Tadhg or Paxton

[MarjorieX]

I'm pregnant with a boy and I quite like these two names. Tadhg is a name we have previously considered for our other sons but we didn't go for it. Paxton would be after my grandad. I'm so indecisive and my baby is due in a month so I'm really not sure on what name to choose. What are your opinions on these names and do you have any middle name suggestions for them? Thank you

The reality is most Irish names have a variety of pronunciations depending on the dialect and accent. If you insist on everyone pronouncing it exactly the same way you do, you're going to spend a lot of time annoyed.

I have an Irish name. Generally the only people who pronounce it correctly are fluent Irish speakers from the Irish speaking region I'm from. However, I accept other pronunciations as valid (there are at least 3 or 4 variations, with one being the most commonly used). Equally I accept reasonable attempts by non-Irish people. The only time I get irritated is when people correct my pronunciation of my name. So I say my name is X. They might ask me to repeat it and they will then say Oh, you mean Y.

I did once work with a woman from Cork who corrected anyone who didn't pronounce her name using a Cork accent. She eventually gave up.

Siobhan isn't pronounced Shivonne. You are saying it is in certain accents and I don't believe you.

It's pronounced Shivonne in northern Irish accents. If your friend lived anywhere north of Clones she would have been most unhappy.

I have an Irish name. It can rhyme with an English word and the consonants can all be pronounced as if they were English consonants.

Or the consonants, the broad ones and the slender R, can be properly pronounced, and when that happens it sounds like a different name altogether. The only people who pronounce it 'properly' here in the US are my Russian friends, despite the fact that I used the simplified pronunciation which rhymes with an English word when introducing myself. In fact, they are possibly the only people I know anywhere who pronounce my name properly. My own Irish relatives from all over Ireland pronounce my name using various iterations of the consonant sounds. None of them get that slender R as right as the Russian family do. There is a four-way Dublin/SE/W/NW divide.

I accept pronunciations from all over the ballpark. The alternative is to spend my life fuming over something that is very trifling.

@Pomegranatemolasses Th like in English or Gaelic?

I have a friend called Grainne from Fermanagh. I pronounce it the way she does, I m from Ulster. My manager is from Munster, it has a sort of ong in the middle when he says it.
I worked with a posh lad from Edinburgh in England. He was known as Fraser pronounced Freezer.

Paxton 100% Its Beautiful

I dont know the other name you suggested never heard it It looks like a made up word sorry if I offend anyone

It might be a good idea to read the thread, @Escourtie

I think the names used in either order work fine despite being so different.
I think it is incredible that people living in multi cultural societies have problems with names.

@Pomegranatemolasses

Just to add fuel to the fire, I pronounce Tadhg as Thige, ie tiger without the r and with a h added.

I'm Irish and live in the west of Ireland. This is how I've always heard ot being pronounced.

Yes, that's the way I'd say it too.

An English 'th' not an Irish one @SeanCailleach

They are really different! I do really prefer Tadhg. I don’t think Paxton is nice at all.

If it helps OP I have boys with traditional Irish names in England. Really not a big deal.

@LizzieAnt

An English 'th' not an Irish one *@SeanCailleach*

Then again, I'm from an area where we don't pronounce 'th' very well, so what do I know? Definitely a broader sound than the first syllable of tiger is what I'm familiar with though. I really like the name.

I like Tadgh, it's not terribly unknown. Not keen but n Paxton.

Whatever way you say th is totally fine by me. I love all the different dialects.

@SeanCailleach
Thanks
Meant the English 'th' sound just to clarify. Things are changing though. My children correct my th's now sometimes - the influence of Cbeebies when they were small, I suppose...

@Pomegranatemolasses

Just to add fuel to the fire, I pronounce Tadhg as Thige, ie tiger without the r and with a h added.

I'm Irish and live in the west of Ireland. This is how I've always heard ot being pronounced.

I pronounce Tadhg the same way. I'm an English woman living in the west of Ireland and that's how I've been taught to say it by my in-laws, with an Irish 'th', not an English one. I can do the Irish 'th' no problem, it's other sounds I have to make a real effort with.

There's a Tadgh in my DS school in England. Until today I'd never seen it written, but I instantly made the connection as I'm sure others will. It's a very nice name. We can't all be called Bob because it's 'easy'.

Im in Ireland so Tadhg is a common enough name where Im from pronounced Tiger without the r so because of its popularity here I would choose Paxton as I like my own dc name to stand out.

How does Tadgh = Tiger without the r? I'm in awe of anyone who teaches phonics in Ireland . I think it's a lovely name.

@DramaAlpaca
I pronounce Tadhg the same way. I'm an English woman living in the west of Ireland and that's how I've been taught to say it by my in-laws, with an Irish 'th', not an English one. I can do the Irish 'th' no problem, it's other sounds I have to make a real effort with.
Oh dear, I think there might be three different 'th' sounds now...
When I referred to an Irish 'th', I meant the Irish language one where the 't' isn't pronounced.
My English 'th' (your Irish 'th'?) is a Hiberno-English one really. Like @Pomegranatemolasses and you, the start of Tadgh and the start of Thigh sound the same to me.
The proper English 'th' is different again as my children have learnt from watching too much television.

@Gifgif I leave you with the female name of ‘Saidhbhe’ to figure out so I think because we learn Irish language from the day we start school over here that it just becomes natural to pronounce things for us but I am fully aware our language and pronounciation is very messy outside of here too! If I said to you that we say Tadhg as Tige I am not fully sure the sound would be like the word tiger if you removr the last letter :)

Also the female name above, where I am from is pronounced Sigh-ve’.

@Gifgif
The letters/letter combinations just make different sounds in Irish and English. Irish is a very phonetic language so no problems there. An issue I've noticed, though, is that in most (English language) schools in Ireland, children learn the English language phonics via Jolly Phonics etc, but aren't taught the sounds in Irish in the same way. They're just expected to pick up that the letters can make different sounds, and Irish language phonics aren't directly taught at all. I know it's caused my DC some problems learning to read Irish. (A smaller number of schools teach through the medium of Irish.)

"Tadgh" would read "tad-y" in Modern Irish, not "tayg".
In Irish nouns change so:
"Tadhg is ainm domh" (T is my name)
"Slán , a Thaidhg!" (Bye T)
"Tigh Thaidhg." (At T's house.)
When people say they say th for the first sound, like in English "thigh", that's like in Classical Irish (C13 - C19). Modern Irish has a h sound instead, but personal names hang onto old sounds longer . Often people think of the vocative form as the name, instead of the nominative (root) form. Hence "Thayg", "Hayg".

How does Tadgh = Tiger without the r? I'm in awe of anyone who teaches phonics in Ireland . I think it's a lovely name.

For starters, it's Tadhg, not Tadgh.

The phonics part is easy:
In the middle of a word the DH in Irish is always silent. Just like GH in English it gives a long I sound (as in sigh, light, fight, right, Blighty). At the beginning of a word it is sounded as a Y.
The G in Tadhg is sounded.

Irish orthography is incredibly regular. English otoh is incredibly irregular.

@SeanCailleach, there is a difference between an English T sound and an Irish T sound.

An Irish broad T sounds like a French T. I think this is what posters are getting at, not the silent TH of various cases where the nominative begins with T.

For example, the word 'tá' is pronounced thaw, not taw.

(A slender T is more of a CH sound).