Orlagh Orla Orlaith

[Maraa]

Which spelling does everyone prefer?

We have Irish heritage, but live in London so not sure whether the more traditional Irish spellings would work here or whether we would be constantly correcting the name?

Open to any suggestions as well at this point. Less than a week to due date and I am still not decided

Orla is lovely and people in the UK may be familiar with it already through Orla Kiely and Orla Guerin for example

Orla.

Orla

Orla

Orla.

Orlaith: the -ith is superfluous.

Orlagh: the -gh is ugly as hell.

Orla
It’s quite popular in the UK and other spellings will be a pain

If you're in the UK - Orla

If you're in Ireland - Orla

Orla isn't an anglicisation.

Orlagh is made up nonsense.

Orla

Orlagh- just looks wrong
Orlaith - makes me think it should be Or-laith

I am Orlaith. I was Órflaith in school as I went to a Gaelscoil. If living oversees I would go for easiest version to pronounce as even Irish mispronounce my name on occasion.

The spelling is relevant to the meaning of the name. It means golden princess. Ór translates to gold and fhlaith to Princess.

Hmmm I we named our daughter an Irish name Irish spelling - over here in the uk (we are both Irish)

I actually really don’t care at all that people don’t always know how to say her name when they see it written down - you tell someone once and then they know for next time!

plus there’s nobody we have met so far with a baby of the same name!!

I think I might use Orla in London, but Órla or Órlaith in Ireland. There is a fada on the letter o when spelt correctly. The fada chages the pronunciation, but it's often left out and the name pronounced as if it were there. The same happens with Sean (correctly Seán) and other names.

As a pp mentioned, it's easier (for Irish speakers) to see the meaning of the name when one of the older spellings - Órlaith, or, older still, Órfhlaith - are used. Órla is the more modern Irish spelling of the name.

Orlagh is a sort of made-up Irishy spelling, not an Irish language spelling, though it is sometimes used.

The name does sound quite different when said in Irish and English accents, as Irish accents are rhotic (so the r in Órla is pronounced) while most English accents are non-rhotic.

This was my worry, I’ve already had one person point out the letters spell Oral

@calmrood

I'm Irish and lived in London and had a child in my class called Orla. Imo it's not nice in an English accent- sorry. It's pronounced Or-La, the R sound is really important. When it's pronounced with a different accent it just sounds like Ola or Awla, which obviously have a very different and non- Irish sound.

If you do want use it though I'd keep it simple and use Orla.

This! I’m Irish and my husband is English and he just can’t pronounce it properly.

If you are going to use it then Orla would be the best spelling as you won’t have to explain how to pronounce it but it will still be pronounced incorrectly due to the English accent.

Orla is a lovely name. I'm Irish in Ireland and all the ones I know spell it as Orla. As much as I love Irish names I wouldn't see a need to complicate this one!

I have an Orla (in Warwickshire). It’s easy, phonetic, doesn’t take any explaining and is cheaper when paying for personalised things by the letter

We do get the odd ‘Oral’ on auto correct but once you’ve written it a few times it remembers so isn’t really a problem anymore (apart from MIL who doesn’t proof read)

I teach a teenage Órlaith in England and she has started spelling it Orla on all of her written work.

I'd just go with Orla. I do know Orlaith is the same name but my head won't accept it and I read it as Or- layth every time.

The general public is surprising thick. Keep it as simple as possible - no unnecessary complications.

@Maraa

This was my worry, I’ve already had one person point out the letters spell Oral

It's a reasonably popular name here and I've generally known one or 2 my whole life. I'd never made the oral connection until this thread

Nice name but I agree non rhotic speakers will fuck it up, unless the correct introduction by studio news presenters of Orla Guerin in the field has "trained" enough of the population.