Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Niamh or Neve?

75 replies

seashell81 · 14/03/2014 12:42

This is high on my list if bump is a girl and i'm just wondering which written form people prefer. Would Niamh cause problems with pronounciation (we do not live in Ireland)? Also if you know any other spellings for the name please let me know bit.ly/1qCmhkD

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Alisvolatpropiis · 14/03/2014 23:52

As in - Neve Campbell, the actress. Neve like Kev.

Theonlyoneiknow · 14/03/2014 23:56

I prefer the Niamh spelling but I have been told Neve is also a proper name and not made up so go with with ever you prefer.

Lovely name

Nocomet · 15/03/2014 00:11

Even though my dyslexic brain cannot spell the traditional version, Neve is just an ugly version of a beautiful name.

Niamh Grin I actually didn't need the spell checker, seriously if I can learn it anyone can.

popterryvent · 15/03/2014 01:57

The Neve I know says it Neeve just like the other way it can be spelt. Never heard it pn like Kev.

Alisvolatpropiis · 15/03/2014 02:22

pop

As far as I know (happy to be corrected) but Neve is an Old Testament name pronounced to rhyme with Kev, no relation to the Gaelic Niamh.

squoosh · 15/03/2014 05:14

Niamh = NEE-uv

Neve = Neev

squoosh · 15/03/2014 05:15

The guy called Neve who presents the TV show Catfish pronounces it NEV.

mnistooaddictive · 15/03/2014 05:31

I have a Niamh and about 50% of people can recognise it,and can pronounce it. This is on England. It is becoming more common all the time.

DaftSkunk · 15/03/2014 05:58

I prefer Neve - also dd name and I love it.

Burren · 15/03/2014 08:48

Yes, they aren't pronounced the same. Niamh is a diphthong, as Squoosh said - NEE-uv. Though not all Irish people pronounce it properly either...

FrumiousBandersnatch · 15/03/2014 08:54

squoosh he pronounces it 'neev' because it's a nn for his full name Yaniv, which is Hebrew.

EugenesAxe · 15/03/2014 08:57

Not read beyond Eyeliner Queen, who I agree with. It's a popular enough name for the proper Irish spelling to be fairly well known, even among people that aren't Irish.

RiverTam · 15/03/2014 08:57

Niamh

I was at school with a Siobhan (Shivawn) and weirdly enough we were all perfectly able to pronounce her name correctly.

sarahquilt · 15/03/2014 09:03

Niamh...without a doubt

EvenBetter · 15/03/2014 16:42

Niamh.
It can also be spelt Naomh (saint?) but if you think people would struggle with Niamh, that's probably not a better option!

Here's some people I went to school with:
Meabh
Aisling
Aoife
Carolyn
Clionna (Klaina)
Bronagh (I hate this though. Never met one that isn't a dick, and it means 'sorrow')
Saoirse
Fionnuala

DramaAlpaca · 15/03/2014 17:06

Niamh definitely. Neve is an ugly misspelling of a beautiful name.

Also, as others have said, Niamh & Neve are pronounced differently.

NEE-uv and NEEV.

Although I have rarely heard Niamh pronounced correctly outside Ireland.

WeeClype · 15/03/2014 17:10

I have a 3 month old Niamh Smile, I'm always being asked how to spell it and I've had her called Ny-am too by some people Sad

ReindeerBollocks · 15/03/2014 17:14

DD is a Niamh. It's beautiful.

People are more familiar with the name so I don't think it's an issue anymore.

BabyMummy29 · 15/03/2014 17:16

I'm a bit of a stickler for correct spellings of names and don't really like to see traditional names like Niamh or Eilidh spelled Neve/Ailie etc.

My DD was born in England but I purposely didn't give her a very Scottish name as I didn't want her to have to explain how it was pronounced for the rest of her life.

ShoeWhore · 15/03/2014 17:19

Niamh definitely. It's gorgeous! And I think popular enough that more people know how to spell it now.

Littlefish · 15/03/2014 17:20

I know someone whose child's name is pronounced Neve, but is spelled Nevaeh (heaven, written backwards)! Completely made up!

LizCurly · 15/03/2014 17:22

Niamh. Neve is confusing. WOuldn't know if it rhymed with Bev or Trev or Eve.

Niamh has been inside the top 100 names in the UK now for ages, so I don't think it is going to be so 'foreign' people can't cope.

Niamh is from an Irish legend. Honestly, You just can't take a legend name and tweak it to dumb it down.

badtime · 15/03/2014 17:36

Only call her 'Niamh' if you are going to pronounce it correctly - 'nee-uv' (or, where I'm from 'nee-iv', but close enough!)

'Neve' is not necessarily a alternative spelling of Niamh. Neve Campbell's name is a surname, as are Neave and Nieve. I believe Neve is also a variant of the name 'Neva', which is of Latin origin and means snow.

I am from Northern Ireland, and I used to really prefer traditional spellings of Gaelic names; however, after reading the Baby Names threads for a while, I now don't give a stuff, as most of the people who get very judgmental about names seem not to know much about them.

I don't see why 'Neve' is considered unacceptable but 'Aidan' is fine (and, somehow, the 'correct' spelling), when 'Aidan' is also an Anglicisation (see also Maeve, Orla).

I don't understand why people should always spell 'Caitlin' that way, and then pronounce it in a way that 'Katelynn' would represent better, rather than the correct pronunciation; it seems that Niamh also falls into the group of names which it is better to spell 'correctly' and pronounce wrongly than to change the spelling to one which accurately reflects the pronunciation.

OP, use whatever spelling you prefer.

DaftSkunk · 15/03/2014 19:37

Neve is an ugly misspelling of a beautiful name

Honestly, You just can't take a legend name and tweak it to dumb it down.

Bit harsh, but I am a bit biased.

toobreathless · 15/03/2014 20:21

Niamh is elegant, classic and beautiful.

Neve is all the above too until you realise the spelling then it makes me think the parents aren't the brightest crayons in the box.