Eilis

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I love the name Eilis, but it seems to be one of those names that even Irish people pronounce differently from each other! Eg. the character in the film Brooklyn is Ey-lish (first syllable rhymes with hey) but Colm Toibin, who wrote the novel, says he prefers the pronunciation Eye-lish.

I realise there's also an Ailis spelling, but I'm less keen on that (no idea why).

I really like the Ey-lish (hey) pronunciation and the Eilis spelling. Is that a reasonably common pronunciation (whether you are Irish or English)? Is it the sort of thing people will get once they've been told? Does the film help?

(NB I know there's also Eilís/Ailís, but I prefer the short second syllable.)

I'm Irish. I know some older women called Eilis , pronounced Eye-leash, and several younger girls called Ailis/Ailish, pronounced Ay (as in hay) lish.

If it has a fada on the second i it would be pronounced Ay/Eye-leesh, though saying that I've only ever heard Eilís pronounced as Eye-leesh, never Ay-leesh.

Thank you for all the helpful comments! Interesting to know that it's a bit more dates in Ireland - though I've also heard that said on these boards about Niamh, which I also like,so I'm just behind the times no doubt.

I may have to revisit Ailis too.

And lol at everyone reading too fast / not rtft.

Ailis is a gaelicised version of Alice.
Eilis is a gaelicised version of Elizabeth.

Niamh is more 70s and 80s whereas Eilis is more 1940s and 50s. In my mind at least.

Actually, Niamh is probably still widely used. Name trends in Ireland moves very slooooowly.

Even the ugly names? Do you celebrate Gobnait?

Oh I love some (probably) hideous Irish names my family hope I don’t have any more children so I can’t burden the poor souls with my preferred choices!

Ah now! Gobnait is the worst of all names in the world. I think they passed an amendment to the constitution stating as much.
But well done on your loyalty to the naming cause!

A cat could definitely carry it off!

Ellis, as spelt El-is (s for snake not a z sound you get with is)

Eilish - ay-lish. DD of Liz Mcolgan

Eilidh - ay-lay

I'm in Scotland.

Ignore the first one I misread eilis

There was a girl at my school called Ailish, said aye-lish. I always thought it was beautiful

My sister is Elizabeth, Eilís in Irish.. her friends used to call her 'eye lash' but 'eye leash' is the closest.

My family are from Cork, had a couple of aunties who were called Eye Lee I always thought it was abbreviated from Eileen, every day is a school day on MN.

I also misread this as Ellis and was going to hold forth on this name.

Going by the pronunciation, I like Ay-lish, but Eye-lish sounds a bit like "eye-lash". I almost nearly say eyelash every time.

With either spelling you'll have a lifetime of people struggling to say it. Not a problem, just something to bear in mind, she'll almost always need to correct people on the pronunciation.