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?)

Sive ? (ok, I cheated and tried to work it out from another wensite )

Sive? To rhyme with jive?

SD, I still do holiday near St Columb Major every year! Lovely place.

Look, I didn't make the spellings! I know there is no bar in Connor. Perhaps an Irish person could explain these anomalies?

Oh, I know you didn't make up the spelling, it's just intrigues me how Connor and Finbar can end the same and be so different. Let's face it, English is hardly consistent either!

(Used to stay in a tiny hamlet called Trebudannon. Ah, the memories...)

Don't ask me how to pronounce "Sive" - the website didn't go that far! I sort of imagined more "Seeve")

Does rhyme with jive according to this .

Means "sweet, goodly"

Not sure I like it rhyming with Jive... Great site though

how about Madhbh?
Aoibheann is very popular here at the moment try that?

If Sadhbh = Sive, Madhbh should be Mive?? Unless it's Meave

Quite frankly, Aoibheann could be virtually anything!! Eevian?

Oops hope you didn't think I was being arsey SD. I meant my comments in a light way.

Yeah, I know

I am one of those horrible people with no "celtic" connections with anglicised "celtic" names for her children so I'm intrigued by the proper spellings.

Me too. I am Cornish (which is Celtic) but my connection to Ireland is practically non-existant (dh is Australian with Irish ancestry and I have a thing about southern Irish accents!) yet our boys all have Irish names (with Anglicised spellings). No-one in my family really understands why we named them as we did.

DS2s swimming instructor was Irish with a fantastic accent... very rarely saw him with his clothes on

Now there's an image!

Aoibheann = Eve-ann apparently.

Madhbh spelt like that isn't in the Irish list but Meadhbh is - it's Maeve

hehehe.

soupy, did you ever bump into him away from the pool, giving you the golden opportunity for the classic line...?

Aoibheann pronounced A-veen (with a long A). It means beautiful.

there are loads of spellings for Maedbh, pronounced Maeve

It all looks strange from the phonetic english perspective but are actually easy to decipher with a basic understanding of the Irish languague.

"bh" = "v" (there is no "v" in the irish alphabet)
"Aoi" = "E" i.e. Aoife = Ee-feh,
"Dh" and "Fh" are silent

There's no K in the Irish alphabet either that's why there are two spellings for lots of the popular names:
Cian = Kian
Ciaran = Kieran
Ciara = Kiera

That's what I remember from school anyway, could be slightly off on some points.

Ruaraidh?
Eoghan?

My girls are Sinead and Aisling (pronounced Ashling) DH wouldn't let me go for anything TOO unusual in terms of spelling - loved Aoife but clashed with surname! Loved Mairead - DH didn't!
There are some lovely Irish names out there though!

SD - i LIVE near St Columb Major in Cornwall! anyone want any COrnish names?!

Go on Lel. I know Denzil and some cornish claim to Guinevere.

BTW Lel are you a native of the St Columb area? If so, we may be distantly related!

feeling lazy today (had a migraine all night!) so here's the COrnish names websites - names.daire.org/celtcornmale.html
names.daire.org/celtcornfem.html
how about Esyld?

LM - no, not native to St Columb, (I'm a Somersetian!) but live in Newquay! don't you love it when people can't pronounce Cornish placenames, eg Mousehole, Perrararworthal etc?!

DD is Jennifer - if I'd spelt it Jenifer, that's the Cornish for Guinevere. but I thought she'd end up spelling it out for the rest of her life!