Aoife or Orla

[Baby2Sep22]

not long to go and we need to decide between

Aoife Lily
or
Orla ... (please suggest middle names)

Lily is a family name but I don’t think it goes with Orla and their are no other family names we would want to use.

Oh should add - living in the UK!

the late Queen who has just recently passed*

Named after the glen and loch - a beautiful area, we had lots of family walks up there. Not to be confused with Lock Mooick.

Love both and I don’t think there will be an issue with pronunciation once you’ve correctly pronounced it for people.

I have always loved Orla, I’d go Orla Rose, Orla Mairead, Orla Imelda ( might be too much “A”), I always liked it with my Irish maiden name but wouldn’t go well with my married name. I also like Orla Jane even if it’s a very plain name.

I prefer orla.
Aoife is just so over used. It's like the new Mary.

Oh, nice

😃
do you think Kate liked the name but wasn’t allowed to use it for her daughter as it was considered too Irish ?!

I think the name Aoife Lily is beautiful

Aoife Lily is very pretty! Only problem is that there will be many Eves and Evas which are similar.

Orla is a bit old fashioned and even though I love the meaning it reminds me too much of Derry Girls. The Orla on the show was likable but kind of odd as well.

I don't know if this is true but I remember reading a few years back that "orla" means something quite unfortunate in Irish and it needs to be spelt Órla in order to be a name and not an Irish word with a bad meaning. I don't speak Irish but I would google this and if it is true I would use Órla instead.

Love both of them. Aoife was going to be DD's name but we went for Erin instead as the Irish link in DH's family is via grandparents so felt a bit far back to use Aoife.

I've got Orla or Maeve earmarked for baby #2 if they turn out to be another girl.

Of the two, if Aoife works with surnames and circumstances, I'd go for it :)

Orla probably because while it’s popular, Aoife sounds very like all the Eve/Eva names that have been done to death.

You wouldn’t consider Oona? I like it better than either Orla and Aoife and it’s much less common

It's just different accents and ease of pronouncing various sounds. We hear a lot on MN of English people supposedly ""strangling" the pronunciation of Irish names but you should hear how some of my Irish friends living in England pronounce some English names. Especially if there is a TH in it like my son's name. Do I care? No, it adds a bit of charm to it.

Aoife 😊 Orla is nice too but is used a lot now

Thank you everyone. Really not a fan of Oona.

I’m so undecided still - might have to see what she looks like!

I think Orla is becoming more popular but we still don’t know any young ones near us. I love Aoife but just worry she’ll find it tricky as she grows up!

I like Orla, but every other Orla will be Orla Rose as it’s really overused as a middle name (along with Grace/May).

I love both names.

Unfortunately, in most of the UK you'd be between a rock and a hard place in that people will be able to spell Orla but not pronounce it correctly (aw-luh isn't nice) and pronounce Aoife tolerably well but not spell it.

(Spoken as an English person living in Ireland who struggles to get the 'r' sound right as I don't have a rhotic accent)

Love Orla , Aoife sounds calf or cow like to me . I agree Orla Lily doesn’t go , too many L sounds.

Not helpful at all, but one of mine was nearly Orla. We both love it. But we couldn't use it in the end because DH and I have different pronunciations (we're both Irish) 🤣🤣

I have an Aoife. She is 18 not that bothered when people can't spell her name (apart from 1 teacher who after 2 years still could not spell it) has some fun w it.

I don't personally like Orla. I find it quite ugly and in Scandinavia whetr I gree up its a boys name and I can't get pass that

Orla Marie?

If you like Orla and Aoife but they don’t feel right when the baby comes, have you thought of Ciara? It looks pretty much like it sounds and isn’t very hard to pronounce.Or Tara.

Love Ciara but unfortunately it doesn’t work with our surname

How about Maeve?

Orla Roisin is nice too.

I love orla. When I googled the name lilly it said it was from elizabeth and I think Orla Elizabeth goes nicely

I agree that it depends where you are. It really grates on me when I hear Awla or Oarla.

What's wrong with Oarla @Laurelshell?
That's how I say the name (Irish).

Oarla is how my Irish friend pronounces it how is meant to be pronounced?