Would you find Eira difficult to pronounce?

[Factor50sun]

Hi!

DH and I are on our third and final baby (our third girl 🤦🏼‍♀️🤣)

We both love the name Eira (eye-ra) but I am unsure with how known it is in England? (Where she will be raised)

Would you struggle to pronounce the name?

Would I be saddling her with a life of teachers mispronouncing her name in the register?

There is the possibility of spelling the name Eyra - however that technically is a misspelling of the name, so I am only willing to do so if Eira is very difficult for everyone.

Thank you all in advance!

Not this spelling please!

I pronounced it like a yura sound in my head? But it's beautiful now I know how to say it haha

I’d immediately go for Eye-ra as it was my friend’s step-mum’s name, though I knew her name for years before ever seeing it written down. Spelling it Eyra IMO is far more ambiguous, I’d plump for Ay-ra seeing that.

I read “ei” as “eye” as in Eisenhower so would pronounce it eye-rah.

It’s very pretty.

You know it’s the Welsh word for snow? And definitely always pronounced ey-rah round our way (SW Wales)

I'd guess at Ey-ra, I've no Welsh roots nor know none, it's pretty.

@2ndbestslayer , if that is the case, why is geirfa not spelt gairfa, and why is Meira not Maira?

I know an eira and I say ay-ruh. She's never corrected me so hopefully it's right haha.

Yes! It is also a Welsh name according to my DH (who is Welsh) and pronounces it Eye-Ra.

PP have concluded that it is pronounced differently depending on the part of Wales, so I guess it depends on the area.

I guess all of that is kind of irrelevant anyways considering she’ll be raised in England 🤣

I didn't know how it was pronounced but when I read the thread title, I pronounced it eye-ra in my head, so make of that what you will......

To be honest, most of the time, you are not reading a name and having to work out how to pronounce it, you are told verbally what the name is and simply have to repeat the sound you hear. As someone with children with somewhat uncommon or unusual names (but not hard to pronounce) I found the difficulty came when people, eg school parents, had to write the name. The spellings we used to get!

Eira is the best spelling.
People will easily learn how she pronounces her name.

I know one, but I first assumed she was a boy called Ira (which I do like as a name), and then a girl called... Ira. It is actually only seeing this post that I understand what her name/spelling is!

This. Or they won't be able to pronounce it.

Im forever surprised and disappointed at how people manage to mangle names after being taught how to say them.

I had a great Aunt called Eira. I didn't have a problem pouncing her name and I'm Australia.

She was one of the cleverest, kindest and most welcoming woman I have ever met. Terrifying behind the wheel but some how that made her more fabulous.
Your daughter will of course be her own person she will have a fabulous name.

As a fluent Welsh speaker, I really struggle with the idea that it’s not pronounced the ‘correct’ way, as in the Welsh word for snow- eira! Very hard to replicate in English but definitely nothing like eye-ra.

I’m fully aware that people use the eye-ra pronunciation as a name so you wouldn’t be alone doing this, but I don’t really get why you’d deliberately choose a Welsh word as a name and then pronounce it incorrectly. So for me I wouldn’t use it if you’re not going to pronounce it ‘correctly’ yourself.

I’m aware that not being a Welsh speaker, it would probably bother you far less.

Welsh name pronunciation threads always make me laugh because they always end up with various Welsh speakers arguing over the "correct" pronunciation as though there aren't multiple Welsh accents and regional variations in pronunciation. Add onto that the fact that anyone English is going to pronounce the name in an English accent so it will be different again - that doesn't make it incorrect.

Eira is a lovely name.

I would have guessed more like Era, but it would be fairly easy to be corrected. I am dyslexic and find e.g. the Irish names utterly impossible, but this name would be fine for me.

This is true in my experience. I'm from the north and we'd say EYE-ra, but in the south it's more AY-ra. Lovely name! Very common here these days, so people will become more used to the pronounciation.

Of course there's a correct way of pronouncing things. Yes, there will be regional variations within that, but there is definitely a correct way of saying certain words.
Would you think it was correct if someone pronounced rain as rah-een or storm as suh-too-rem?
Honestly, please respect minoritised languages as you would your own.

Yes, so would I.(I would have gone for Ere-a initially) The problem is that she will be meeting new people all her life and many of them will need to be corrected. Which will be very tiresome for her.

It’s a nice looking and sounding name. I’m English and I haven’t come across anyone with the name before, and wouldn’t know how to pronounce it - my first guess would be Ear-ah / Era, but I’d be aware I could be wrong and would likely check. Once told it was Eye-ra, I’d be fine saying it like that. It’s not difficult to pronounce, just not necessarily obvious what it should be and I suspect not particularly well known. But that shouldn’t put you off - I’m forever meeting people from all over with names I’m encountering for the first time, and you just learn them.

In Welsh it is more like hay than high, unless you live in a very anglicised area.

@Factor50sun

its not difficult to say or remember, so it'll be fine.

she'll probably get called 191 variations, but if you/she use her name in front of people or tell them how you say it, it's not difficult to use or remember! (Unlike a lot of lovely Irish names)

my name is not unheard of 🤣 but is often mispronounced, 🤷🏻‍♀️sometimes it's a dialect thing. It's shortened and lengthened. I've sometimes wondered what it would be like to have a name that's always said correctly, but never enough to actually care!! 😜

I would have guessed "Air-a".

But once told, I would remember "Eye-ra".

I don't think Eyra makes it any more obvious. I'd probably read that "Ay-ra", rhymes with hay.

Neither spelling is foolproof, so just go with the one you prefer - no point compromising only for people to get the comprise one wrong!

Literally in your post above this you said there's a difference between the North and South Wales pronunciation! I am Welsh and my children have Welsh names. I'm very pro Welsh language, I just hate gate keeping.