Pronouncing some of those names...

[SoupDragon]

OK, have been giggling at the assorted humorous name threads but some of them I can't imagine how they're pronounced so help me out here...

Caoimhe
Trygve
Muireann
Seren (Not really hard to pronounce but is as in Serenity?)
Jago
Collum (Not Column, surely or was it a typo for Callum?)

I love Aoife (said Eefa - Irish version of Eva) - would have considered it for ds2.

BTW ,y boys' names in the original Irish are

Deaglan
Conchobhar
Fionnbharr

Needlesstosay, they have the Anglicised spelling!

That should say "my boys"

Aoife is the most popular girls name in Ireland and has been for many years.

I'm going to suggest Coinneach for a boy to DH tonight.

I had an Irish midwife called 'Attracta'. Can't say I've EVER heard that anywhere else.

Mhairi is pronounced Vari. Its a popular girl's name in Scotland and not considered at all weird !!

Expat, do people even in Scotland ask you how to spell Eilidh, which is suprising as it the 24th most pop girls name last year

No. No one's ever asked me to spell her name or mispronounced it.

Conchobhar ?

Never mind pronouncing names, I am worried about spelling some of the ones in DD class on Xmas cards.

Ah... what you need is a class list. Then you only have to match the spellings to your DDs pronunciation.

Expat and Seb, we have also chosen Eilidh for our DD, (if a DD, due anytime now). It is my best friends name. Am having concerns over the spelling though, especially at school!!!!!

SD Conchobhar is the Irish spelling of Connor! We sometimes call our son Conchobhar (said phonetically).

Enthusia, where are you. Most of the problems I had with spelling were English relatives and older generations. As I said it is the 24 most pop. name in Scotland in 2004, and 3rd most pop. in East Renfrewshire.

No way can Conchobhar = Connor!! If it does, what does that make Fionnbharr? I assumed Finbar?

Not that I'm doubting you, honest

Yes Conchobhar is Connor - honest injun! And yes Fionnbharr is Finbar and Deaglan, in case anyone is wondering, is Declan.

I am in England - Surrey, but used to live in Fife. Really love the name but don't know if I am asking for a whole heap of problems!

Enthusia - my 18 yo niece is Eilidh and has never had any problems with it! Surely most people are used to names like Euan, Eilidh, Siobhan, Sian??? Even if you are not Scottish or Welsh? After all, we Celts can cope with names like Nigel

SD, Collum is probably a variant of Columb, a Cornish saint's name. (There is an Irish name 'Colm', which I think is pronounced in a similar-ish way, with two syllables. I could be wrong though, and am prepared to stand corrected by one of the Irish experts!) I'd have loved to have called one of my dds Columb (if they'd been boys, that is), but my dh said that it was 'too architectural'!

My dd is called Madeleine, and hates it if people pronounce it as MadelAINE (to rhyme with 'pain') or, worse still, as MadelINE (to rhyme with 'sign').

So if the "bharr" in Fionnbharr is "bar", where's the "bar" in Connor?? (In my defense, I had worked out Declan though)

I used to spend my childhood holidays near St Columb Major in Cornwall... Sigh.

I taught an irish girl called Sadhbh once ...
Bet you can't guess how that was pronounced Used to drive new teachers bonkers and the poor girl used to sigh wearily when asked for the umpteenth time how to say her name!
I thought it was beautiful though.

I love Gaelic spellings, they are completely mad.

EARRAGHAIDHEAL agus BHOID

is the Gaelic for Argyll and Bute, it's on all the litter bins, I copied it down. You can just hear Robin Cook saying it, can't you?

OK - I give up!!!!

So, how do you pronounce Sadhbh, then, ghosty?