Pretty sounding irish derived baby names?

[Bella321]

I'm so stuck for a name for my little girl.

We have been wanting to go with a name with Irish origin because my partner and his family are Irish. However, we live in England and I don't want her to have the life long annoyance of people misspelling or mis pronouncing her name.

Me working in childcare and him having a large family is limiting options too as names like Orla and Fia are already taken.

Please correct pronounciation if wrong.. but my maybe list so far is:

Éabha- Ava

Aoibhe- Eva

Maeve

Úna- oona

Éala- Ayla

Talullah

Íde- eeda

But none are quite feeling like the one. And also the Irish origin is questionable on some even though they have all come from "Irish baby names" lists online.

Help! Any more suggestions or ones to eliminate?

As someone who grew up with an Irish name here when they were really uncommon it's really not that annoying to correct people.

Why not pick a saints name … loads of options there

@usedtobeaylis I agree & it's not unusual for me to constantly meet others whom I am unsure of how to pronounce their names.

I like Cara, Tara, and Alanna(h), all easy to pronounce phonetically.

Agree and it can be a talking point even. Some people are more bothered by mistakes than others.
I do think it’s a problem if someone like a teacher is constantly getting it wrong though.

Like Maeve, Aoife and Tallulah

Neve
Erin
Clover(?)
Alva/ Elva
Nora
Quinn
Cara

@Dearmalt , I think OP meant Aoibhe and Éabha are pronounced identically to Eva and Ava.

@Bella321 , if you are using 'baby name sites' to find a list, run them past some real live Irish, Gaeilge-speakers first.
The sites are unreliable - the MN ones are shockingly bad (or they were the last time I looked).

If you choose a name without the background, you'll run the risk of picking something dated, or misspelt or mispronounced.

Names with adjacent vowels or consonants (Aoife, Niamh, Saoirse, Tadhg, etc) will get misspelt a lot.
I have a simple phonetic name, and it gets the letters transposed far too often. I know it's probably a typo but it looks like they don't care.

200+ Top Irish Baby Names With Unique Meanings and Pronunciation 2025 | Mumsnet

The lists have been updated since I had last looked. Haven't gone through it.

Look at Craicnet (Topics > Other stuff).

I think OP meant Aoibhe and Éabha are pronounced identically to Eva and Ava.

@Emanwenym
Yes, that’s what OP said, but my question wasn’t to her. It was to @Mushrump who said that Aoibhe and Éabha would be pronounced identically in some dialects of Irish. So I was wondering which dialects as I’ve never heard them pronounced the same in Irish.

I’ve heard them mixed up all right, but only by people who don’t speak much Irish and who then mistakenly pronounce the A in Aoibhe as Ay to give Ava.

I would say (from experience) that if you pick a name with a fada, English people will mostly ignore it, so second the PP who suggested picking a name without.

I have a lovely friend called nuala. Such a pretty name and I’ve never met another with the same name x

@Dearmalt , So I was wondering which dialects as I’ve never heard them pronounced the same in Irish. Me too.

Every time Irish names are discussed on here there are questions over pronunciation, spelling, will people understand, drop the fada etc. No other cultural names get the same responses. They are respected for who and what they are as should Irish names.
Some of the names suggested on here are not even Irish. For information there is no 'K' or 'V' in the Irish alphabet so names with those letters, amongst others ,are not Irish.

The suggestion wasn’t to drop the fada, but to choose a name without it.

A small but significant minority of English people are still, prejudiced towards Irish people and Irish culture. You see it a lot in terms of attitudes towards Irish names on here.

Because it’s an old lady name that’s never come back into fashion. It’s like calling your baby Mildred or Gladys.

Sadhbh (pronounced Sive, rhymes with jive) is my favourite Irish girls name.

Others: Niamh, Aoife, Eimear.

Wow so many conflicting opinions this is why it's so difficult. Whilst I want Irish origin to align with my partners heritage. I dont really want those older lady names e.g Bridget, Eileen Deidre. Whilst I appreciate some names come back around to me I picture older aunties.

It's not that I'm nessecarily looking for a traditional name but one that atleast has some comnection to my partners Irish heritage.

Regarding spellings I agree with some that yes people will get used to the spellings and can be corrected however it's also initially that I myself don't really know the pronounciations, I wouldn't want her name to sound one way in my mind and be being pronounced wrongly by me as that in itself feels as though it does the opposite of what's intended.

Regarding Avoiding names with Fadas- I haven't gone looking for them specifically but the names I have picked up on and like most seem to have them coincidentally.

How about Éile how would that be pronounced?

Whilst my partner has many many Irish relatives I dont really want to share our name ideas until I have a bit more of a grasp on a list or more sure in my mind as it's easier to hear strangers opinions than people you know as family will them feel as though they should get to make the decision.

@ColadhSamh , ... questions over pronunciation, spelling, will people understand... No other cultural names get the same responses.
It happens with the Welsh names too, and probably Scottish but to a lesser extent.

It might be because the replies are from MNers who don't speak the language.
This is why I suggest @Bella321 asking in Craicnet. It would probably result in the names suggested being more current, and generally more positive opinions.

I quite like the names Bridget and Eileen, and think of names like Nuala, Siobhan and Ciara as being more dated (middle-aged compared with granny-aged).

My favourite Irish girls names are Fiadh and Aoibheann. Not sure if there should be a fada on the latter.

Emer

Cara, Eimear, Fiadh, Aisling all completely pronounceable and no fadas. I'd stick with something like that.

How about Éile how would that be pronounced?

Éile would be pronounced Ay-leh where I am OP. I’ve also heard it said Ayl-yeh.
It was never used as a name when I was growing up but there have been a few babies named this over the last 5 or 10 years according to the stats, though it’s less popular than Éala.
Eile, without the fada, is a common Irish word meaning other, another.

Éile may have been an old name. Queen Méabh had a sister called Eile or Éile and there’s a place called Brí Éile (Croghan Hill) that may be associated with a goddess. But the legends are very old so nothing is certain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CroghanHill

Forvo is quite good for name pronunciations though sometimes there are a few variations because of dialect and they mightn’t all be listed. Also the people saying the name aren’t necessarily good Irish speakers but often they are. If you’re looking at a name that’s also a word, eg Saoirse (freedom), Aisling (dream/vision), Fia (deer, wild), try teanglann.ie. It gives the pronunciations in the three major dialects.

Our roots are Irish and my cousin is called Bridie, I've always liked it, very pretty.

Bridie would be considered an old-fashioned name in Ireland though @TomatoSandwiches.