Orla or Orlaith

[Tentativesteps133]

Hi all

Me and my partner both like the pronounciation of Orla/Orlaith but can’t agree on the spelling. I’m half Irish but we are both born and bred in England. Which do you prefer?

The former if living in England. It's not exactly a well-known Irish name like Siobhan or something, so the Orlaith spelling would only cause the child a right hassle in the future.

Orlaith definitely as Orla autocorrects to Oral on my phone and now I can’t unsee it sorry😐 beautiful name though

Orla

I prefer the spelling Orla.

There's also orlagh

But living in England I would use orla. Prefer the look too.

I had exactly the same dilemma and went with Orla. l really really love Orlaith but I suspected she would have been called 'Or-Layth' all her life.

It is gaining popularity I think, I thought it was quite uncommon but there is another in her tiny nursery!

I think Orlaith is a prettier spelling, but as you're in England, I would go with Orla, as a lot of English people won't realise how it should be pronounced.

We also went with Orla. As per crayons, it does indeed autocorrect to 'Oral' for absolutely ages until your phone finally gets used to it, so double check your texts for a while! We're also in England but DH's family are all Irish. We figured the same re 'Or-layth', plus we wanted her (and others) to be able to spell it easily. Lovely to come across another, we hardly ever see/hear of any! Everyone always says what a beautiful name it is and she's very proud to be an Orla

I've gone with Orlaith as I see no reason to use an anglicised spelling. My name is initially confusing to some but I've survived and I quite like it.

Orla.

If you are going to live in England, I'd just make it easier for your DD by not making her have to spell or explain it a lot. I have a name I have to spell/explain a lot.

We live abroad and have an Orla. Everyone remarks on how pretty it is and so unusual.

Just to confuse you further it can also be spelt Orlagh

Orla

Orla - it's perfectly acceptable in Irish (unlike, say, Neev) but also phonetic in English which is handy.

I do love the name, so I hope you don't mind me saying this - a lot of English accents won't pronounce it Orla to an Irish ear - it'll be Awla or Orler. That would grate for me, but might be fine with you. Or not be an issue where you are. But just thought I'd mention.

I used to know an Irish orlaith living in England. She always used to spell it orla in emails because otherwise people struggled to pronounce it.

I've gone with Orlaith as I see no reason to use an anglicised spelling.

Orla isn't actually an anglicisation. As far as I'm aware it came about as part of the Irish language spelling reform. As the name was spelt Órflaith back in the mists of time you could argue that Orlaith is just another modern spelling too...

I am having the same dilemma with Gaelic name but think I will go with Scottish spelling as where I live there are plenty of immigrants/descendants of immigrants so there are many non English names and I like learning new names/pronunciations - so Orlaigh vote here

Looks like the popular vote is slightly in favour of Orla - which is my preference :) DH feels quite strongly about Orlaith though so no idea how we'll come to an agreement if we do have a girl. We don't know the sex so it's all hypothetical at this moment in time!

If you're living in England I'd probably say Orla because of the inevitable mispronounciation and misspellings you'll have with orlaith.

If you absolutely loved orlaith and hated orla I'd say use the name you love. But if you're undecided I would always choose the option that will be easiest for the child to live with

I read Orlaith as Or-lath because I'm a dim witted English person. It is a prettier spelling though. I have a name that looks like a common name but an extra letter changes the pronounciation completely. Even good friends get the pronounciation off. That said, I don't mind correcting people and like my name. At least with Orlaith they'd pronounce it right once they'd heard it once.

Oh yeah I know spellings evolve over time and Orlaith probably is on the modern side! But for me, I would have been choosing Orla to make it easier for people unfamiliar with Irish names and I don't see a need to do that. I quite like learning how to pronounce names new to me anyway :)

Orla (not a fan of the name though)

Orla

Because even in Irish there seem to be different variations of the Irish spelling so if you go for Orlaith somebody somewhere will think it's Órfhlaith.

Orla.

Because I would assume Orlaith was pronounce or-layth.