caoimhe

[birchygoo]

help from Irish ppl on how its said in your area but also keen to hear from English how difficult you would find this to say

I am from ulster currently living in England. in ulster we would say keeva. talking from friend from Dublin she mentioned they would always say qweva.

just wondering in different areas would they all be qweva? and if I did call a girl this would she have lots of issues with it in England? I do know one little caoimhe here in England already both English parents and said as keeva.

I know you are just going to say spell it keeva - but nope I'm awkward and keeva I don't like sp.

boys names I'm finding much easier as enda is one and it can be read as seen

please don't slate my names I'm not interested in if you don't like them. if we all liked same names it would be hard to tell us apart! also we will be returning home.

[PallasCat]

Aww some lovely names birchy!

I also can't resist name planning

I'm English and hadn't seen Caiomhe before - I think I would've gone for Kay-va if I hadn't been told otherwise. I really like it.

Caolan, Cathal and Cormac are all lovely - I think Cathal is my favourite of the three though.

[squoosh]

Kweeva

[squoosh]

Are you really thinking of calling your son Enda?

[mathanxiety]

Keeva here -- grew up in Dublin but learned Connacht Irish, went to Irish college in Connemara, etc.

I have relatives from the deepest south east who would pronounce it closer to Kay-va (so well done PallasCat!). This is due to their pronunciation of A sounds. They have a Caoilfhionn who is Kay-lan. Carkeys are carkays.

[TheHobbit]

I have a commonish sounding name but an extremely unique spelling in fact so unique I'm the only one in the world. Believe me when I say how frustrating it is to constantly spell my name! Nobody ever gets it right ever! Even my employers don't and the number of times I've had to get business cards reprinted is a joke. I like my name but so so so sick of correcting people. Doctors are a nightmare as they always tell me im not on the system meanwhile its because they've got my name wrong!!

Kweeva reminds me of kweef so not sure if they will ger teased or called a "Kweefa" and barely anyone will spell it or pronounce it correct.

[chiruri]

I'm Scottish but have two Northern Irish friends (one from Derry, unsure where exactly the other is from) called Caoimhe. They both pronounce it Kee-va.

[mika2]

I'm SE Irl and always heard it pronounced quee-va. I love love love this name but never managed to convince English DH that it wasn't totally obscure and wouldn't be a nightmare growing up in the UK. He was also convinced she would get teased as it sounded too close to "queer" We compromised on Aoife in the end.

[dontthinktwiceitsalright]

Keeva here too ( NI) beautiful name

[dangerrabbit]

Lovely name

[BitOutOfPractice]

I'm English and I would not have a clue how to say it. Not s clue. Sorry

[CaptainHolt]

I'm English and would say Keeva

[itfcbabe]

I'm English and love this name and the spelling,do much prettier than spelling it (Keeva) hope no one takes offence to that.

I love Aofie and Niamh as well

[cearstaidh]

I have a Caoimhe at work who pronounces it keefer. I love the name but it must be a nightmare - reps often come into the department "eh hello..... I'm looking for pause while they look down at piece of paper with her name on it urm.... Miss Smith"
I'm from Scotland.

[TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams]

Kwee-va - born and raised in Leinster, live in London. A traditional Irish name will be pronounced differently regionally, it's a fact of life.
Do you like Una?

If you are moving home then it's no issue at all. Stay in the UK and your child will either embrace it or find it tedious to correct people all the time.

Suggestion for a boys name would be Oisín, Lorcan, Daire, Devin or if you don't use Caoimhe for your daughter, then Caoimhin for your son. Not as commonly used at home as Kevin though and viewed by some as "girly".

I went to school with a girl called Caolan and another called Dara. Can't remember if Caolan had a variation on the spelling. It doesn't look quite right to my eye written down and was pronounced Kee lin with a hard C.

[TheVeryHungryPreggo]

Tread - I think the other spelling you are thinking of is Caoilfhionn (Keelin).

Which is a name I love, and would love to use, BUT it comes from caol (slender) and fionn (fair) and I think it's a bit of a burden to place on a child!

[xmaslisa]

English and no idea!! It's lovely but how does caoimhe become keeva?! Looks nothing like it, English may struggle

[onthering]

English and no idea how to pronounce that.

Now I know how to pronounce it I like it a lot. But if you are going to be upset about Keeva vs Kweeva and live in England, I really don't think its the best choice. My first guess would have been along the lines of cum-hee, which I presume is a lot worse than Keeva.

[RitaKiaOra]

Cum-hee yep, as an NQT I would have said that and learned pretty sharpish like when I called some poor child a raisin. (Roisin)

[bestguess23]

Keeva. Londoner born in Mayo. I knew several and it's not an issue in England, yes sometimes they have to correct, but it is rare.

[Bakeoffcake]

English here and wouldn't have a clue, and I worked in schools.

Now I know how to pronounce it, I'm sorry but I really don't like it, it sounds like the female version of Kevin.

[sleepyhead]

Keeva. I didn't know until I met someone with the name but it took 1 second to learn the pronunciation. A fair bit longer to be able to spell it correctly with the vowels all there and in the right order.

It's phonetic in Irish though and has helped me pronounce other Irish names.

[Milkyway1304]

I'm from Leinster and would say Queeva. Keeva perfectly acceptable also. It's a lovely name.

[vvviola]

bakeofcake it is the female version of Kevin

Caoimhin is Kevin in Irish
Caoimhe is the female version of the name (or at least comes from the same root)

[ButterDish]

Munster Irish, so would say 'Kweevuh' (roughly), but would know a NI Caoimhe was likely to be Keevuh. I wouldn't take the slightest notice of the people who anticipate a life ruined by English mispronunciation. My English-born son and I both have Irish first and surnames, and it's never been a problem. Just tell people. Unless your sense of self is so fragile you're crushed by the dentist's receptionist mispronouncing your name! And it's the same vowel cluster as the very familiar Aoife and also Saoirse. English people have largely stopped attempting to semi-yodel these names.