Help us decide please

[Baby2Sep22]

Due date next week and still haven’t decided on a girls name. One Irish parent, one English - currently living in England.

Shortlist
Aoife
Orla
Ailbhe
Saoirse
Nora
Ada

Ideally I would like to use an Irish name

can’t use Maeve/Niamh/Sadhbh

surname is one syllable beginning with “k”

Thank you!
I love Nora but dh unconvinced!

other favourites are Orla (worried about popularity) and Aoife/Saoirse...will the spelling be too tricky?!

@Baby2Sep22 , Aoife and Saoirse are fairly well-known names outside Ireland but they'll get misspelt a lot. If you do a search on here on either name, you'll find some first-hand accounts.

Aoife will get spelt as Efa or Aiofe etc.
Saoirse will get spelt as Saiorse etc and pronounced as Suh-shuh or Sair-shuh etc, if that's an issue for you.

Aoife
Orla
Ada
… in that order, are my favourites!

i would use Aoife in a heartbeat but unfortunately i’m worried others wouldn’t know how to pronounce/spell it (we’re in England)

Aoife. I have a lovely friend called Aoife 💙

Aoife - it's very pretty but I know quite a few girls named this from Ireland so it must be crazy common there. They are all in their 30s and 20s. I know how to say it but I guess some people won't. In any case I think even though it's gorgeous she will spend her life explaining that she is not Eva or Ava or Eve.
Orla - it's okay, it makes me think of the character on Derry Girls.
Ailbhe - I'm not a huge fan, I find Aoife to me more beautiful.
Saoirse - not a huge fan. It's okay. The sound doesn't really appeal to me.
Nora - this is cute but getting popular.
Ada - same as Nora.

I would pick Aoife, Ada or Nora.

I have an Irish friend called Saorlaith and I find it very pretty and nicer than Saoirse. You could spell it Saorla for a simpler look.

yep I agree Nora is awful reminds me of bloody Nora, Nora batty and nitty Nora, I prefer Aoife

I think Saoirse is absolutely beautiful, but I couldn't really use it as no Irish connections. Not the case for you, obviously! It's the 'sh' sound I think that makes it sound so pretty, nice meaning too (freedom?)

I also like Aoife quite a bit. Not so keen on Orla, I just find the sound of it a bit dull.

Nora is quite nice

Aoife or Nora

Aoife meh
Orla love
Ailbhe yes
Saoirse
Nora no
Ada no

suggestions
finnuala
nuala
alanah
Fiona
Darcy
or being irish I can recommend more close to home and actually used here

Marie
Maria
May
Mary-Anne
Mollie
Bridgit
Claire
Rebecca
Enya (yes the most common spelling here now)
bronagh
bernadette
madgalene
Francis (Frannie)

@marblemad , Francis is a boy's name. The girl's name is Frances.
I like many of your suggestions.

My sister and aunt both have Francis names

From your list I'd go with Aoife. I think Saoirse is too hard here sadly. I thought about it myself but English DH massively struggled with that and Caoimhe.

What about Fiadh?

Saoirse and Caoimhe are my two favourites and I've chosen Saoirse for if I manage to have a girl. I know a few people will frown and get confused and not know how to say it the first time, but to me that's not a big deal, and the more of us who choose it, the more people will have heard of it!

I worked with a Dearbhla, which personally I think isn't nice to read, and even worse because the poor woman had to constantly explain it's "der-vla", but Saoirse isn't nearly so harsh to our English ears, I think it's lovely.

In terms of Saoirse...how do people pronounce it? I seem to be coming across two pronunciations and wondering which is most common:
Seer-sha or Sue-sha?

Sorry that should say Sur-sha!

Seer-sha.
A lot of English accents (non-rhotic) wouldn't pronounce the r in this position though. Same sort of thing happens with Orla, Cormac, Lorcan.

Sorry, just read your update!

Still Seersha.
Saoirse Ronan has confused people 😁

Orla ❤️

Please don’t give her a name that she will spend a lifetime correcting how you say and spell it.

I vote Orla. But lm biased as that’s one of my choices -l just need to get my fiancé to see it my way!

@DuchessOfSausage surely that depends on people’s accents? The 2nd half of Orla in my accent is lah

I have an Aoife she is 18. Yes people misspell her name but she rolls her eyes and corrects them (never had it spelled efa they forget the o or mix the vovels up add in and i)

I still think ita a gorgeous name.

Also like Caoimhe

Tapped send too fast

Also like Caoimhe. And Fiadh from your list. Love Saoirse. Nora is ok. I dislike Orla. Don't get the love for it here i suspect because I grew up with it as a boys name. (Scandinavian)

I like Aoife or Orla the best. Ciara could also be an option, it's of Irish origin and I think it sounds really nice.

Orla

Not Nora

Orla is lovely!

Ùna is another beautiful irish name too