Eilidh

[missponike]

I am not Scottish. I grew up in England and am from English heritage.
However. I had a best childhood friend called Eilidh. Pronounced Aylee.
I'm due to have a baby and have always loved the name. It was what I called my childhood dolly too!
Would it be too weird to use that name now?

@NewName24 thank you. I'm not sure why that happened!

@AmelieTaylor 🤣 I definitely hear you on that. I don't want to make her life hell at all! Hence why I started the thread to ask.
I am from Scottish heritage from way, way back but obviously that's not valid now! It's just a name that I love. Same way I knew someone who called their son Jacques but they weren't French. At the time I thought it was silly and I can see that for myself now!

I think the anglicised version is Helen.

@kitsuneghost oh really? I don't like Helen at all!

Yes it is the Scottish version of Helen. When DD was 5 her TA at school couldn't pronounce Eilidh and eventually DD said 'why don't you just call me Helen, it's easier' 🤣having said that she loves her name and most Scottish people are ok with it

It’s a lovely bake. I know one in her 50’s

You can also spell it Ailie - we have one in our family (Scottish)

I'm Scottish and know a fair amount of Eilidhs. I do also know a girl with a Scottish dad and English mum whose daughter is Ailie, if that might be acceptable?

I absolutely love it. Would definitely have been my girl name. I have a Ruaridh so couldn't use it now, he is 4 and can happily spell and pronounce his name and quite happily corrects those who call him Rudy. Admittedly I am Scottish but never known anyone to struggle with Eilidh, its pretty commonplace. I actually know a girl with a less complicated spelling but to me that's harder because you never know if they are Aellie or Ahllie.

I know a few Eilidh’s, I think it’s common enough that most people know how to pronounce it. I’d use it. It’s a lovely name

Eilidh is much more common here in Scotland than it was years ago (outwith the Gaelic speaking areas) so may become more well known in England. As someone who grew up having to tell people how to pronounce Eilidh, I would say it's not really that big a deal.

If you want something similar that has a more obvious pronunciation, you could go with Ailie, but it's not a different way to spell Eilidh, it's a completely different name, albeit pronounced the same.