Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Aoife

205 replies

namedecisionshelp · 27/04/2020 13:25

Honest opinions of this name?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Wearywithteens · 28/04/2020 18:14

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

BrooHaHa · 28/04/2020 18:16

The irony

@ploopsie

Sorry? How is it ironic? I totally accept that in your accent 'E for' sounds different to 'Aoife'. I'm not the one trying to suggest someone else is wrong about what their own local accent sounds like. Because I accept that people speak in different ways.

isabellerossignol · 28/04/2020 18:17

Phonetically it looks like the sound you’d make if you were punched in the stomach.

How rude is that?

Phonetically it looks exactly like it's pronounced, in the language in which it comes from.

ploopsie · 28/04/2020 18:17

That's an American accent!

I am aware of that but that's the first one that came up with I googled.

ChandlerIsTheBestFriend · 28/04/2020 18:17

Phonetically it looks like the sound you’d make if you were punched in the stomach.

No, phonetically it looks like the sound you’d make if you said “eefa”.

Do you mean you’re trying to say it using English phonetics? When it’s a different language? Why? Confused

ploopsie · 28/04/2020 18:19

Feel free to link an english person pronouncing the word for as fah

ploopsie · 28/04/2020 18:22

The sound you make when you say "or" is the same as "awe". No r!

But that's not an ah sound is it?

Where are all these Londoners who pronounce for as fah?

ploopsie · 28/04/2020 18:35

Because I accept that people speak in different ways.

But not in other languages hence why you though Cillian was Silly Ann. Do you struggle with African & Asian names too?

SionnachRua · 28/04/2020 18:37

Phonetically it looks like the sound you’d make if you were punched in the stomach.

No, in Irish phonics it looks exactly as it sounds. If you used English phonics it might look like that. But doing that would mean you'd have no notion of other languages having different phonetic codes...you'd have to be a bit of a sheltered thick then, wouldn't you?

MrsTerryPratchett · 28/04/2020 18:45

Feel free to link an english person pronouncing the word for as fah

Let's ignore that. Do Kiefer and Aoife rhyme in your accent? They do in mine.

ploopsie · 28/04/2020 18:48

most Londoners don't speak like that.

Do you know them all

ploopsie · 28/04/2020 18:49

Do Kiefer and Aoife rhyme in your accent?

So how are you rhyming them with for?

ploopsie · 28/04/2020 18:51

@showofhands

In the video you linked the man said fourteen near the end. I pronounce for the same as he did. Unless I misheard & he said fa-teen

MrsTerryPratchett · 28/04/2020 18:52

But not in other languages hence why you though Cillian was Silly Ann. Do you struggle with African & Asian names too?

But everyone does it to a certain extent.

Take Catherine. In Scotland, you'd have a rolling r in that name. In some parts of London you'd be Caff-rin. In Liverpool the a would be a little longer. An Italian friend might say Caterin. You wouldn't say a completely different name but pronunciation does have an impact.

I mean do you use the French pronunciation of Paris or the Italian of espresso? In London?

MrsTerryPratchett · 28/04/2020 18:54

So how are you rhyming them with for?

My point is the missing r sound.

Ladyglitterfairydust · 28/04/2020 18:54

I really like it. I’m English and know how to pronounce it. It’s not as unusual as some Irish names.

ploopsie · 28/04/2020 18:55

But my point was always that fa and for are not the same

ploopsie · 28/04/2020 19:00

You wouldn't say a completely different name but pronunciation does have an impact.

I never denied that & I wouldn't pronounce Anais the same as a French speaker however I also wouldn't pronounce it as An-ace or An-a-is because I recognise that it's in another language.

So @MrsTerryPratchett how do you pronounce African or Indian names?

ShowOfHands · 28/04/2020 19:21

Ploopsie, I've outlined two different issues you're describing, if you care to scroll back. You've argued that you do pronounce the r in for when actually you don't. The most recent discussion has been trying to explain the vocalised r to you. If you scroll back, I also explained about lazy diction and the running together of sounds. The example I already gave was people saying "dunno" when they mean "I don't know". Similarly in the sentence, "e for elephant", it's common to hear people say "eefa elephant" or more like "eefuh elephant" and it sounds identical to "Aoife Elephant" because we run sounds together.

For and Aoife don't rhyme.
"E for" as part of a longer sentence and "Aoife" might.

Do you know them all

No but we're talking about general accents across populations so your point is irrelevant.

Cbeebiesrehab · 28/04/2020 19:22

That made me lol @ChandlerIsTheBestFriendGrin

Those arguing back and forth, you’ve successfully derailed the thread, no one is going to agree, why carry on? Just let the poor OP get opinions on her potential baby name without the bickering over accents and dialect.

JKSN · 28/04/2020 19:27

I think it looks much prettier written down than it sounds when spoken aloud. They being said I think it's well known enough that plenty of people would know how to pronounce it, and if they don't they'll only need to be corrected once as the pronunciation is quite easy.

BrooHaHa · 28/04/2020 19:54

But not in other languages hence why you though Cillian was Silly Ann. Do you struggle with African & Asian names too?

No. I'm very good at them because I come across them a lot and have identified common patterns in how the letters form sounds. As you know, having (somewhat bizarrely) decided to search through other threads I've commented on, I actually said that the first time I saw Cillian I read it as silly Anne. Which is perfectly reasonable for someone not familiar with the Irish alphabet, and not at all pertinent to the discussion at hand. The pronunciation of Aoife is not what's under dispute here.

But, PP is right, this is getting us nowhere. If you want to continue making increasingly barrel-scraping nonsensical arguments and ignoring the legitimate points made by others, feel free to PM me.

MrsTerryPratchett · 28/04/2020 20:49

how do you pronounce African or Indian names?

As close as an approximation with the phonemes I can say. I'm good with the z in Spanish and I can roll a mean r, less good with the xie in Mandarin and awful with the clicks in Xhosa.

Still doesn't really have any bearing on the E for Elephant debate.

TheRoyallingStones · 28/04/2020 20:50

It’s amazing how many people on here can know that a name is from another language and yet still expect English phonetics to apply! It makes perfect phonetic sense in the language it comes from. Rather more so than many English names do in fact!

I really love the name Aoife. It’s beautiful.

Apart from a few deliberately ignorant idiots people will easily learn how to pronounce and spell her name. Her peers will just accept it as her name and won’t find it odd at all.

ploopsie · 28/04/2020 20:53

"E for" as part of a longer sentence and "Aoife" might.

Key word is might

No but we're talking about general accents across populations so your point is irrelevant.

So you are speaking for all Londoners.

As you know, having (somewhat bizarrely) decided to search through other threads I've commented on

Or perhaps as someone with Irish family I regularly am on Irish name threads.

But, PP is right, this is getting us nowhere. If you want to continue making increasingly barrel-scraping nonsensical arguments and ignoring the legitimate points made by others,

Again the irony, the previous poster is correct but I can't argue alone, you are just as welcome to ignore my posts....

Although I'm not sure why saying E for Elephant is not the same Aoife is nonsensical. Just as many posters on the thread thought you were talking tosh

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread