Niamh or Nola?

[Amdal1]

Which do you like better? The middle name will be Lisa for sentimental reasons.

We like both but I’m concerned that Niamh is quite common now but on the other hand Nola may be too unusual!

Thanks for the help!

They're very different styles of name, OP -- or are you thinking of Nuala, rather than Nola? (Unless Nola is a traditional name in Scotland...?)

I prefer Niamh to either Nola or Nuala, personally. Nola either reminds me of New Orleans, or the female lead played by Scarlett Johanssen in one of Woody Allen's worst films.

Definitely not Nola Lisa.

Niamh is lovely and sounds much better with Lisa.

Both gorgeous names, but I think Nola is more beautiful.

I like both names.

I’ve always loved the name Niamh (and surely most people can pronounce the name, it’s hardly unheard of?). Nola I like a lot and normally I think middle names are irrelevant ..l still kind of do in this case too because Nola Lisa, as much as it sounds pretty bad, it won’t be sad 99% of the time… but it would give me pause.

Niamh is a great name. I don’t like Nola.

I love Niamh as a relatively unusual “Eve”name which are obviously otherwise very common.

Niamh is an awful name, I’m sorry. Horrendous spelling and no one in the world except Irish and English can ever pronounce it. It took me 3 years to learn how to pronounce it.
Nola - very nice! But Nola Lisa sounds very bad together I’m afraid.
Marnie - nice but your husband is right, people will confuse it it Barney - so a NO.
If you really want to go for Irish names why not Shannon or Leah

Horrendous spelling. It's Irish, not English, it's totally different.
And if it took you three years to learn to pronounce it you're clearly way outside the norm. The vast majority of normal people learn far quicker.

@GreyhoundG1rl yeh of course it’s Irish, lol I’m in Ireland. I work in finance with Americans and English and 90% are absolutely confused by this name. It’s prob the number 1 most aweful name. It’s spelled nothing like it’s pronounced. None of my American colleagues can pronounce it despite us constantly saying the name over the phone. Some English colleagues would pronounce it properly but vast majority is like “what the hell”

Let alone Israeli and European clients… they don’t even know where to begin with this name… they are utterly confused.

@Elisemum It’s spelt exactly how it’s pronounced… in Irish. How can it possibly take 3 years to learn how to pronounce a simple word? Also, Leah is a Hebrew name.

I love the name Nola, it was in a book I read recently. It doesn't sound right with Lisa, maybe add in a third name to make it flow ?

It’s spelled nothing like it’s pronounced.
In English, no, because it's an Irish name, so that's not surprising Elisemum. The sounds in the name exist in English though, so shouldn't be too difficult to reproduce.
If you're speaking Irish, Niamh is pronounced exactly as it's spelled.

Leah isn't an Irish name btw.

Sorry, cross post, TuftyMarmoset.

Wow, some really harsh and horrible posts here about a very common and well known name, although to be fair this is mumsnet so I shouldn't be surprised!! 😂 😂 😂
I have a Niamh, it only takes once to give the correct pronunciation or spelling but it's very common these days so not normally needed.
However, I don't think either name sounds great with Lisa unfortunately but as middle names are rarely used I don't suppose it matters

How about Lara or Lana or Maeve. My DD’s best friend is called Niamh and we call her Nim .

She is lovely as is her name.

I work in finance with Americans and English and 90% are absolutely confused by this name
You appear to be surrounded by thick as a brick muppets. Poor you

Horrendous spelling and no one in the world except Irish and English can ever pronounce it. It took me 3 years to learn how to pronounce it.

How on Earth did it take you 3 years to learn to pronounce it?

I had a Hungarian client whose name was Judith - pronounced yoo-dit

You only need to hear it once to know how to pronounce it...

Wow that became more heated than I expected 😆! I suppose you can’t please everyone, but I’m pretty sure Niamh wouldn’t be classed as the number 1 most awful name in the world 🤨. Gaelic names like Eilidh, Ruaridh and Mhairi are very popular here so there won’t be an issue with spelling, unless she moves to America or Israel that is!

I agree Nola doesn’t sound right with Lisa though, but Lisa was the name of my best friend who passed away a couple of years ago so I really want it there. Like Stevearnottsbeard said, middle names aren’t used very much anyway so it’s more for sentimental reasons.

Welldarn I love Maeve but unfortunately a friend who is due a few weeks before me has chosen the name already!

@Codswallop20

I absolutely hate the name Niamh. Is stepdaughters name, and I love her to bits but it's never a name you can buy on a badge or a hairband and no one can pronounce it properly. It's a big fat no from me

@Codswallop20 I don't know where you live but Niamh is back on souveniers and Christmas Dec's where I am. I think it just depends where names fall on the most popular each year. I have a Niamh and when she was very little I could get stuff, then not in recent years. But it's back.

I love the name Niamh BTW

Wow that became more heated than I expected 😆

It really did. Who would have expected people to have such visceral reactions to a name of someone else on the internet’s child

Niamh

Nola just sounds naff to me, like Brenda.

Niamh is a lovely name

Niamh is a beautiful name OP, I say go for it. it definitely shouldn’t take 3 years to learn how to say it@Elisemum

Elisemum sounds unhinged