Thoughts on Efa for a girl please

[PoppingCandies]

We are Welsh and live in Wales if that swings anyone.

Also Efa is most definitely a Welsh name. Not Irish at all. I would only use this spelling if you are going to pronounce it correctly.

@MindyStClaire possibly - do you have a reference for that?

[quote SeanCailleach]@MindyStClaire possibly - do you have a reference for that?[/quote]
Just 36 years living in Ireland and meeting approximately seven billion Aoifes. All Ee-fa.

You may be thinking of the name Aoibheann, which some do pronounce with an "ay" sound at the start, but this is incorrect.

@Pittapatta

Also Efa is most definitely a Welsh name. Not Irish at all. I would only use this spelling if you are going to pronounce it correctly.

That seems a touch harsh @pittapatta spelling is merely an approximation. The OP's spelling and pronunciation has some history for her DH. It also popped up as the first result in an Internet search. So there will be a fair few girls named Eepha spelt Efa and no doubt believing that the word means "life" in Hebrew.

But then you are using a Welsh name Efa, pronouncing it Eepha which means life in Hebrew. To me that all seems a lot more confusing then naming a child Efa and pronouncing it how it's typically said in Wales. It might be different if out of Wales but if they want the Welsh link surely this is easier.
Though I appreciate you have a family link with your dh so perhaps there are other ways it is said in use in Wales

It wouldn't occur to me to pronounce it Eva . I think with baby names it's important to think how they might get teased for it at school - so I'd discount Efa as it sound like 'E for' - then they could say anything like Efa Elephant.

That aoi sound:

www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/aoibh
Fair enough @MindyStClaire most people will hear all three as Eev.

Just ftaod the Irish name means beauty, sunshine, loveliness. It's different to the biblical name of the first woman.

Those are very very slight differences though, and just accent. Differences in dialect are much more pronounced.

It looks like it’s pronounced Ef-fa (which sounds like heifer and the politer alternative of a swear eg effing hell).

I assume it’s pronounced similar to Aoife, which is very pretty, but will get confusing for people, especially outside of Wales. It could get frustrating for your daughter having to constantly correct pronunciations and spellings.

I don’t think it looks visually appealing and looks off, but it’s still a nice enough name. But if it has special meanings for you and you both like the name, go for it. It might not even be a problem if it’s a common/popular name in Wales!

The name was hardly used in Wales until recently.

Nearly all the welsh Efas with say it Evva.

The Hebrew version of Eve isn't Efa.

Efa is lovely OP but I don't think it's fair on your child to give her a Welsh name in Wales and then not pronounce it correctly. She'll have a lifetime of 'yes, I know it's Efa but in my family it's Ee-pha'. It sounds like middle name territory if it means a lot to your DH.

My Dad had an Aunty Daisy. For a reason no-one can fathom her name was pronounced Day-gee. There was no way on this earth my mother would have allowed me to be named Daisy unless pronounced Day-zee. My Dad insists Day-gee is the correct pronunciation and a beautiful name and won't budge from that view. I am not called Daisy.

If you can't agree on pronunciation the name is unusable as a first name.

There are lots of beautiful Welsh names you could pick with Efa as a middle name. For example:

Ffion Efa
Cadi Eva
Catrin Efa
Mari Efa
Mali Efa
Megan Efa
Nansi Efa
Nerys Efa

Damn autocorrect, Cadi Eva should be Cadi Efa.

I was so busy correcting Cadi from Caffi that I missed Efa had become Eva!

Prefer seren as a welsh girls name x

Heffa was the most common insult used when I was at school

@Flymetothestars

Heffa was the most common insult used when I was at school

Like a cow? That’s heifer, and doesn’t sound like either of the pronunciations being discussed.

I would go with writing it how it is pronounced in the place where you live. I actually think that when naming someone after someone else it is nice to have a bit of a variation so it doesn't seem as if you are replacing the person but rather something different but reminiscent of them if that makes sense.

There are so many names that could have a different pronunciation, don't let that put you off. The worst that can happen is someone will say it wrong and you correct them, no harm done. I think it's a lovely name, and with a family connection it's special. Go for it!

@Nordman, the name Efa is a welsh name and has been for hundreds of years. It is pronounced phonetically.
OP is going to use a very unconventional pronunciation of a very popular name.

It is the equivalent of something like naming your baby Isla but insisting on saying it as Is-la. Not a good idea.

[quote MikeUniformMike]@Nordman, the name Efa is a welsh name and has been for hundreds of years. It is pronounced phonetically.
OP is going to use a very unconventional pronunciation of a very popular name.

It is the equivalent of something like naming your baby Isla but insisting on saying it as Is-la. Not a good idea.[/quote]
Just because something has happened for hundreds of years doesn't mean it can't be varied from. The poster can choose whatever name she wants for her child and decided to pronounce it whichever way she wants. She says the name with their chosen pronunciation was already used by an aunt so why not use it again.

Because the name is very popular. It's one of the top names in wales.

It would be like calling a boy Michael but insisting on saying it as Mitchell.

When I was a child, I believed the name Phoebe was pronounced Phobe, like phone but with a b.

That is the problem I have with Efa pronounced Eeffa - it doesn't, to a Welsh speaker, suggest a free-spirited alternative way of saying the name as much as it does a basic lack of knowledge of Welsh language and pronunciation.

However much she can subsequently explain that the pronunciation is after a great aunt, the popularity of the name Efa will mean that a lot of people's first impression will be that Eeffa and her parents are not too bright.

what PhPhion said.

It would be like naming a baby Lucy pronounced Lucky.

Little Efa may get fed up about comments on the pronunciation of her name though.

I can cope with people mispronouncing my Welsh name having always lived in England. What I don't like is people telling me that I'm the one who is pronouncing it wrong and their (wrong) way is the right way. Some people say 'oh well this is the English pronunciation' - it isn't, it's just plain wrong.

I have met Welsh speakers from many parts of Wales and they all pronounce my name the right way, so it's not a Welsh name which may sound slightly different in different Welsh accents either.

The problem is that your DH aunt pronounces it wrongly. Fine, that's her name, but she WILL be pronounced Eh-va (sort of more like Ava than anything else tbh) or Eva because that is the pronunciation. Eee-pha is weird.

Cadi is lovely, however I would think of it more as a nn for Catrin. Also lovely.

I guess I’m a philistine but it makes me think of Cheeky F-er or Dirty F-er etc - you get the picture.
Sorry.