Aoife?

[Mummy2beexx]

Expecting baby 2 this June and she is a girl :)

We already have Finn our DS, our surname is Irish due to DH’s family being Irish so we like picking Irish names to go with our surname and because I love a lot of them!

My only worry is people will constantly ask our DD (if we name her this) how to spell or pronounce her name? We live in the north of UK, not Ireland

DH assured me it’s becoming more popular so everyone by the time she gets to school will know of it and not to worry but of course it’s just on my mind!

Do any of you have an Aoife? Does she get badgered with pronunciation and spelling questions?

I really love the name it’s beautiful so I don’t think I’ll let this get in the way but it’ll be reassuring if a lot of people say that it’s quite known now

I have an Aoife and I'm surprised how often people don't know how to pronounce it. It's not a problem though, once you tell them once they know generally.

It's a lovely name. There's one in my daughter's year 1 class and none of the kids have any problems pronouncing or spelling it. Phoebe (for example) is just as tricky for the kids.

@FieryPitOfMordor

Globally, people will have not a clue

Isn’t that the case for most names, though?

Not really. Most English language names are phonetic or near to. Anyone who can speak English can have a good go at them. Aoife is not pronounced phonetically in English

Why should everyone be named for the benefit of the English speaking world.
How boring.

English isn't even phonetic a lot of the time. Geoffrey isn't exactly obvious.

Aoife was my first choice as a child’s name.
I didn’t use it as I wasn’t living in Ireland at the time and my friend Niamh had wanted to commit murder over being called a thousand names other than her own.
I wish I’d gone with Aoife now!

I've never heard of it and had no clue how to pronounce it from the spelling 😬 I had to ask google to say it out loud for me 😂

What a comment.

A beautiful name and lovely to recognise your child’s Irish roots

Lovely name I'm Irish and most families have an Aoife,very popular. Niamh maybe not as much so?

I think it will be a bit annoying in the UK, but it’s popular enough.

I would be put off by the fact it will blur with all the Eve/Eva/Evelyn/Avas - there seem to be half a dozen in every class and it sounds so similar

@dumdumduuuummmmm it would be strange that Aoife would be spelt correct using the phonics of the English language. It's an Irish name from the Irish language. It's the same as saying a Spanish name wouldn't be pronounced correctly when sounded out in English.

there’s only around 30 babies a year called Aoife in Scotland, so it’s not massively popular, which could cause issues with pronounciation.

As you are in the north of Scotland, it might not be so much of an issue.

[quote willieversleep]@dumdumduuuummmmm it would be strange that Aoife would be spelt correct using the phonics of the English language. It's an Irish name from the Irish language. It's the same as saying a Spanish name wouldn't be pronounced correctly when sounded out in English. [/quote]
👏👏

@RussianSpy101
www.forvo.com/word/caoimhe/

I have seen it written down but have never known how to pronounce it. But I will never forget it now as I have a cat called Ceefa

I love Aoife

People probably will ask how to spell/pronounce it if they haven’t come across it before but it’s simple enough once told

If I had another baby girl I'd call her Aoife. Go for it

Yes, it's becoming popular, and only the truly thick will have problems with it after they've been told how to spell and pronounce it.

Globally, people will not have a clue

Poppycock.

I've survived with an Irish name in the US for three decades.

People I went to school with live and work all over the world and amazingly, their Irish names have been no problem.

A lot of the rest of the world has a higher appreciation of all things Irish than the UK has.

@Luredbyapomegranate

I think it will be a bit annoying in the UK, but it’s popular enough.

I would be put off by the fact it will blur with all the Eve/Eva/Evelyn/Avas - there seem to be half a dozen in every class and it sounds so similar

This would be my only concern. Otherwise, a lovely name and I think pretty well known.

I'm Irish so no help for what you need but I think it's a beautiful name. I think once people are told it once they will know how to say it, it's not too hard to say once you hear it people might struggle at 1st if they just see written. It will be misspelt. My name is not hard, but gets misspelt a lot. It doesn't bother me and I don't correct people unless it is an official doc.

It will get continuously mispronounced. I would still use it if I were you as it's beautiful (it was on our list for a DD) but just be prepared that most people on first glance will get it wrong or look puzzled, and it will always get misspelt. On the Mumsnet baby names boards people tend to be more familiar with different names which can be a bit misleading.
I have a Cillian and it is mispronounced 90% of the time on first glance and we live in greater London where you'd expect people to be more familiar with names from different cultures. Even people who have heard the name said multiple times can still get it wrong. I have a friend with a Ruaridh who has the same problem. It is irritating but I still love the name and glad we went with it, we get lots of lovely comments and I love the Irish link.
Don't let it put you off but just be prepared to explain it a lot!

It's a lovely name. There is lots of Irish ancestry in my part of the UK. There are plenty of little Aoife's, Niamh's, Caiomhe's and Aine's. You'd be totally fine where I live!! Anecdotally, my DD has the French/German spelling of her name rather than English and people can spell and pronounce it correctly. Meanwhile no one at work seems to be able to spell my very English name correctly.

Yes but globally people learn English, rarely Irish. So getting to the point of the whole post, if the OP is concerned that people would struggle to pronounce the name, then I'm saying yes, globally they will.

Yes but globally people learn English, rarely Irish. So getting to the point of the whole post, if the OP is concerned that people would struggle to pronounce the name, then I'm saying yes, globally they will.

There seems to be a strong mental block about Irish on the part of some native speakers of English.

Knowledge of English is not a barrier to wrapping your head around learning a third language or even learning a single name in a third language. Non-Irish speakers of English as a second language can hop straight in and accept it on its own terms just as they do with words commonly used by English speakers like pizza or bolognese or lasagna or karaoke or faux pas or zeitgeist.

How do you think Irish people with Irish names manage in the hundreds of countries around the world where Irish people with names like Niamh or Diarmuid or Ciara or Eamon? Half of the generation that graduated from university in the 1980s emigrated. Many of them were bestowed with the Irish names that were fashionable in the 1960s.

My Aoife is 18. People do at times struggle with how to say it but they try and then get corrected and learn. She lived in Denmark for 18 months and said they have no clue so if they read out her name they would place heavy emphasis on her very Danish middlename. again once explained noone had a issue with it.

It does get misspelled dd3 kinda likes that she laughs at it. Her leavers hoodie from secondary school says Ay oh EYE fe. For example.

I think that big thing is. Aoife LIKES. Her name at age 18. She says it's unusual but not unknown and she likes it's not that easy to spell.

I had to laugh at the poster above comparing it with Phoebe. As dd1 is Phoebe and loads cant spell that either and abroad many do not know how to spell it (dh and I have a think for silent "o" 😀)

It's a beautiful name and fits well with Finn. I don t think it's too over used and for me that's great. I dont regret using it i still think its a gorgeous name for a gorgeous girl.