Neve/Niamh

[stellarfox]

What do you think of Neve? I’m only a very small % Irish (mostly English) so I don’t think I could really use Niamh could I?

Course you can if you want to.
I prefer Niamh to Neve

Niamh is much, much better than Neve. Who do you think is going to stop you, the Leprechaun Police?

I prefer Niamh too, but it just feels a bit disingenuous! I am about 1/8 Irish which is better than nothing I suppose 😬

Of course you can use it. Otherwise there would be a very limited stock of traditional English names (assuming you're in England) if you really need to, just tell people you have Irish roots

Niamh is much better than Neve

Neve is a boys name as far as I know? (I taught two)
Niamh sounds the same and is gorgeous

Most Irish people really won't care tbh. We'll save the irritation for the Americans who believe that their grandmother's neighbours cousins dog being Irish makes them Irish.

Niamh

Definitely Niamh

Niamh.

Though I don't pronounce Niamh & Neve the same.

The leprechaun police

@RavenWings Leprechaun police? Really? 🙄

My friend’s daughter is Neve and I love it :)

Niamh is much nicer than Neve. I doubt anyone will be too fussed you aren't Irish

I have a Niamh. I'm English and my only claim to Ireland is great (possibly another great) grandparents who moved to Scotland where my nanna was born.

Some people don't seem to know how to spell it, niamph seems a popular choice, and when written don't know how to pronounce it, she got called Naomi at the weekend. She doesn't seem overly bothered though.

100% Niamh

We have a Niamh, so totally bias but just couldn’t anglicise the name. You get a few people who have no idea where to start with pronouncing it, but once you tell them then they tend to remember. (We’ve had Nee-am-huh, Nemo, Naomi)

So yes team Niamh! (If I’m honest I 🙄 when I see Neve, Nieve etc)

Definitely Niamh.

Does my bap in when people badly anglicise Irish names.

If you like the name use the proper version (not aimed at you OP!)

Niamh.

I don't think anyone will be annoyed that you're not Irish but I do think your daughter will have to spend a lifetime explaining that she's not Irish and her parents just liked the name.

My SD is niamh. But no one can pronounce it written down, she gets called all sorts of random things.

As the owner of a name no one can pronounce myself, I have named my DC with nice, not Overly popular names that cannot be mispronounced

Niamh is much better than Neve

Of course you can use it ! Niamh is quite a common name these days , i don't think it's strange to use on a non Irish girl !

Leprechaun police? Really? 🙄

Did you have a sense of humour bypass or something? It was clearly a joking comment making up people who'll hunt down OP for using the name.

Ah thank you for all the responses, they are really helpful! I didn’t think it would be so positive a response but I feel like I can seriously consider it now so thank you

I'm considering Neve/Niamh for my little bump. Where i live (Australia) Niamh would constantly be pronounced as ny-am as it is not as common as in the UK. So for a first name I would use Neve and as a middle name i would use Niamh. My hubby is Irish and agrees. Actually just last week his best friend was telling me how he tells the barista his name is Patrick because no one can prounounce/spell his traditional Irish name here and it isn't worth the bother.

Niamh, and it’s anglicised variants, is very popular amongst my son’s peers. He’s 10, we live in West Yorkshire abd none of them are at all Irish! It’s a pretty name.