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How to pronounce girls name Aoibhe

  • 08-03-2006 2:32pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6


    Hello All,

    We are hoping that someone can help us out. We have just had a little baby girl and want to call her Aoibhe and pronounce it Ava, most people agee that this is the correct pronouncation but a couple of people have mentioned that it shoud be pronounced as Eva- I just want to be sure that if we choose Aoibhe that we will have the right pronouncation in Ava. If not we will have no choice but to go for the English spelling of Ava.

    All comments greatly appreciated

    Colleen


«1

Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,315 ✭✭✭Occidental


    If it's of any help

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=219939

    I'd go with EEVAH


  • Registered Users Posts: 814 ✭✭✭Raytown Rocks


    Colleen1 wrote:
    Hello All,

    We are hoping that someone can help us out. We have just had a little baby girl and want to call her Aoibhe and pronounce it Ava, most people agee that this is the correct pronouncation but a couple of people have mentioned that it shoud be pronounced as Eva- I just want to be sure that if we choose Aoibhe that we will have the right pronouncation in Ava. If not we will have no choice but to go for the English spelling of Ava.

    All comments greatly appreciated

    Colleen

    Hi Colleen

    My sister called her daughter Aoibhe ( pronounced Ava).
    I would also pronounce Aoibhe as Ava.
    I suppose other people may say differently,but it is after all your decision .
    I have looked at the previous thread, and personally rekon the decision is yours, I see no right or wrong, she is your daughter, go for the name you like the best.

    Chef


  • Registered Users Posts: 634 ✭✭✭Míshásta


    'Aoibhe' is pronounced something like 'Eeva'; not 'Ava'.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,730 ✭✭✭✭simu


    Aye, try Éabha - that's way closer to Eva.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6 Colleen1


    Thanks everyone, but we want to try and avoid using fadas to prevent confusion. Could it be that the pronouncation of Aoibhe could be Ava or Eva depending of where in the country you are living?


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  • Registered Users Posts: 5,514 ✭✭✭Sleipnir


    I'd say eeva. Sorry!


  • Registered Users Posts: 11,394 ✭✭✭✭Vegeta


    well Aoife is Ee-fa so Aoibhe would be ee-va


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6 Colleen1


    Thanks for your replies everyone but if you think if the name Aoibheann, where I live (south Ireland) this is pronounced at Av-een, thats how I thought Aoibhe would be Ava.
    Any ideas


  • Registered Users Posts: 15,815 ✭✭✭✭po0k


    Eva (Eaova or similar, broader "e" sound, not eeee)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6 Colleen1


    Sorry I don't fully understand, do you mean that Aoibhe is neither pronounced Eva or Ava?
    sorry ot be a nuisance


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,730 ✭✭✭✭simu


    I don't get it - you want an Irish name but you don't want fadas and you want to bend the pronunciation to your own rules - why not just come up with a new spelling of your own that covers whatever sound you want (in English or in Irish)? Seems less confusing.

    Or I guess you could leave fadas out - a Pádraig I know has Padraig on his official documents.


  • Registered Users Posts: 130 ✭✭Dave3x


    I'd say its pretty clear that technically, it's a dialect difference, but that certain names have become popular being pronounced certain ways (such as Aoibheann being Ay-veen). So, I think the more popular version is Eva, but depending on where you live in the world no-one will have heard either pronunciation, and so you can decide yourself. Anyone agree?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,730 ✭✭✭✭simu


    Dave3x wrote:
    I'd say its pretty clear that technically, it's a dialect difference, but that certain names have become popular being pronounced certain ways (such as Aoibheann being Ay-veen). So, I think the more popular version is Eva, but depending on where you live in the world no-one will have heard either pronunciation, and so you can decide yourself. Anyone agree?

    Well, I can't think of any Irish dialect where it would be said like that - it seems that it's pronounced like that amongst some English speakers, though. There's Éimhín as a name as well - maybe people mix them up?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6 Colleen1


    Dave 3X

    Do you think the fada over the E in Eabha would have to be in place to allow for the pronouncation of Ava?


  • Registered Users Posts: 634 ✭✭✭Míshásta


    Colleen1 wrote:
    Thanks for your replies everyone but if you think if the name Aoibheann, where I live (south Ireland) this is pronounced at Av-een, thats how I thought Aoibhe would be Ava.
    Any ideas

    Where is south Ireland?

    Aoibheann is pronounced "Eevan".

    I very much doubt if it's pronounced 'Av-een' in any dialect.

    The letters 'aoi' at the beginning of an Irish language word are pronounced something like 'ee' in English.

