Evelyn or Avelyn?

[AngeloMysterioso]

DH and I have been discussing names for DC1 this evening. We've already got boys names fixed, using our Father's and Grandfather's names, but we're undecided on girls. I've had one preferred name for ages which DH was happy to go along with but this evening we threw a few others into the mix and two we really like are Evelyn and Avelyn, but we can't decide which we prefer!

We're pronouncing them like Ev from ever and Ave like rave.

Surname is one syllable, consonant initial.

Putting it to the MN jury! Any thoughts?

Avelyn looks like it would be pronounced Ayyyvlyn though. Evelyn is pronounced Ev-Lyn or Eev-Lyn.

Amelia and Emilia sound pretty much identical as the the emphasis is on the second syllable as opposed to the first which is said relatively quickly.

Well yeah, it would be pronounced Ayv-lin. So if you hear the name first the spelling is fairly self explanatory, and if you read it the pronunciation is self explanatory.

Never heard of Avelyn & it looks like you’re misspelling Evelyn even if not the case so I really wouldn’t - what about Aveline ?

Not Avelyn. I don't like Evelyn much.
Aibhlinn is nice.

Evelyn is lovely

Just be aware that if Evelyn she is likely to be eve which is crazily popular. It’s this generations Sarah. At one point a third of the girls in dds class were called eve it was mentally confusing.

Evelyn very common now, and I think avelyn is a bit try hard..

Out of the two I'd choose Evelyn, but it's very popular (and personally I dislike it - sounds dated to me). Avelyn is awful and I'm still not certain how you're meant to pronounce it. Aibhlinn (aiv-leen) is a lovely name, please don't butcher it.

I like Aibhlinn, but not so keen on either Avelyn or Evelyn. I've always preferred the more streamlined sounds of Eve or Eva over Evelyn.

I know a little girl called Avalinn and another called Aveline, and just feel that Avelyn - even though a legitimate take on Aibhlinn - just ends up looking like a mishmash of this group of names which seems to be mushrooming in various spellings and pronunciations. I don't mind anglicisations of Irish names (eg like Neve or Niamh) but this one just seems to enter the realm of a mishmash of similar names.

The pronunciation is simple, it’s just lin instead of leen.

Like or don’t like it, no need to call it awful.

Evelyn would be pronounced the proper way Ev-lin so there’s no long E sound in there.

I’d use the Irish spelling.

Avelyn looks vaguely illiterate.

Nice name.

Please don't use Evelyn, it's so dated and harsh sounding! Have no idea how it's become so popular, it's such an odd, overused unattractive sounding name. When I hear it o assume the child has been named after an elderly relative, not because the parents likes the name. I don't see the issue with Avelyn, as an alternative (still think it's not that nice, but a million times better than Evelyn, and won't be this generations "Sarah" like Evelyn no will) doesn't sound try hard at all. What about Amelie?

Aibhlinn is a perfectly common Irish name

Am Irish, living in Ireland and have literally never heard this name before. It's certainly not common!

@AngeloMysterioso - Aibhlinn is a perfectly common Irish name (I’m half Irish, have a huge Irish family) but it’s not at all common in the rest of the UK

Ummm, Ireland isn't in the UK.

The Irish pronunciation would be ave-leen, with the ave similar to have. If you wanted it like rave, you would need a fada (accent) on the a. That said, you get loads of variants of names, depending on dialect. My name is pronounced very differently in different parts of the country.

Never heard of Avelyn. Evelyn was very common when my first two DC were born in 2010/11, unsure how common it still is. I’m not keen on either tbh.

Untamedtoad it’s unlikely to be this generations ‘Sarah’ given it’s not even in the top 20 ( it’s 22) and there are far more names to pick from nowadays so even top 10 names aren’t going to be the ‘Sarahs’. Very strong reaction to an inoffensive name.
If you want Avelyn I would probably go for the Irish spelling however I think Avelyn is perfectly fine and nice when said aloud. I would go with Evelyn.

May I offer you Adeline. If you haven't seen it yet, The Age Of Adeline is an utterly beautiful film and made me LOVE the name, even though names of that ilk (granny-chic, imo) generally aren't to my taste - and I think it fits your criteria - like Evelyn but nowhere near as high up the popularity charts. Addy is a super cute nn too, Del works if she wants to sound more gender-neutral, Della is also cool.

I like Adeline. The mums of Eves I know have said they would have rethought had they realised how popular it is

I’m not suggesting Eve. Or the version of Evelyn that starts with Eve.

angelo MN isn’t the place to ask about names that aren’t British..it’s a head fuck..

I like Aibhlinn, but Avelyn looks made up or like a typo. That said, I would expect Aibhlinn to been pronounced with a -leen sound.

I’m not actually using the name Aibhlinn though am I? So whether that’s pronounced lin or leen is irrelevant.

Evelyn’s become eve though. Perfectly nice name just be aware it’s very well used. If doesn’t bother you fine but I have a popular name myself and wanted to avoid that for my kids.

Ev-lin? Huh?
Evelyn is either eve-lin or ev-ah-lin.
You can't just ignore the e in the middle.

It's not like Amelia/Emilia. They sound the same by accident but are actually long established names in their own right. Emilia is Italian, the feminine fom of Emilio. The English equivalent is Emily.
Amelia is the English equivalent of the German Amalia, meaning work.

Avelyn is obviously your own variant on Evelyn. I would pronouce it 'ay-vlin', which I think is what you wanted. It's certainly not terrible, but it's going to be an, "Avelyn." "Sorry?" "Avelyn.", situation.