Why call her "Eva" but pronounce it differently?

[anxietycentralallthetime]

Hope this isn't too outing.
Basically there's a little girl that goes to the same nursery as my kids.
So on her peg, her coat, her bag, on the class list for party invites etc her name is written "Eva". However when you speak to her mum and say "oh did Eva get the party invite" etc, then her mum will reply "it's Ava. Just spelt with an E"
All the nursery staff call her Ava too.
This mum appears very normal and intelligent, so can anyone explain why you'd name your daughter Eva, but make everyone pronounce it Ava? Do you think she named her Eva and then preferred Ava?
Or is Ava a known pronunciation for the name Eva?
Most weeks I hear her mum correcting parents and other members of staff within the nursery.
I'm too polite to ask her myself!

In my parents' language Ava would be pronounced ah fah btw

My daughter has a Russian friend Eva, pronounced "Ever" so there you go - 3 ways.

My DD is Eva, pronounced "Eeeva" but occasionally gets it pronounced "Ava", I think when people assume she's got to have foreign origins and so they pronounce it like it's pronounced on continental Europe. We are British so pronounce it Eeeeva.

However, if I was British with no particular heritage to nod to, and wanted to pronounce my daughter's name "Ava" I would call her "Ava" not "Eva"...I would guess this family have some kind of foreign ancestry/ roots, or maybe a foreign relative who the little Eva is named after?

Yes Eva is pronounced Eeva if you're English, but they may be of non-English descent even if you're not aware of that.

But we are not in Norway or Eastern Europe are we so for most Brits the names are prounounced as op says so this lady and her dd are in for a tedious time over and over again. Why make life difficult for yourself?

Dh worked with a man called "Ivan" but he pronounced it "ivarrn" and spent his life shouting at people (i.e. Pretty much everyone) who pronounced it "wrong".

We had an Eva in my extended family. Pronounced Ee-va.

DD has a friend Eva, pronounced "Ever".

I'd automatically pronounce it "ava". Saying "eeva" wouldn't come naturally to my accent.

I know 3 adult Evas and they are all pronounced Ava/Eyva

One is Polish, the other two are Scottish.

My friend is Norwegian, spelled Eva, pronounced more of an Eyva, but not Ayva with a rounded 'A'.

Agreed as a Scandinavian myself I have known many Eva's none of them pronounced it with an A sound it is more IMO Ehh Vah.

I would not say Ava always Ehh vaH

My first pronunciation would be Ayva, then Eeeva, but I wouldn't be surprised by Ever - DS2 has a classmate from Sweden called Eden - pronounced eh-den.

People pronounce things different ways. Don't see the problem - it's not like English is phonetic anyway.

Ok so while we are on the topic - enlighten me re Evie. Is this always Ee-vie or am I going to find some pronounced Ay-vie somewhere?!

A few people have mentioned that ay-va is the German pronunciation, which isn't strictly true (at least not for the Evas I know).

The v sound is usually pronounced as an f, so Eva is ey-fah.

Eve is always Eev
Evie is always Eevie
Eva can be either.
Evelyn can be either Eev or Ev

The English form of the name is Eve, pronounced eev. Check any of the English Bibles.

Eva is a name from languages other than English and therefore as likely to be ay-va or e-va as any other pronunciation.

Eva Peron, Eva Marie Saint and Eva Braun were all pronounced Ava.

Ava is a normal way of pronouncing Eva.

penguin's got it - the English version is Eve. Eva is' foreign' so the way native English speakers pronounce it is just an approximation of the original (eh-vah) in most other languages.

SuperBeagle they are all foreigners though.

It's like saying we should pronounce Paris 'Pareeee' because that's how the French say it.

You've really never heard of Eva Braun? Or Eva Peron?

Yes, that makes sense! Eve sounds natural and easy to pronounce in English! It’s Eve in the bible too.

Eva is the Latin and Germanic version and pronounced Eh-fa or Ay-va (hard to write in English).

Have pity on one of my kids when we unexpectedly moved to Germany. Her name is Georgina and they pronounce it Gor-gee-na, so she was horrified. She started to call herself Gina because it was the same pronounciation and was actually used there. This was unlike Georgina which they were mystified by and could never get comfortable with the English pronunciation because G just couldn't have a J sound

Except in Gina apparently as they see it as Italian.

Eva is a 'foreign' name though, so the parents have chosen to call their child the Latino version of Eve, as they are entitled to, and have it pronounced in one of the two perfectly commonplace pronunciations of the name. People who call their child Amelie instead of Amelia, dont want it to be pronounced Ameelie because the English version of the same name is Ameelia.

What is the English way of pronouncing it?

Ee va

Definitely not Ava