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

[squoosh]

Baby needs witness protection programme with a nice sensible name like Jane.

[PirateJelly]

Sorry just had to clear this up. Spoke to friend in question, as going to visit for first time tomorrow and she assured member cousin had got the wrong end of the stick regarding the Beau- Tee bit and that was a joke. Thank god for that. But she did say her DD's name and it is definitely pronounced Ave-a Bew and is to be pronounced all one name. I guess its different, it's actually growing on me

[squoosh]

'ave a brew me old china.

[Distrustinggirlnow]

^ exactly this ^

We once had a pony called beau - bow ( gelding)

[NadiaWadia]

Your friend (baby's mother) is an idiot.

[SkodaLabia]

The poor child will realise her mum has gone yooniq with the her name once she is at school and people start reading out her name aloud. Oh dear.

[AbiRoad]

Depsite my dislike of hyphenated names, Ava-Belle is ok, Ava-Bo is ok. Ava-beu (whether you spell it bew, beu or (incorrectly) beau) is just a horrible sound. it sounds with ewwwww and phewww. Worth mentioning that she might become Ava-smell in the playground?

[Mintyy]

Ava-Bew? She's ava-ing a larf!

I'm not prepared to believe for one second that this is real .

[picnicbasketcase]

Beau is pronounced bow. As in what you put on a nicely wrapped present.
Pronouncing it Bew sounds mad and will make her parents look quite clueless. But there you go, such is life.

[PirateJelly]

Minty I wish it was a joke but I swear it's true. I wish I could tell you her DS's name as well but fear putting both unusual names on a thread would out me if she ever googles her dc's names. But it's a really common name hyphenated with a ridiculously upper class unusual one. That rose a few eyebrows upon announcing as well. I know she thinks she's being tres unique but I feel sorry for her dc.

[WantToMakeTheBestDecionForEver]

This is why people should be edumacated. Ava as 'Aver' will just make them all look stupid.

[SkodaLabia]

Ooh, is it Jack-Tarquin? JT for short?

[squoosh]

Tom-Peregrine?

[BigPawsBrown]

"Bow" is not helpful - it can be pronounced "bo" like a bow in a girl's hair or "bow" as in "bow down"!

[PirateJelly]

No it's more McKenzie- Ptolemy. A complete mouthful which just doesn't flow. She is lovely hut I can't help but question her sanity when it comes to naming her dc. When we were discussing baby names before her DD was born she said she wanted Harper-Bella which I also thought was awful but she loved. I'm not sure which is worse tbh. Don't get me wrong they're nice names in their own right, it's just together they sound such a mouthful and it wouldn't be so bad if she just had them as normal middle names which are rarely repeated but no she has to insist upon hyphenating them together so it's all one jumbled mouthful

[CocktailQueen]

Ava-Bew - that's like saying 'have a pew', isn't it? Insane and just plain wrong. her dd will not thank her for it.

[sunshinenanny]

Poor Child!

[AbiRoad]

So, with her son now he is a bit older does she use the full hypenated name? Do other people?

[PirateJelly]

Good question- in all honesty no she doesn't, he has a nickname that's nothing to do with either name just to add further confusion to the matter, which she and he himself uses. But on facebook she'll say his full name if she refers to him in a status and underneath photos of him. As I said earlier though other people do seem to like her name choices. I suppose it's individual taste at the end of the day.

[LittleBearPad]

Poor little girl.

At least she can bin the beau when she grows up.

[EhricLovesTeamQhuay]

Jaysis
She's a total numpty isn't she?

[ch1134]

Oh dear, I wonder if she will change it? Clearly, as others have said, Beau is a boys name, pronounced 'bo'. Our word beautiful does come from this, but beau is the masculine and belle the feminine. Let's hope she drops the 'Beau' and sticks to Ava.

[NadiaWadia]

Ava is pronounced 'Ay-va' like the letter 'A' (long 'A'). To rhyme with 'raver' and 'waiver'. Do you really mean she is pronouncing it like 'Avva' (short 'a')? Combined with 'Beau' (masculine) pronounced 'bew' and the dreaded hyphen she has saddled the poor child with a ridiculous name that people will misunderstand throughout her life. Maybe someone should say something, or is the birth already registered?

I expect registrars really have to bite their lips sometimes, I imagine they are not allowed to comment on parents' name choices.

[LillyNotOfTheValley]

Yep. It is "bow" and is a very weird deep south boy name Ava is great though she might avoid saying both names in NOLA as it will sound like "I have a beau, aka fiance"

[PirateJelly]

Hello all, just wanted to update

I'm just back from visiting friends newborn DD and she is so scrummy that my broody meter has reached the ceiling, anyway there has been some progress during my visit.

I notices my friend seemed to avoid using her DD's name and kept referring to her as 'she' and 'the baby'. Eventually she calls to her DP in the kitchen "Pete will you get Av-er Bews bottle please?" To which her DP shouts back sarcastically "Yes I'll get A-vah's bottle love" I shifted uncomfortably and wasn't sure what to say.

Friends whispers "can I ask your advice Pirate please? I know you' re always honest with me, what do you think of her name? I've had nothing but people taking the piss and my mum says the baby will have a life time of explaining her name and won't thank me for it"

So I say. "You really want my honest opinion?" ( friend nods) "Well I really like the name Ava and most people will pronounce it A-va not Av-er. Also Beau is pronounced Bo like you have on a present, so do you like A-va Bo, because that's how most people will say it"

Friend takes this well and says that's what her dp,mum, grandma, mil and a few others have said but she's still unsure as a mutual friend, neighbour and few friends have agreed with her version. I asked what the registrer had said when she went to get the birth certificate but she said she hadn't been yet as she was unsure of the name. I actually let out a large sigh of relief which friend and DP both noticed, exchanged looks and then asked " so you think we should change it?"

I said it was upto them but if they weren't happy maybe it was for the best and explained how I'd never been 100% happy with DS's name and sometimes wish I'd changed it. The cheeky cow then had the audacity to say "yeah it is unusual and not something id go for" I mean seriously the cheek of it and I really had to bite my tongue given her ridiculous names!

She then says well other options are Trinity-Porcha (sp?) and Harper-Bella. I actually rolled my eyes and asked about leaving the hyphen out put apparently that's a absolute no go. Her DP then piped up " I don't know why we can just have Olivia, I love Olivia!"

Anyway I left them to it as I had to pick DS up at 12. She text me 10 mins ago saying her and DP had come up with a new name and that's it a million times better than Ava-Beau and she'll tell me soon but she wants to run it past her dm first but I can look forward to receiving the new name in a group email shortly along with photos. Oh joy!

Ofcourse dear Mumsnetters I will let you share in the joy once I hear it. I'm just hoping it's something simple and normal like Olivia-Rose or even better simple Olivia although I doubt it