Should I call my daughter Aoibhín in England?

[lovebeingmuma]

Will my daughter hate me for calling her a name no one can pronounce?

Not in a million years. Why do some parents feel the need to make their child’s life difficult?

Far too similar to your existing child’s name.

It would be like having a sibling set called Eve and Evelyn.

I’m in Ireland and have never heard a sib-set with Aoife and Aoibheann/ Aoibhín despite them both being commonly used names.

I think it's a difficult name to spell and pronounce which will be tricky for her.

Exactly, there are idiots everywhere!

Irish names are difficult for non-Irish to spell and pronounce, but as the family are Irish themselves, I absolutely think they should stick with an Irish name.

If that's what you want to call her (and it is a pretty name, so I don't blame you!), then I would go ahead and call her that. Non-Irish people will need you to explain how to pronounce it. But when they have learnt, then that is that. I never get why having to explain you name is such an awful thing according to some people on MN. I have a name that people don't immediately know how to pronounce. It takes seconds to tell them. Most people aren't meeting an endless stream of new people all the time, so generally when those in your social circle learn how to pronounce it then you are good to go.

It's an Irish name for an Irish family, it's a little insulting to insinuate they are making their child's life difficult by giving them a name from their own culture!

One of my children has a very old Irish name in the North of England, they are in their 20's & they love it. No issues at all through school etc. & tbh most people check pronunciation as names nowadays can be extremely varied

I think the problem with Irish names (and some other nationalities) is that when English speaking people look at them, they’ve absolutely no clue as to how to pronounce them whereas for some other languages, they are easier to pronounce or at least attempt something that is close to the proper name. When I look at it I want to say Ayohbin which is obviously totally wrong.

Just for a laugh:

Just for fun:

Irish names people can’t say! 🇮🇪🤣 #funny #Irishnames

A beautiful name. Once you tell people once it won’t be a problem Even simple names like Ann/Anne have different spellings.

It’s pronounced A ( as in the capital letter A ) veen.
London is a multicultural city with people from all over the globe. There are some Asian names that are incredibly long spelling wise and I wouldn’t have a clue how to pronounce them. But I can always ask how it’s pronounced.
Use it if you love it.

Oh I love Grainne (I forgot where the accent was!)!

I remember the year on The Apprentice when there was a Gráinne, and Lord Sugar called her grainy 😂

This!

Honestly? No. I have a very unique name it’s an absolute pain, people who don’t know me (and even some that that do because they can’t pronounce it) get it wrong all the time meaning I’m constantly having to correct people. Every. Damn. Day. Of. My. Life. Ugh. I hate it. I made sure I gave my daughter a simple easily pronounced, easily spelt name 🤣

also, I wouldn’t have a clue how to pronounce that so I imagine a lot of other English people wouldn’t which means she’s going to have the same problem.

Just miss out the ‘in England’ bit!

Also, don’t forget it will never get typed with the accent and diacritics aren’t allowed on UK official documentation (learnt that last week from Mumsnet https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/baby_names/5380324-names-spelled-with-diacritics)

Irish names are so hard in England. I have a friend with a Niamh, which I think is pretty well known but she is often asked why she didn't spell it properly!
Don't get me going with Aoife or Caoimhe. Even Sinead and Siobhan are tricky 😪

😂My child has an usual welsh spelling of a name that is common. Tbh these days there is all sorts of spellings and names from around the globe in London, so I would go with what you want.
Yes they will have a lifetime of phonetically spelling their name and noone will know how yo pronunce it or spell it. But that same goes with half the kids in my childs class. The current year 2 class theybare in its like someone tpped out the scrabble box and they landed into a bunch of names. My child included 😂i think names will only get more ecclectic and unusual, so they wont be alone with their struggles!

Location is irrelevant. It's spelt phonetically just not in a language that you speak.

And yes, having a name in a different language can be difficult but that's a different point.

It'll be fine up to her starting high school as you can tell nursery/teacher her name once and they'll know how to pronounce and spell it. Same with family and friends. All fine in your little bubble.

It's high school where it will start to piss her off. She'll have over 10 different teachers who will each be teaching multiple classes of 30 children. Most of them won't remember how to say or spell it and she'll get fed up of correcting them.

Same goes for adulthood when she's on the phone to a call centre or sitting in the GP waiting room. Or on a Teams meeting at work with people she hasn't met before.

I think it's a lovely name but perhaps as a middle name or spelt phonetically. Could you have an easier to spell Irish first name?

It is phonetic.

MN cannot handle anything that’s not anglicised
drives me mad! People will learn her name
i work in an international job and you LEARN people’s names.
MN posters live in a weird little English bubble like they’ve never been out of their village

It’s properly pronounced Eve-een in every Irish dialect, but widely mispronounced even in Ireland. I think of Ayveen as an anglicised pronunciation myself as it makes no sense in Irish.
Aoibh is pronounced Eve and ín is een.

It’s too close to Aoife when pronounced properly.

https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/aoibh