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 English, I'm afraid. And given the OP is concerned about the name's pronunciation in London, which is in England, I think that's the relevant point, don't you?

It's just a turn of phrase!

Why do you imagine Catholics are able to manage Irish-language orthography?

OP, I have a more unusual Irish name and surname than that, and gave London-born DS an unusual Irish name plus both parents’ Irish surnames, and it’s been fine.

No. The name is Irish.

I assume you got that utter garbage from AI, I’d be ashamed if I were you.

I’m an Irish person in England and I have a Celtic name (not Irish but definitely of the harder to pronounce from reading it variety). I haven’t and wouldn’t name my children anything that makes them stand out in that way. Mine have classic and unremarkable names that are easy to pronounce and that fit in, in any scenario. If you do want to go with an Irish name I’d look for one that’s easy to pronounce or is well known.

Quite embarrassing for her considering it was AI generated bollocks.

No, it wasn't AI generated. No need to be embarrassed for me, I'm not the one denying my heritage!

I also think the two names are too similar

Too similar to Aoife for me. Like you couldn’t be bothered looking past page one of the Irish baby names book and went “that’ll do”.

Yes! Use it. I have no idea how to pronounce it but you would only have to tell me a couple of times and I'd get it.

Funny how we can use any other type of names but Irish with Irish parents is a no go.

The first part of the name, according to the rules of Irish spelling would really be Eev - so Eeveen.

How am I denying my heritage by not claiming to be from a country I wasn’t born in and have never lived in?

I wonder if many English ex pats agonise about if people can pronounce their children's names?

And Siobhan! If they realise that bh is a v sound they’ll be grand. There is no letter v in the Irish language hence the bh.

How would you spell Ciarán?
Kieran, Keiran, Keiron, Keerun?

Yes. Don’t do it, and if you need to ask you know the truth.

You were born to Scottish parents, that means you are of Scottish heritage.

It's a wonderful heritage, and I mean this respectfully, why don't you learn about it and embrace it? I spend a lot of time in Scotland, have a lot of family there and honestly, it's a wonderful culture and heritage to be proud of.

My children, both born in England are Irish, they love and embrace their Irishness, culture and heritage.

As someone with an Irish name who moved to England at age 2, I have spent my whole life spelling it out, explaining how it’s pronounced and it always being the opener in conversations. Needless to say there’s a reason why my children have classic, easily spelt English names.

It may be an Irish name, but it will be spoken in England by people who don’t speak Irish and where the most commonly spoken language is English. That’s the relevant point.

Even Irish speakers on this thread are disagreeing over the pronunciation. If they can’t agree, what chance do others have?

OP, it’s a beautiful name but I’d think long and hard before using it. You could spell it how it sounds in English, although it looks as though there’s bit of uncertainty about how it sounds from the discussions above.

It's normal for many Irish names to be pronounced differently in different regions in Ireland, so it sounds like they are disagreeing, but actually they're all right for whatever region they are from.

Beautiful name. Doesn’t really matter how you spell it, most people just say it! And if they have to write it down for whatever reason, then they know her enough to know how it’s spelt!

Ok. So in other words, they disagree about the pronunciation in Ireland too?

I have a dd with one of the often debated Irish names on here - funnily enough in the 13 years since she was born, it's gone from people saying it would be cruel to now I see some on this thread recommending it as an alternative to the name you want to name your dd.

You already have an Aoife, yes Aoibhin is a level up in terms of Irish names and people's familiarity but I'd go for it. My dd loves her name.