Aoibhinn

[suzettenoisette]

How is Aoibhinn pronounced correctly?

I think it looks very pretty.

We are not considering it as DD will be Eva Marie, just curious.

All these comments about pronunciation being wrong, are themselves wrong!

I agree names have become mangled & often breaking linguistic rules but many of these names have evolved pronunciation due to local practice & dialogue. It's not a new thing!

Almost all Aoibhinns I've known, as an Irish speaker, have been 'Ay-veen' and I'm 46

This^^

I'm from Ulster and this would be how I would say it. Just mentioning as there are regional variations in Ireland

Similarly 'Caoimhe' in Dublin is often 'Keeva' which I hate, as I'd always pronounce with a soft C eg 'qui' but it's absolutely standard here.

Nope. It's pronounced qweeva in Dublin. In Donegal they often go for the keeva pronunciation.

You're entitled to think that. But I bet if a UK poster picked an Irish name, say Aoife for example, and said 'but we plan to pronounce it yuffy' you wouldn't say people were dicks for correcting them.

Allso, whether keeva or qweeva both pronunciations are pronouncing the aoi sound correctly. If people were pronouncing it as Kayva that would be an equivalent to this ay-veen thing.

This thread has convinced me that there is no wrong or right way to pronounce a name. Regardless of traditional spelling or not etc.

My dad has stories about this from the 1980s and his job then, actually.

But it is wrong!

The letters do not make those sounds in Irish. If we were talking about English names and someone said that it’s not wrong to pronounce Emily as Amelia you wouldn’t just accept it as an alternative pronunciation.

Aoibhinn is pronounced Ayveen in the part of Leinster where I am. It's not a big stretch though just to soften the Ay to an Ee and it's closer to Eeveen though. Not really a big deal. Beautiful name.

Err, I live in Dublin!

Absolutely the 'Keeva' pronunciation is ubiquitous.

I'm originally from Munster so this grates.

Please stop telling posters that they don't know what they hear with their own ears!

Aoife for example, and said 'but we plan to pronounce it yuffy' you wouldn't say people were dicks for correcting them.

Totally different.

There are ways in which names are legitimately pronounced in Ireland that don't align to strict 'rules'.

Take 'Donal' or 'Orla'. These are often used without a fada, but still pronounced as of they had one. They're not 'wrong' for that.

Well if we're playing Top Trumps, I'm from Dublin. Knew a lot of Dublin Caoimhes growing up, all of them qweeva.

The Irish language is absolutely fascinating. Seems like lots of people are not willing to budge on their version being the correct one though, which is weird because loads of names and words are said differently depending on region in most languages.

I've never met an Aoibhinn so have nothing to add other than it's beautiful written down and I think all of the mentioned pronunciations are equally lovely. Would opt for Ee-veen if it were my name.

The letters do not make those sounds in Irish.

There are times where this matters, absolutely. I speak Irish, not as fluently as I once did, but require it for part of my work. So I get the significance.

The way in which Irish names have evolved and are used is generations old at this point - it's not some eejits not knowing how a name is pronounced! My own mother's name, given to her by Gaelgoir parents, doesn't obey the rules in Irish (leathan le leathan etc) but was a typical spelling of the time (50s) - it's an unusual name & I remember my Grandma (native Irish speaker) showing me it in a text. My mum actually changed the spelling to a more 'correct' version.

The reasons for this are multi-faceted & probably not of much interest to everyone here! But include the near death of Irish overall post-Famine, before it's revival in the 1900s as part of nationalism. That essentially led to non-Irish speakers having to re-learn the language, and some elements of Anglicisation were naturally at play.

It's really not a b&w issue of being 'wrong'.

Grand. Don't doubt you.

I'm still saying that in my experience of 3 or so decades living & working all over Dublin that I hear 'Keeva' used a lot.

🤷🏻‍♀️

That is interesting!

Yes I agree with all of that, but it explains why many in Ireland pronounce it incorrectly, it doesn’t magically make their pronunciation correct.

Irish people ime get very annoyed with the English mangling their names so it’s a tad hypocritical to suggest that it’s fine to mangle it if it’s an Irish person doing it.

Irish people ime get very annoyed with the English mangling their names so it’s a tad hypocritical to suggest that it’s fine to mangle it if it’s an Irish person doing it.

Is there a risk of stigmatising good ancient pronunciations because they don't fit with the modern spelling?

I would pronounce that Eevin but know many Ay-veens (Dublin)
I also pronounce naoi, nee.
Probably like a lot of us I had teachers with different dialects nearly every year in primary school so my gaeilge is a complete mish mash! Fun times when helping dc with obair bhaile

English mum of half Irish children here. The DC all have Irish first names, the Irish relatives all seem to pronounce them differently 🤣

If people want to pronounce it Ayveen they should spell it differently. Not sure what would work - maybe Éabhín?

Or Eabhaoin? (Similar to Eadaoin - another name where “aoi” = ee)

It's definitely "Ee-veen" in all dialects, but many people seemed to have adopted "Aoibhinn" and are pronouncing it as "A-veen" (the latter which should be Aibhinn) but "Aoibh" is always "E-ve" in all Irish dialects.

There were nuns in our school who always called an "Aibhinn" > "E-veen" and it drove her mad.

My friend's DD is Aoife Marie. Pronounced Eefa.

I’d probably avoid this name.

Now I'm sort of starting to like ay-veen :)

Just curious, if I wanted to spell ay-veen in Irish, what would be a way to do so?

Someone here said Eabhaoin, would that work? Or Aibhinn?