Fiadh

[SmugairleRoin]

Pronounced Fee-ah, this means deer in Irish (also an archaeological cooking pit depending on who you listen to). Thoughts?
I do think it is pretty but worry it'd sound like Thea/Fear in some accents, plus it did shoot up the Irish baby name charts.

I prefer Fiadh, it seems more substantial. Fia looks short for something. jmo, but I'm Irish and live in Ireland. It makes more sense on its own 'fiadh'. If it were Fia I'd be asking stupid questions 'are you italian?' or 'is it short for something?'

Surly , I am Irish

Lots of Irish names are changed to make them phonic

Niamh - Neve
Saidhbh- Sive

It's not a sin

Wow it all kicked off here! I'm not too bothered by difficulty for people in other countries...I mean, if you wouldn't tell an Indian person living in India to not use an Indian name, would you? And it's no different in my case.

Sofia....I don't mind it, but I don't love it and I've never been sold on the "oh you can nickname x" idea - who knows what the child will end up calling themselves. But thank you anyway for your thoughts on it, I welcome bluntness!

When it is pronounced correctly, in the language it originates from, it does not sound like fear. But that's a problem for me with it - English people tend towards the Fear pronunciation - and I'm not sure would it drive me mad!

I honestly much prefer the Fiadh spelling (and it is the proper spelling - I wouldn't like Staycee as a Stacy spelling either), it just seems more complete.

I honestly think the Niamh changing to Neeve thing is a sin These names are beautiful with their original spelling.

Apologies to mums of Neeves or Eefas out there but I think it's dreadful.

so you are irish yet dont understand why an irish person living in ireland would use an irish name, suggesting they dont need some of the letters in it? Why on earth wouldnt they use all the letters that make up the name they like? Are letters being rationed now?

Apologies to mums of Neeves or Eefas out there but I think it's dreadful.

Please dont tell me there are Eefas in the world?

I'm not following your first post sorry, something in the structure is a bit hard to read
I do not like Fia anyway, doesn't feel or look right to me at all. I like Fiadh. Others will have their own baby Fiadhs and be free to spell their names whatever way they like - but I just want Fiadh.

I've not met an Eefa yet but I'm sure they're out there...

Sgoinneal you're right - it is always Irish and Scottish names. Shame really because they are such beautiful names in their own right.

Yup I think you're right sgoinneal. But even with that I was finding it hard to follow. I'll blame the mad pregnant hormones and wander off to bed I think!

Thanks all for your posts

Irish it up

I have a Ruaridh, what do you make of that?!

Yes first post was for secondtime. Sorry for confusion!

We have a Seodhna in the family. I'm not saying my DS' name as it would out me but there are a whack of consonants in there too. Maybe some just for good measure

The reason why I think names should be simple is not because I am stupid or only like English words as some posts imply. It is because I have decades of experience using a name with an unusual spelling. People take the piss, ask you "why?" (which you can't answer as you obviously didn't name yourself!), ask you to spell it out, spell it incorrectly, take the piss out of the pronounciation etc. This is what people have done to me, this is my experience, whether some posters like it or not. It's just fact!

In fact all the posts disagreeing with someone's opinion are pretty pointless anyway because the OP has asked for people's opinions. My opinion is just that and won't change because people disagree with it. If OP wants to disregard it, that is fine and her choice. But it will still be my opinion!

Mumsnet is a UK website, although anyone can post. But it is a UK website. If the OP was after only a subsection of opinions, she could have written that she was interested in the opinions of people living in Ireland only. But since she didn't, I'm assuming everyone's opinion is welcome. Apart from mine.

It is because I have decades of experience using a name with an unusual spelling

But fiadh isnt an unusual spelling. It is the spelling! No-one is going to ask why an irish word is spelled exactly as it should be are they? Its not the same as Mary being spelt May-ree.

Also I think it's worth making the distinction between a name that is not necessarily intuitively/ phonetically spelt but is technically easy to pronounce once you know how to do it, like Fiadh, and a name that is genuinely very difficult for non-speakers of a language to say. I live in South Africa and I have a friend called Xola Nqobile. That's two clicks which most people outside of southern Africa (and most whites within it) would really battle to enunciate. Obviously click sounds and other sounds unique to various languages are terrific, and I'm not for one instant advocating that they should be avoided, but I just wanted to draw that distinction.

