Caoimhe - can England handle it?

[pixiestix]

Caoimhe (pron. Kwee-va)
Ok, I love love love this name, and DH is Irish so have an excuse to use it
but..
I wonder if it is child cruelty to give future DD a name that no one in England is going to know how to say.
And also wondered about teasing potential? The worst I can think of is "Quaver" maybe, but I know MNers have a brilliant capacity to spot a really awful rhyme/association a mile off so wanted to throw it to the lions.
Be brutal!

PS - I know it is pronounced Kee-va in some parts of Ireland but I would want the Kwee-va version.

It just looks like somebody has vomitted letters onto a page.

I like Keeva but it's abit brave due to the spelling issue.

I mind a Keva, pronounced Kava, never heard of it before.

In a similar vein but much more beautiful IMO is Aoife.

I'd say Keeva too. Kweeva is more unusual. A regional thing but I don't know what part of Ireland says it that way.

I think you should use it, but you should be prefered to allow the spelling Keeva. It is just too much for the UK imo.

I was living in the UK when I had my daughter who was almost, almost called Clodagh. A few friends (English friends) said to me, what like Claddagh?! I thought OMG! no, no, not like that urrr. That put me right off it.

I meant to say 'prepared to allow' not prefered to allow.

I know an adult Caoimhe, but I still have to mentally recheck every time I send her a christmas card. It IS a difficult name to spell (and pronounce!) until you're used to it, so your dd will have a lifetime training people up in it. But you know, the UK is very multicultural - my dd is one of only two UK nationals in her nursery, and I've had to carefully learn many of the children's names because they were unfamiliar to me. So if you love it, use it.

I think this is a lovely namem with such a beautiful meaning, and every Caoimhe I've ever met pronounced it "KWEE-va" (I'm from the south of Ireland). I've lived in the UK for a long time and have worked with a Saoirse, Sadbh, Aoife and Clodagh over the years and people have never had a problem saying or spelling them once they knew how to (and two of them were in sales roles so dealing with new clients all the time)..not sure why she'd have problems learning to spell her own name at school as one poster suggested .

I know Irish girls names can seem strange when someone sees them for the first time (my DH is american and thinks most are odd until he learns how to say them and what they mean!) but I think most people are capable of learning to say them. I'm not a fan of anglicisng spellings as I think it''s an important part of a cultural identity...

But you asked for info and I have to tell you why this is off our own girl names shortlist...my DH says it sounds like queef (which I had to google - Wikipedia) and he is adamant that no daugher of his will be subject to that kind of sniggering from the American side of the family (my sister is also married to a yank who said the same thing about it - they chose Orla instead). So much as I love it we just can't use it!

exactly what MrsEricBana said - and I'm not particularly dim when it comes to Irish names, I thought I was quite good at being able to deal with lots of them, but not that one.

Ciava looks a little too much like a bottle of plonk.

Caoimhe is a beautiful name, dont wimp out and go for the Keeva spelling, embrace it!

I wouldn't. But I've got a Róisín and nobody copes with that and it's snimps in comparison.

I love it. I would say it Keeva.

I would say names like Saoirse, Aoife, Clodagh, Niamh, Caoimhe, Róisín and Oisín are some of the easier Irish names to know how to say because they are that bit more popular.

I have never met a RL Saoirse I love the name, first saw it in Michael Flatley DVD! love it

Going off topic but my favourite irish girls name is either Grainne (Gron-Ya)or Eimear (Ee-ma)

How do you pronounce Saoirse?

Lyra

I have always pronounced it Sorsha. I think there is a Cusack sister that spells it Sorcha.

I think you can also pronounce it Seersha

I'd say keeva too. Kweeva does sound a bit Lion Kingy .

I can tell you, speaking as someone who has lived with Oonagh for the past 42+ years, English people definitely can't cope with that. Does that help?

Personally it doesn't bother me that they can't though!

My mum is called Oonagh.

I like the Irish spelling and the Keeva pronunciation. I don't like the kweeva pronunciation. Sorry to be mean but it maked me think of someone with a scouse accent saying quaver.

How do you pronounce the name Clodagh?

I love the name Caoimhe but we have decided that it will be too difficult in terms of spelling/pronounciation as we don't live in Ireland anymore. Some names I think you can get away with giving a English spelling (like Dervla for example) but not wiht Caoimhe IMO. I have a DD with an Irish name that is not anywhere near as difficult and have to pronounce it several times for people when introducing her.

Clodagh same idea as Oonagh... Clo-da

Lol at your scouse accent thingy Muffin...

Soccermum Sorcha and Saoirse are two completely separate names.

Sorcha (Surka though different parts of Ireland pronounce it differently) is a very old Irish name, used for 100s of years, whereas Saoirse (roughly Seer-sha but more like Say-or-sha...can't really do phonetics) means "Freedom" and only really became popular because of the republican movement. Saoirse sounds lovely but I'd never give it to a daughter due to the republican connotations (my family in Ireland would think I had turned into an IRA supporter ).

A handy website for pronunciations is this one Baby Names of Ireland as it includes Frank McCourt actually saying the names aloud (very handy but you may need to ignore the Limerick/American twang if you learnt to say the names differently, as different regions/accents tend to say them differently).

Just agreeing with Caitni there. If you want something like Saoirse without the political undertones, what about Siofra (sheefra) it means fairy. it wouldn't suit my daughter i have to say.

Thank Caitni, my husband is Irish but didnt like any of the irish names I came up with for the children! Its good to know the political undertones to some things!

DH is from Limerick, that link sounds like his Uncle Malachy!