Do you have to be Irish to use the name Niamh?

[esmeraldasmith]

I'd love to know what the consensus on this is.
I think yes.

yes, or at least have a very strong irish connection.

No, I know of two that are not Irish. What a boring old world it would be if we all stuck to names only from our own nationality

i have neice called niamh not irish at all. i think its a lovely name though i am wondering why dh would not let me call dd2 anya because its not an english name when my neice is niamh.

yes agree with belgo - imo this applies to all names not just irish ones

My daughter is called Niamh, my Grandparents on my mother's side were irish. But honestly, I don't think there needs to be any irish connection, it's such a beautiful name.

I dunno why, but I think yes too. Seems odd to have that specific delicious Irish spelling without having any connection to Ireland at all. Unless you went for "Neave" or something....

Nice name but go for anglicised spelling if no Irish connection

Is the Anglicised spelling Neve?

my dd has a welsh name and there is no welsh connection in our family. i dont think she has the welsh spelling though, i think i may have made up a spelling all on my own as i have never seen her name spelled my way the end of her name is gaelic i think.

... but the thing is "Zoe" is a Greek name and nobody ever questions that. My own name is considered to be a traditional English name and is very often raised as a "favourite girl's name" on this forum, but is actually an old German name. Adam, Eve, Sarah, Samuel, Michael and all those Old Testament names are Hebrew and nobody ever questions if you have to be Jewish to use them....

Isn't the world a global village now?

My dd1 is Niamh and we are not Irish.

Don't see why you would have to be Irish.

yes, or at least pronounced properly, ie not Neve / neeeve

Rubbish, Neve or Neeeve are perfectly OK pronunciations.

My dd goes to a gael-scoil (school taught in Irish), student's names are Irish, Jewish, German, Greek etc.

How do you pronounce it Waynetta???

I know someone called Niamh with no irish connections.
If you like it go for it

Knee-av is how the Gaeilge pronunciation would go. But I'm sure that ornery old Neeve will do!!
Blimey I think Niamh is lovely! Go for it!

my niece is niamh and i love it, not too many around and its lovely wether your 3 or 33

I dont think you have to have connections, if you like the name go for it. Personally I would spell it Neave or Neve but only because alot of people dont know how to spell the proper Irish way ( inc me ) especially if none of your family are Irish
Very pretty name though

I know a Scottish girl called Niamh and another called Nuala.

They're Western Highland girls.

If everybody had that attitude, then all men would be Adam and all women would be Eve. 'Twould be very confusing!

Agree with bikerunski. TBH none of us really know where our family comes from. Do you watch Who Do You Think You Are? The Colin Jackson one especially highlights how mixed our heritage can be without us realising it. He is:

55% Sub-Saharan African
38% European (Scottish)
7% 'native American'

If you look into the meaning of a lot of names you will find very few popular names are English. Biblical names are very popular. I have the most popular name from around mid 70s to mid 80s (Claire) which is Latin, my brother is called Mark, which is Greek, and my sister is Ruth which is Hebrew.

Yes, I do think it's best to have a fairly strong connection with a country/culture if you are going to use a name from it. A non Italian called Gianfranco, for instance? Really stupid.

MrsMattie! Really stupid to call your DD Niamh if you're not of strong Irish connection!

I have a Niamh and we're in Scotland.
I think it depends on the name, I thought it was OK to use it as it's more well known. I wouldn't have used a really unusual Irish(or other nationality) name