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.

No, but make sure you and your family/friends know how to pronounce it. I have an Irish name that even family can't pronounce properly! Also was very shy at school and used to go crimson at Registration due to mis-pronounciations

Yes, my poor DD has been called Ny-am-H several times and she's not yet 1!

Neve is also pronounced Nev (as in Kev)

What about a Scottish girl called Francesca, Mrs Mattie? Would that also be really stupid?

Grace - Latin
Ruby - English
Olivia - Latin
Emily - Latin
Jessica - Hebrew
Sophie - Greek
Chloe - Greek
Lily - Hebrew
Ella - German
Amelia - German

So, MrsMattie are most of the names in the 2007 girls top ten stupid? All but one are not English. Do you suppose there are now more Greek, Italian and Jewish people in the UK than there are "native" Brits?

You can of course! Use it if you like it. Why not?

People don't say, ooooh should I use Chloe??

Hopey applauds TinkerBellesMum for her post

Am also slightly envious that I didn't think of TenaciousG's name first, love The D!

I don't think you have to be irish to use the name....you may have to explain how it is pronounced, though....or go for the easy option and spell it Neve....but Niamh looks prettier, doesn't it?

MrsMattie, Obviously it depends what you're comfortable with; I am white and therefore I wouldn't use a Kenyan name 'just cos I liked it'. My personal yardstick would be, if you walked down the street in that country would people stop and stare at you. If an English person walks down the street in Ireland, people aren't going to notice.

But if you walk down a street in Lagos or Mombassa, you'll be an obvious foreigner.

So, to me, Irish Italian French names are in a totally different (and usable) league.

Does that sound reasonable?!

Hm...Mrs Mattie...there is no hope for me...
myself...a name of swedish background...no swedish connection

ds1 a swedish name (still no swedish connection)
ds2 a french name...no french connection
ds3 irish name....he was born in NI though...however it is a Home&Away name, and wasn't chosen because of the irish background (oh and we have no irsh background, neither.....)

like others have pointed out, a lot of names are from different cultures but are so "englishfied" that no one even notices anymore anyway

No, you've completely misunderstood, no offence

I'm trying to advise somebody who feels uncomfortable using the name Niamh! A name which is in the UK top 100 and from a directly neighbouring country which has many links with UK.

I would never judge anybody else who gave their child an African name or a Chinese name for example, but personally, by my own yardstick, that is where I would draw the line so to speak. Can I blend in to that culture/country or not?!

That seems like a logical place to decide, OK I'm comfortable with foreign names for my own child up to that point. We're all entitled to identify what feels natural, and at what point it wouldn't feel natural iyswim.

Irish, Italian, Greek, French names; that's all completely fine for me. Personally, I wouldn't have considered an African or a Chinese name no matter how pretty it sounded or how lovely the meaning. I would have felt self-conscious and faintly ridiculous about it.

We all have our own barometre of what feels natural and what doesn't feel natural. That's the point. I do understand where the OP is coming from, although I wouldn't limit my pool of names to the same extent.

btw My cousins were brought up in Zambia but they are called Caroline, Elizabeth and Stephen.

ps, obviously mixed race children's parents would feel entirely comfortable and entitled to use names from two (even two diverse) cultures.

Lovely name.

It's one of those names (like Hermione, pre Harry Potter era) that nobody really knows how to pronounce.

I never really thought of it as an Irish name, tbh.

What a daft question? You can call your child whatever you like regardless of where you come from.

Like Pookie says, go for whatever you feel comfortable with.

My eldest is Niamh for no other reason than the fact that is a beautiful name.
We spelt it Niamh as that is how it is spelt, Neeve or Neve is just made up and doesn't do the name any justice.