Is this spelling really cruel on a poor child?

[bohemianbint]

(who doesn't speak Irish?)

Name of today* (for a girl) is Meadhbh - pronounced Mayv.

I had a friend with that name and thought it was lovely but I dunno whether it would be a nightmare at the learning to write your own name stage trying to explain how that spells mayv?

What dya think?

*should point out that name preferences change day to day and that I have no idea what sex I'm expecting so this is all hypothetical really!

Grainne is indeed a lovely name but many, many people will not know how to pronounce it.

pmsl @ killed by a piece of cheese!

I worked with a girl called Djanna (I think her father had been Hungarian) but she had to alter the spelling to Deanna since people used to ring up and ask for Dee-janna.

Give your baby the name you love but be prepared for it to be spelt wrong most of the time. Also, if they're taught practice to spelling their names by the letter sounds, this will also trip her up - my dd's name was useless in this respect since it starts with a P but is pronounced with an F sound .

How do you prounounce Grainne?

Gray-in?

I think it's gron-ya bwm

It is pronounced graun-ya.

I just had to post on this thread as my posting name is Meabh!!!!!

I like the cheese connotations

Well you'll be pleased to know that Meadhbhbhdbdbh is no longer name of the day.

Dunno what is.

I've got a Scandinavian name that noone could get their heads round when I was a kid, and DP + the kids have a 4 syllable Welsh name that no one can cope with either so whatever happens, my poor children are screwed. I think it's good for people to have to broaden their horizons a bit TBH but that spelling might be a shade too far.

Back to the drawing board anyway, until I do a u-turn and come back to it!

Talking of registers and teacher pronunciations of unusual names, DH knew of a child who swore his name was Goo-ey. The parents agreed.... then wrote it down to prove it. It was GUY.

LOL @ Goo-ey!

It would be a bit of a nightmare for the kid! However, if you're going to call your child a name like this, I do think it's better to use the correct spelling, even if it's complicated. Far nicer than just changing the spelling to make it phonically correct.

There are lots of ways to spell Meadhbh though alfiesbabe. Maeve is pretty standard, so it would make sense to use that if the child will be growing up in England and won't speak any Irish.

LOL @ Mavis - that's not the same name at all

i am a caitlin (ive said it loads on here so no point being coy now) and my cousin is a Grainne (pron. gron-ya btw). we both grew up in the uk, and both had to spell it out for everyone etc.

unlike most people on here, i didnt dislike having to do that at all. i thought it made me special to be the only one. theres loads of caitlins about these days and i liked it at first... but

well anyway, having a name most people wont spall correctly right away is not the awful thing most peop[le seem to think. just to balance the pov

niamph? or however its spelt is nice... pr. neeve.

btw is your ds jochim? was on our shortlis too

I remember a girl at school called Roisin and it always used to annoy her when the teacher had to stop and sit looking at her name for a minute before calling her raisin (but replacing the a with an o)

I also knew an Irish lady who wanted to name her DD Saoirse (hope I spelt that right!) but because they lived in England and her DH was English, they spelt it Sorcha.

But BoysOnToast, do you pronounce your name Katelyn or Cotchleen?

Because only the second one is the correct Irish pronunciation. And most people don't like it too much

Katelyn is pretty much the equivalent of Royzin instead of Roesheen

Bohemianbint, being Scandinavian, I look at Meadhbh and I my gut reaction is that this is a computer that has by mistake added a few random letters to MEAD. And I would pronounce the name thus.

Maeve is lovely though.

I suspect I would have an easier time with your sons name. Not in the least bit curious....

ski, mine is the cop out english pron (actusally its the welsh translation, and the name of dylan thomas' wife donchaknow) but i like the cochleen version too.
i had a book of irish fairy tales as a child and the giver had written the real full spelling of caighleen or however it goes... i loved it!

my dad wanted to call me fionnoula. finn or noula for short.

BoysOnToast - well caitlin when pronounced properly in Irish actually is really beautiful, I agree , but you'd do well to find people who'd manage it even in Ireland.

Prob better off with the Dylan Thomas version. And no I didn't know it was any kind of translation. I assumed it was just sounding out the words in English rather than in Irish.

God I hate the name Nuala (or Noula). Lucky escape Fionnuala shortened to Finn would be OK though.

My cousin is a Niamh and she grew up mainly England and always has to spell her name. I think she liked her name but found the spelling a pain. She's used Irish names for some of her DCs but I notice she has chosen ones where the spelling makes sense in English.

i knew 3 sisters called meadbh, niamph and naula... i love all those names!

tho yes, i appreciate that i 'got off lightly' with a name that makes sense in english spelling... not that v many people at all ever got it right - quite surprising really. even teachers have been known to get i wrong!

I would go with Maeve as well, particularly after humiliating myself with an Irish friend whose little bro is called Eoin. Me: "Owen? I thought it was pronounced Ian!" Oops. Anyway, it does sound unnecessarily hassle-ish for a child in the UK.

Am wondering (although you don't need to say) what the Scando name was that no-one can get their heads around. I used to live in Sweden and worked with various girls with names like Åse, is that what you had in mind? I did know one girl with the surname Aas as well. Fortunately her first name was not Åse

shes gone off meave already anyway, trib

Cheers - I really like Mhairi (Vari) so I have a vested interest.

This name will ensure she moves to Ireland to live