How do you pronounce Laoise?

[carabos]

Saw this name the other day and have no idea how to pronounce it. I need to know as I may meet her soon. Is it Lisa? Louise? Leesha?
TIA

It's hard to put across properly how these names are pronounced properly, as Irish people instinctivly know the right sound (most of the time) and it doesn't precisely translate.
Like Laoise, it is Lee-shuh as pp said, but the shuh sound is different to how most English accents would say it, its very soft. Another example is Niamh, people say its pronounced Neev...but its actually more like Neev-(uh) but the uh is just a hint of a sound.

That might not make sense, but I know what I mean!

Absolutely. My name ends in a 'd' sound, but an Irish-language 'd', so the 'th' at the start of 'thou', rather than the 'd' of 'door'.

And the 'Lee' of Laois is a diphthong, anyway, but I couldn't begin to think of how you might write it without the phonetic alphabet.

Yeah, I can never work out how to specify the pronounciation properly, if you're writing in English its never quite right anyway!

And Eimear is ee-mer rather than ee-muh because the r at the end is pronounced. To me, when people write the 'mer' sound as 'muh' it seems as odd as it would it someone wrote 'flesh' as 'fleh'.

I think its half way between a mer and muh, tbh, but don't know how to write that!

Laoise and Labhaoise are both beautiful names.
I would pronounce Labhaoise as La-vee-sha.

Gentle, Labhaoise is pronounced the same as Laoise.

Possibly it is just the one I know uses that pronunciation.

I would pronounce Labhaoise as La-vee-sha

When the bh is followed by an a the v sound is commuted to a sound more like ee, so its more like La-ee-sha but much softer. It can sound almost the same as Laoise, and is used interchangeably.

So, if I say Leesha, she's not going to be offended? Thanks everyone.

No that will be fine carabos . My friend is called Laoise and she gets called all sorts, Lisa, Louise, Louis (and she lives in in Ireland!!)

Labhaoise is pronounced La-vee-sha

I would pronounce it.... incorrectly.

I still don't get the name Cliona (sounds like cleaner to me) and Sadhbh.

Caoimhe is lovely though. But I did have o look up how to spell it.

Sadhbh is pronounced like Clive but with an S.

Cliona is almost like plainer but with no R on the end.

I don't get cliona either, awful name! Some people pronounce it clee- ona and some say cleena. Never liked it

Cliona is gorgeous in Ireland or said by Irish people. My English dh butchers it. Much to my dismay!

I've always loved Blaithin(can't do a fada)but my English mother can't say it

Labhaoise is pronounced La-vee-sha

It's not! There is no v sound because of the a straight after.

I would pronounce it.... incorrectly.

Cliona is almost like plainer but with no R on the end.

Where are you, One? All the Clionas and Cliodhnas I know (Munster, Dublin and Clare/Galway) are CLEE-unna.

I know several Laoises and two Labhaoises, and the Labhaoises (or their parents -- one of the Labhaoises is a baby) pronounce it identically. As they would because they're different spellings of the same name.

hearnames.com/pronunciations/irish-names/irish-girl-names/labhaoise-or-laoise-f

I've always loved Blaithin(can't do a fada)but my English mother can't say it

But how can your mother not be able to say 'Blaw-HEEN', bride?

Though the only Bláithín I know was (a) a bit of a cow and (b) known as Blotsy to her her friends, neither of which endear the name to me...

Thewinter I might be wrong in general but I know a girl called labhaoise and she pronounces it laveesha

Lol coulibri my mother is English, she can't say Cathal either, pronounces it Cahill. Despite 40 years living in Ireland! Anyway it's off the list my fiancé hates it

Say Hi, I'm carabos -and naturally- most people would respond hi, I'm L
XXX. Problem solved