The UK comprises NI and Scotland though - so there are, in theory, people in the UK who are used to Celtic names. I think the issue is I see these reactions to Celtic names only, and not say Somalian or Chinese names. But anyway.

If people have difficulty pronouncing it then obviously thats fine and something for me to bear in mind - but I won't anglicise just for the sake of it. And I have an unusual name too!

Sgoinneal has it exactly though, it's not directed at you, just a general frustration and thank you for your feedback on it, I appreciate it all

Really dislike. Sorry.

I actually do think that (eg) a couple where one's English and one's French often try to pick a name that "works" in both languages. There have been many such threads on here.

Eg eng and French couple might choose Lucie, Amelie

My Turkish friends, both Turkish but live in UK chose Leyla because it works in both countries.

So people do actively want their dc's name to be recognisable in all the places they currently live/are from/have links with.

If OP is in Ireland and doesn't intend to spend time living in England then I think that should have been stated in the OP. Due to the fact that the largest proportion of MNers by country obviously is England (due to the size of it's population relative to the other UK nations), it should have been stated that it was the opinions of people living in Ireland she was after, not the majority of posters. (If indeed that is the case).

In the event that the OP is after a name that "works" in Ireland and the rest of the UK, I personally don't think Fiadh is it. Irish names would be things like Shauna, Kerry, Alannah etc if you want them working easily in both places.
Or if you like the names simply because they have unexpected pronounciation (to English people) then I'd go for something more recognisable like Sinead, Niamh, Oonagh which more people have encountered. But on my original point, I know someone with Oonagh as a middle name (in England) who was highly embarrassed by it (yes, due to pisstakers and bullies of which your dc will encounter many) and she would never tell anyone her middle name and then it became a thing, they would not stop asking her. Etc

No, that's not really what I'm after. I simply like the name as is and am asking opinions of it, from people in general. Their nationality etc doesn't matter. If I get a lot of "eh? Can't pronounce that" back then that's something I'll take into account.

Sinead etc are names popular enough in my age group in Ireland so aren't runners for me just because of that - same way English people mightn't want to name their dd Claire if they grew up with a lot of them and it feels dated to them.

K doesn't exist in the Irish alphabet so if I was picking an Irish name purely because I wanted something Irish it wouldn't be for me. But I'm not doing that - I just happen to like Fiadh, not because it is Irish.

I see the point you are making, I just don't agree with selecting names purely because they are easily decodable/pronounceable to English speakers. As a teacher I see lots of interesting names from around the world and I like that. And tbh, kids bully for any reason - hair, glasses, accent, weight. Whatever they can latch onto to be cruel yo someone with, they will.

Helpme, you don't seem able to think outside your monoglot, monocultural box, despite a lot of people patiently explaining things.

It's a pity you feel your childhood was made complicated by a foreign name, but I assure you that not everyone feels such a craven desire to be called something unremarkable. I have an Irish first and surname which are unusual even within Ireland. I have lived outside of Ireland most of my adult life and my name has not caused the slightest bother. Perhaps there are people who would be crushed by having to spell their name for a medical receptionist, but that sounds frankly mad to me. My son has not only an unusual Irish name but also both my and his father's Irish surnames and his friends, doctors, teachers etc are coping just fine. He has friends/classmates who have Indian, Polish, Danish and Somali names. People manage.

Shauna, Kerry and Alannah are not traditional Irish names, they are names that some English and American people think sound vaguely 'Celtic'. And do you realise how Little Englander it makes you sound that you seem to believe the OP is invested in choosing a name 'because it has unexpected pronunciation (to English people)'? She's Irish. Fiadh is as phonetically unexceptional to Irish people as Emma.

I think Irish names are beautiful with the original Irish spelling. That's my personal view. I also think we are all adults and all individuals so we are all entitled to our own opinions and shouldn't be bashed for these opinions.

The OP talks about concerns with pronunciation in different accents. I think it's fair for someone to point out possible difficulties with spelling etc in different parts of the UK. Especially given that the poster has brought up the issue of pronunciation.

There is no need to be unkind to each other. Everyone is free to have their own views and to post them on a public forum, so long as they're not offensive.