eva/Evie etc was, and realised people would probably think we were saying Eva . We went with Niamh - and people still think I am saying Eve...

Love Caoimhe, but I met a little girl (7ish) the other day who introduced herself "my name is Caoimhe-its-Irish" - she clearly has had a lot of comments about it!!

[Snazzyenjoyingsummer]

One of the Saturdays has a daughter called Aoife, so that has probably raised its profile. It is nice.

How about Aine? I don't know its meaning but I know one and it's a pretty name (pronounced On-ya by my friends)

[maja00]

Sadhbh is lovely, I know a Sive. Spelling would be slightly tricky but that's going to be an issue with most Irish names.

[allthenews]

I have an Aoife...DH is Irish but we live in Scotland, where it is not popular. I would be surprised if it is in the top 100 English names; its certainly never made an appearance in the Scottish top 100. To be honest, I would not have chosen the name had we lived in Ireland, because of its popularity. What about Ailbhe as an alternative, if you're not sure about Aoife? ps To be honest I think an English accent can mangle a lot of Irish names. (Sorry! Bit controversial)

[PerchedOnMyPeddleStool]

openyourheart
Saoirse and Sorcha are completely different names.
They are not even pronounced similarly.

Why would anyone put and R in Fiadh?
It's a beautiful name OP.

[squoosh]

It's not that they'd put an R in Fiadh but that they don't always pronounce the R in fear.

[DramaAlpaca]

Fia/Fiadh is pretty, but I agree with squoosh - in an English accent it sounds like fear, but it doesn't in an Irish accent.

I'm English living in Ireland, and I know a child called Fia. I have to make a real effort to say her name correctly and pronounce the "a" on the end - in my English accent I would tend to pronounce Fia and fear the same, as would most English people.

For that reason, if you are living in England I'd go for Aoife, which is lovely.

[Openyourheart]

I thought Sorcha and Saoirse were similar but I stand to be corrected. This is how one of them is pronounced
audio.babynamesofireland.com/audio/saoirse.mp3

And the other

audio.babynamesofireland.com/audio/sorcha.mp3

I have a friend whose daughter seems to have a hybrid of both names but spells it Sorcha. Hence my confusion.

[squoosh]

Saoirse pronounces seer-sha/sur-sha/sare-sha (depending where in the country you live)

Sorcha - is pronounced surr-ika. I have heard of people pronouncing it sore-sha, this is wrong. It would be like saying Phoebe is pronounced po-bee or Lucy is pronounced Lucky.

[Openyourheart]

Yes, Squoosh, that is exactly how she pronounces it!

[LucyBabs]

How about Aisling op it means to have a dream or vision.

[Shrugged]

OP, your husband sounds as if he is suffering from some kind of ethnic anxiety about Irishness. Following on from someone up the thread, I have an Irish first name and surname, and have lived and worked in England for my entire adult life - it has never held me back professionally, and people learn the pronunciation. It's not some kind of life sentence. My son would have been Meabh (sorry, can't do fadas on iPad) or Sadhbh, were he female.

[Snazzyenjoyingsummer]

Is Fiadh said more like 'fay-a', then?

I like Aisling, too, and it's another name that is better known in England so might have a better chance of not being mangled.

[mika2]

I'm not wild on Aisling, mainly cause I went to school with so many of them back in the day, plus I think it means sad dream/vision...

Thanks for the comments on DH's anxiety re Irish names - the katie hopkins reference definitely hit home! :) Think he was just parroting MIL tbh, who thinks the child will be doomed without a solid British name, preferably of a former king/queen!

A lot of the names suggested - Saoirse (which I love), Orla, Ciara, Meave, Fiona - have all been taken by relatives already so Aoife still frontrunner at the moment...