    I would be interested to know in which dialect it is pronounced differently.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,720 ✭✭✭Hal1


    You pronounce it 'E-fah' like :rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 324 ✭✭JaysusMacfeck


    Aoibhe is pronounced ee-vah. Never in my life have I heard it pronounced "Avah". Why not just use an British name, job done.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 450 ✭✭Willymuncher


    I'd go for ee-vah too, I don't see how it could be pronounced ava at all....seems totally out of it.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6 Colleen1


    To Mishasta

    I am acutally from Co. Tipperary, and Aoibheann/ Aoibhin is always pronounced and read as Ay-Veen, therefore thats why we thought maybe Aoibhe would be pronounced Ava


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20 donaghkebab


    As Míshásta said, aoi is pronounced as 'ee' and has been so for thousands of year.
    If the notion of using fadas is too confusing for you i suggest you should go along with what others have said and just use and English name!

    However, if you really do want to Gaelicise the name and can't bear the trouble that an accent produces try, Aodhbha. That sounds like Ava though i doubt your child will appreciate the spelling!


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,393 ✭✭✭Inspector Gadget


    I'm not a conoisseur of Munster Irish, but to the best of my knowledge (which may not mean anything :) ), at least in Connemara, any word I can think of that starts with "aoi" (whether used as a name or not), sounds like it starts with "ee" (as in the English word "sleep").

    If you want a long "a" sound, as has been suggested on a couple of occasions above, "Éabha" (the fada turns the leading "E" into "ay" as in "hay") is the closest match I can think of.

    Having said all of this, if you like a name, whether it conforms to the norms or not, go with it. In the end, as long as the person being given said name can correct people as and when necessary, what's the difference?

    Gadget


  • Registered Users Posts: 634 ✭✭✭Míshásta


    Colleen1 wrote:
    To Mishasta

    I am acutally from Co. Tipperary, and Aoibheann/ Aoibhin is always pronounced and read as Ay-Veen, therefore thats why we thought maybe Aoibhe would be pronounced Ava

    We'll have to agree to disagree. I think you should check it out on some of the other Irish language forums.

    In any case, I wish her a long, healthy and happy life.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,905 ✭✭✭Aard


    Colleen1 wrote:
    Thanks everyone, but we want to try and avoid using fadas to prevent confusion.
    Prevent confusion? You seem to be adding to the confusion by using non-standard pronunciation for the name. "Aoibhe" should be pronounced like "Aoife", but with a "v" instead of "f". And for those familiar with X-SAMPA, it's /"i:.v@/. I suggest you use "Éabha", or just use the Anglicised version "Ava".


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,286 ✭✭✭Gael


    I'd agree with the majority consensus on this that 'Aoi' should be pronounced 'ee'.
    But if you're still not convinced Colleen, I'd suggest you send an e-mail someone in the Irish departments of one of the universities. They'd be quite happy to help I'm sure.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,383 ✭✭✭Aoibheann


    Re the dialect confusion here, I'm from Cavan, my name is Aoibheann (obviously :p ) and it's pronounced Ay-veen/Aiveen/or somesuch here. Now I think we go by Ulster Irish, though with Cavan, you'd never know, even though we do live in the province... :rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 541 ✭✭✭GaryOR


    Aoibhe sounds like Eva


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,754 ✭✭✭masterK


    The link provided earlier in the thread was a thread I posted with exactly the same dilemma. We called our daughter Ava but were also hoping to spell it Aoibhe. We looked under every stone and asked anywhere we could and never really got a conclusive answer.

    The majority would say that Aoibhe is pronounced Eva but as far as we could see there was no correct way as there are examples of similar names that contradict either rule (ie. Aoife being pronounced Efa but Aoibeann being pronounce Ayveen, I also know somebody who called their child Eabhann, pronounced Evan).

    We were eventually directed to a sister at our local church who is an expert in Irish Geneology, she told us that there was no concrete pronounciation of Aoibhe and was down to interpretation but the most common one was as Eva.

    After that my niece was telling her Irish teacher about the baby and how it was spelt, she stated categorically that were were wrong and Aoibhe was pronounce Eva and no other way.

    We eventually decided to just go with Ava, we thought if our niece was being corrected by a teacher imagine the hassle our daughter would have growing up having to constantly correct people and be told that she pronounced her name wrong.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1 Dustie


    This is a bit late obviously for you Colleen but we spell our daughter's name Aoibhe and pronounce in Ava. Anyone who would correct you on how your own daughter's name is pronounced or who would correct your daughter on her own name would have to be a real know-it-all with no social skills!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,184 ✭✭✭Múinteoir


    Sweet Jesus, the things some people burden their own kids with! As if growing up isn't tough enough already. :rolleyes:


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,794 ✭✭✭JC 2K3


    If you still wanted the trendiness of an Irish spelt name, you could make up a spelling, like "Abha".

    Then again, that sounds more like an Islamic name :p


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