Oonagh or Méabh?

[Bobojangles]

Which do you prefer?

How are you saying those?

They are pronounced Mave to rhyme with cave.
Una is pronounced Uh na.

I have (both in their forties) friends with both these names and neither like them.

Op I’m sorry to say I really dislike both of these names. I know it’s not up to me, but I’m Irish and I really consider both of these to be old fashioned but in a ‘Sandra’ way not an ‘Edith’ way.

That being said Maeve (and it’s various spellings) is making a comeback (inexplicably!) and loads of babies over here are called it. They usually have a sister called Aoife 🤷‍♀️

Do you live in Ireland? Because neither of those spellings would be the usual spelling.

Úna and Maeve will be how 99/100 Irish people will assume they're spelled. And if you're not in Ireland Méabh is just going to fox people completely. Una looks nicer than Oonagh too. (the double oo at the start always looks silly to me)

I'm not crazy about either name though as I know scores of 40-something Unas and Maeves.

I love love the name Méabh, spelled like that! It's just fabulous.

Not keen at all on Oonagh if I'm honest - maybe a little better as Una - sorry

I love them both. Was seriously considering Oonagh when pregnant but most likely would have spelt it Una as I'm not in Ireland. But that's because I'm Irish living in the UK and have an Irish name no one can pronounce when read due to the spelling.

I prefer Una, but with that spelling.

Between Oonagh with that spelling and Méabh, I prefer Méabh.

I'm Irish (thought that might be obvious!) But not living there anymore. My own name is much much harder than these! My other children have Irish names which I don't think are too hard and I think these both fall into that category (reason why I'm not considering Aoibheann!)

There where more baby Méabhs than baby Maeves registered in Ireland last year so definitely disagree on this point. All the Méabh I know spell it like this.

I think Méabh is very classic, Oonagh/Una is definitely not fashionable but due a come back, I think it's classic too

not generally a fan of angelized spellings. One of my son does have an angelized spelling but it's more popular than the Irish spelling in Ireland, and the Irish version of his name can have some pronunciation difficulties.

English people just have to cope with teh fact that names from other cultures exist and they might not be immediately familiar with them 🙄

Surely Oonagh is an anglicisation?

I live in the UK and have an Irish name that I often need to spell and pronounce for people (Eimear). It's not a massive deal but it does get boring. So not everyone suggesting you go for the more common spelling is speaking from a place of ignorance.

Oonagh - I love this!
(Ignore the narrow minded English spelling obsessives...)

Both are quite nice really. I don't know about the specifics of spelling. I prefer Uma to Una/Oonagh by a long way. Of the two, I would go for Maeve, and personally I would spell it like that because I really like the look of the ae together. It's got a soft, hazy look to it - Meabh looks harder.

Méabh looks like Miaow to me with my pedantic Irish head on. But I read Siobhán as Shuwan. It's a Donegal thing. Really not sure how Méabh is said in Donegal. In my very far Southern family where it ought to be "Maeve" it's always "May".
It's a lovely name, it makes me think of Parma violets, probably my Great-Aunty May's perfume.

For those of us with Irish names, are we never supposed to leave Ireland lest we scare the English speakers?

You can loveisan, but try to change your name to something the English(-only) speakers can cope with, if you do.

Is Una not the Irish spelling? I know an Una who is Irish and an Oonagh who is from New Zealand.

The Una from Ireland me that Una is the original spelling and Oona/Oonagh an anglicisation.

Méabh looks like Miaow to me with my pedantic Irish head on.
You're not wrong SeanChailleach. Some Irish speakers do say it like that, depending on dialect. I'd say most Irish people say it with the 'v' sound though. I've never heard it said as May and I'm fairly far south myself.

I think I prefer it to Oonagh, OP (and I'd agree that is an anglicised spelling).Though I prefer the Irish spelling Úna, I do remember a classmate being teased about Úna gan gúna! Though that probably wouldn't be a problem outside Ireland anyway.

forvo.com/word/meadhbh/

Úna gan gúna

I'm wracking my brains for another Irish word that ends in úna but all I can come up with is Ros Ns Rún.

I'm no gaeilgeoir!

@CaffiSaliMali

Is Una not the Irish spelling? I know an Una who is Irish and an Oonagh who is from New Zealand.

The Una from Ireland me that Una is the original spelling and Oona/Oonagh an anglicisation.

she's right. an oo sound in Irish comes from ú rather than oo.

Oonagh/Una is definitely not fashionable but due a come back

Due a comeback? Along with Eithne, Brigid, Sile and Beibhinn maybe?

Like both but prefer Oona and Maeve

Oona was on our shortlist

I really like Maeve (although it auto corrected to Marge!)

Oonagh/Una is definitely not fashionable but due a come back

Due a comeback? Along with Eithne, Brigid, Sile and Beibhinn maybe?

Would happily see a comeback of these names

The Maeve one. Oonagh looks awful. I've never understood why people add a random "gh" to names that never had it. Rosannagh is one I came across recently! Or Sheilagh. Why? It looks like an exclamation "aaarrggghhh".

I love Oona spelled this way.