Oh wise Mumsnetter's please help settle this argument- Beau.

[PirateJelly]

A friend has recently name her gorgeous newborn DD Ava-Beau, all as one name like Ellie-May. Now she is adamant it is pronounced Ava 'Bew' like the start of ' beautiful'

Now I am sure Beau is pronounced bow

For the sake of my sanity please tell me who is correct?
It wouldn't be so bad if it was just her (and I would never get into an argument with her about it, as I know how sensitive she will be right now) but a mutual friend of mine text me the name when she was born and then when I saw her I said "oh so she's called her Ava Bow?" And was told don't be daft that's a stupid name, it's definitely Ava Bow and to stop taking the piss out of our friends DD's name . I was going to argue that that is how most people will read it but wanted to be sure first incase I'm wrong.

Thanks

[DiaryofaHollandParkParent]

Well if they are happy with the name - leave it be. I was speaking to a colleague recently who had given her child an Irish name but pronounced it totally wrong - similar to nee-am for Niamh (Neve); she was very pleased with her choice. I did say that in Ireland they pronounce it like xxxx, but didn't tell her it was wrong. Up to her I guess.

[PirateJelly]

There has been a surge of corkers recently with my fb friends, not that I'm one to judge ofcourse But I definitely feel a new shift of style in baby names with people I know

[JimmyCorkhill]

Ha ha - Isla is correct! I have 'loved' every baby name I've heard, in public. I think I've only truly liked one in the last 3 years .

[WinteronPluto]

I agree - Bow and it's masculine.

[Tattiesthroughthebree]

I know a Beau. His name is pronounced Bow.

[Choccyhobnob]

Oh that would totally make me cringe if that were my friend!!

[Handbagsonnhold]

Our neighbours have a horse called Beau and definately pronounce it 'Bow' very cringey the whole Bew thing ......little baby Ava 'Ferris' Beuler perhaps!!!!

[AugustRose]

I know two children with the name Beau (both pronounced Bow - I would never say Bew), one is a girl and one is a boy.

[Parmarella]

you cannot call a girl Beau, FFS, who are these nutters? It is like calling your girl Herman or Pablo or Hans.

[HighJinx]

Definitely Bow to rhyme with low and not bew to rhyme with spew.

[SkodaLabia]

Oh dear, the daft bat. I wonder when she'll give in.

[thecockyfoxreturns]

It is Bow and definitely a boys name.

That being said I would actually like it as a whole Ava-Beau for a girl if it wasn't pronounced bew.

[Parmarella]

I can see a future where people will say:

" This is my little girl called Hermoso, it is pronounced Her-Mee-sho, so annoying that everyone gets it wrong"
"I know what you mean, my daughter is called Feo , and we want it pronounced with the Spanish "TH" sound, like The-oth, but people just don't get it!"
" they are just so ignorant"

[MissSmiley]

Is she pronouncing Ava as in waver or Ava as in arver?

[BillyGoatintheBuff]

I'm I crackers or do you say Be-u-tiful anyway? That's how I pronounce it anyway, not bew-tiful.

[FetchezLaVache]

I know of a couple who called their daughter Connie-Beau. I just hope the poor child never goes to live in a French speaking country.

[SoupDragon]

Beau is bow.
Beautiful is Bew-tiful.

But you can't correct someone when they have already named their child.

[BopsX3]

I know 2 people with little girls that have this name. One is Beau (pronounced bow) and the other is Beauley (pronounced Bewley)

[WantToMakeTheBestDecionForEver]

i know an australian named Beau (very pretty blonde girl) and just thought, 'oh that's how they do it over there, no gender'.

[WinterHoliday]

I agree with what others have said about the pronunciation (Bo) and that it is the male spelling. However, I just had a look at the ONS statistics and there were 302 girls named Beau in 2012 and 341 boys so it is much more popular for girls than I'd assumed. There were also a few hyphenated names like Daisy-Beau and Lilly-Beau.

[squoosh]

Cringetastic.

[squoosh]

I completely agree with only saying nice things about a baby's name but when someone is pronouncing their child's name so wildly incorrectly you just need to say something.

[HavantGuard]

Poor child.

[PirateJelly]

Oh god it gets worse. I was discussing this earlier with my friends cousin. Apparently the name originally was going to Ava Beau-Tee as in Ava Beauty but her DP vitoed it saying it was silly, so they settled on Ava-Beau. Although apparently my friend is still considering using this name and is nagging her dp in letting her add it to the birth certificate!

I said to her cousin you know if she does that her DD's name will be pronounced Ava Bow Tee which looks remarkably like Ave a bow tie.

And I thought she was pronouncing Ava - A-vah but her cousin rekons it Av-er so Av-er Bew and it's quite exotic! The mind boggles

[WantToMakeTheBestDecionForEver]

The poor baby needs a lawyer.