Niamh?

[jenster1976]

I love this, and would also shorten it to Evie, but 2 concerns, is it making life difficult for my LO on the spelling front (although DD1 is Isabella and people seem to have plenty of problems with that ) and secondly does it seem pretentious when you're not properly Irish - although it goes v well with our v irish surname?

I think it is in the top 100 now, in the UK, so I don't think it would be massively problematic.

I can relate to so much of what mynameisniamh says, I too have an Irish name, hard to say & spell
My sister is Niamh and over 40
My gorgeous niece is Caoimhe too
Please use the correct spelling, it does matter - oh how I hate to see made up spellings of names!

Yes, I agree, Neeve gives me an internal wobble. So does Keeva. I do understand it, but imagine somebody called their child Soozin and presented that as the sane thing to do!!

I like it but I wouldn't use Evie as a nn.
I don't really think Niamh needs a nn as it's short and pretty already.

I LOVE both and were both on my list (and Im not Irish!) Very good idea having Evie short for Niamh!!
I worked in a Nursery and one of the girls were Niamh, she found it hard and I was worried about that when I wanted it but thinking about it she only knew what she was being taught just like the other children so didnt find her name any harder than the others found theres (If that makes any sense!)

or you could do what a girl's Mum did in Y1 at my school and call her

NY-AMM but spell it as Niamh!

FGS! Some people.

remember as a previous poster said, it is pronounced kind of like nee-uv, hard to spell phonetically, but does not sound like neeev.

My DD is Niamh so im a bit biased but I LOVE the name

HOw do you pronounce Aoife and Caiomh (have I got the spelling right?

She will spend a good chunk of her life reply to the question 'Can you spell that for me, please?'

I dont think so, I think its common enough now that most people know what it is.

Niamh is definitely more common now - more than other Irish names such as Aoife & Caoimhe around here.

Ime, children generally don't have any difficulty pronouncing "unusual" names - they tend to just pick up the correct sounds and don't have preconceived ideas about how names should sound. In our school there is a Caoimhe... there are two different ways to pronounce this - I grew up with the other version and the kids at school always correct me if I say it that way!

Well, if it were me, I'd spell it Neeve (which sounds pretty enough to me). Because it makes sense for English speakers to spell it that way if that's how it's said.
I'd spell it Niamh only if I actually lived in Ireland.

Well I don't live in Ireland but I am Irish so I would insist on the Irish spelling I am afraid - this a a very multicultural country and I think it would be a great loss for people from all over the world to have to change the spellings of their names just to make them phonetic in English

Most people i speak to know how to say Niamh and a lot know how to spell it. I call dd Neev tho not Nee-uv.

If you are not Irish then do not bother as people will always ask about an Irish connection and it sounds silly if you have none as it is such a distinctively cultural name imo. It would be very odd to ahve 3 sisters called Aisling, Aine and Niamh for example and for there to be no Irish connection.

I'm not Irish and nobody has ever asked me about an Irish connection. It's not pretentious imo.

An Irish girl i know's dd's are Kirsty and Rebbecca? Are they Irish names?

I don't see how it can be pretentious. I'm not Irish so I wouldn't use it. But if I were, I'd spell it Niamh.

I don't recall my childhood, but I've loved having a unique name in a country where it's still quite uncommon. As an adult, I really cherish such a beautiful name and always get complimented. Plus it lends itself to the nickname Neevie, which I've always been fond of.

One of my bestest fwends is called Niamh - she's fabtastic so therefore I think you should go for it!

BTW, Aoife is pronounced "ee-fa" and Caoimhe is pronounced "quee-va". Hope this helps!

I am Irish but married to an English boy and for the sake of the in-laws and their inability to learn to spell or pronounce Irish names (or is that unwillingness to integrate a little Irishness into their family...), I've been compromised by DH into giving my DC 'English' names when I would have loved to have given them 'Irish' names .

I like Niamh. I don't think it's half as pretty when it's anglicised to Neve/Neave etc, though.

I absolutely love Aoife, Caoimhe and Saoirse, too, and considered all of them at one time or another. My background is Irish, but DH isn't and thought they were all weird

I love it (spelled Niamh) - it's our top choice for our LO due in May.

DD1 has been calling my bump Nemo (after the fish) ever since she saw the first scan pic so we will probably stick with that as a nickname!

It's a pretty name

Please spell it Niamh if you are going to use it.

Don't see how the shortening to Evie works.

My only concern would be that it's very popular around these parts but might not be where you are.