Aine or Grainne

[Greendaisydays]

Aine (Awn-ya)
Grainne (Grawn-ya)

Or should we play safe now we are in England
Selene
Xanthe
Elowen
Elodie

Or what are people’s favourites. I would quite like nature or Celtic names

Maybe because
(1) You underestimate the general stupidity of the people you live among.
(2) Ditto the rudeness.
(3) The name reflects your heritage, something that is important to you.

@Roonerspismed

I never understand giving a child this kind of name in England as you spend your entire life correcting people and explaining your name. Why would you do that?

I met a little Aine recently and it is a gorgeous name but I could tell in the room no one has a clue about her name.

Anyway if the principle of this doesn’t bother you then why not to for the name beginning with “c” - sorry I can’t spell it - as it makes no odds really if you prefer that name as the child will have to spell her name out regardlesss

I kind of agree here. If you are planning on staying in England think they aren't the best choices. I would have no idea how to properly pronounce either of those names. To me they read like 'pain' without the P and grain as in grain of rice.

The Irish spellings and names are fine, even in England. People will learn, if they really don’t know. Foreign names were extremely common in my DC school, so completely normal to know that some letters are pronounced differently in different languages. Would people make such a fuss over Jorge?

I'm in the uk and have a Niamh, even though it's an extremely well known and popular name she still gets all sorts of odd spellings and pronunciations 🤪
I love maeve, caoimhe and aoife oh and orla

I think seeing some of the responses on here makes me think I will go ahead with a name with a traditional spelling. I was given an ‘English’ name and everyone got that wrong anyway. I think if you are a teacher or even just a fellow parent it’s decent and polite to learn a name.

I can’t see anyone daring to say oh no Sandeep sorry can’t say your name mind if we call you James!

Gráinne was the name of a goddess of grain. Imagine how unbelievably wonderful it must have been to have porridge or barley soup, and how mindblowing bread would have been after living on a diet of meat, nuts, roots, fruits and leaves. It's also the word for granite. So, a good name for a tough cookie (ho ho ho!) like Cormac Mac Áirt's daughter, or Gráinne Ní Mháille.

Áine means "delight".

I love the Irish pronunciation but in French 'Aine' (pronounced like the letter 'N') means groin, which rather puts me off! Doesn't necessarily matter except if your future DD develops Francophila and wants to move there.

It's an Irish name, very widely used and popular, not an 'Irish pronunciation' of something else, and it has the initial capital and the fada to distinguish it from aine.

The French managed my Irish name and the names of friends perfectly fine during French exchanges in my youth.

I'm well aware it's a popular Irish name. And why would the French not manage Irish names in general? It was the particular meaning of 'aine' in French that I was highlighting, not that it's some unpronounceable Irish name! As such with the best will in the world it might well raise an eyebrow in a francophone country. If you're an international kind of family you might well want to know such things.

I once knew a woman who moved to Thailand and had a name which means 'pubic hair' in Thai. Luckily everyone was much too polite to mention it, so she never found out, but I they certainly laughed about it in private.

Rogue 'I' there. I didn't laugh about it. It was certainly bloody unfortunate though!

I love Caoimhe but dp said he’d never be able to spell it

Sorry to be ignorant - how do you pronounce it?

I remember name spellings like this but repeating the vowels. Surely he would pick it up?!

Caoimhe would sound like Keeva to English ears.
The mh isn't actually a v, it's an m with your lips not quite touching. Sometimes it comes out sounding like v, w or f.
The aoi is always the same sound as ee in English, but the m makes it nasal.