Spelling of an Irish name

[HRSC]

I am due to have my first baby (girl) in August. My husband is Irish and I am British and we live in Portugal (which is where I grew up and where the majority of my family lives).

We have decided to give the baby an Irish name and now we are discussing the spelling of the name. The name we’ve chosen in Niamh which is easy to say in Portuguese but is going to be minefield for anyone to try and read (or spell!).

Do we stick with the traditional Irish spelling and she has an issue whenever anyone tries to read or spell her name or do we go for a different spelling which can be read much more easily by non English speaking people? (Like Neve or Nieve etc)

We are not likely to ever move to Ireland, most likely we will stay in Portugal so this will be something that she will have to deal with for her whole life.

What are your opinions on this? My husband and I can’t decide.

*I have a name that Portuguese people struggle to read and it is a pain when I’m booking a restaurant or at at doctors appointments etc so I often just give my middle name which is more translatable when booking restaurants etc)

Upset?

Nopity-nope!

But it's known that Irish people have and do reinvent Gaelic names.

"Not even the pleasing fashion for Gaelic names marks a return to ‘tradition’; in west Cork children today are more likely to be given ‘re-invented’ or ‘generic’ Irish names like Orla or Ciara or Colm than mainly local ones like Conchubhar or Gobnait."

Cormac Ó Gráda is associate professor of economics at University College Dublin.

Traditional or not, they're still Gaelic names. In English, we have variations of the original name but you wouldn't claim they're not English language names....would you?!

I feel like this is getting a bit out of hand!! As someone said, I haven’t posted again because I’m a bit traumatised by this thread! 😬 didn’t realise I was opening a big can of worms here ! Will not be making that mistake again.

Thanks everyone for your opinions. They have been noted, I will not be returning to this thread now and hopefully it will die out (as I can’t seem to find a way to close it!)

Fine - I was just trying to help.

@knitpicky , they are good names and ones that should work internationally though, unless you want a name that sounds exactly the same.

If my online translator is right, only Nádia sounds the same.

Even worse knitpicky, I tried it on another language ('Sausagese') and Portuguese, and the common names were fine, but the 6 example Sausagese were as follows:
1 boy's name
1 month name not normally used as a name
4 nouns that aren't names (Part, Bird, Time, Money)

so I clicked on the 380 Sausagese Names link, and the first 12 names starting with A are not Sausagese names, and only one looked like an actual name - Adele (which won't work, although Adela would). B wasn't much better.

Scrolled down to names starting with C, and there is an entry that actually would be offensive.

Basically, do not use mixedname.com to find a name in just one language, unless you think your DD will be happy to be called something like Abundance, Arrow, Breast, Dyke, Hustle, Sacrifice, Serpent, Slave, Spawn, State, or Wheel,

Oh, goodness me, the boys' names includes ANTICHRIST!

Others include Farce, Gap, Nut (like wing nut, not hazelnut) and Untrue,

My days of naming babies are long since over, so I don't think there's any risk of it.

I think that’s fair. Also that there are anglicisation errors in Ireland, too, like Aoibheann pronounced ‘Ayveen’, or Sorcha pronounced ‘Sore-shuh’, as well as legit. regional variations in pronunciation in names like Caoimhe.

How does the actress Neve Campbell pronounce her name ?
I always thought she pronounced it Nev, like Bev ?

I am Niamh, pronounced Nee-v.
For simplicity though I tend to tell non Irish speakers that it’s pronounced Neeve.

What I can’t stand is people over emphasising the uv as Nee -OVE.

Use the original spelling of Niamh and use it as a first or second name ..
Carlotta Niamh
Amelie Naimh