Pronounciation of Name Aoibhe

Kaldorn · 28-02-2008 10:44AM

My nieces name is Aoibh and we all call her Eve..thats the norm..
so if its aoibhe then it has to be Eva pronounced eeeevaaaa

tolosenc · 28-02-2008 07:12PM

Brfxxccxxmnpcccclll mmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 is pronounced Albin. I dont see what your problem is...

aoifekiss · 18-10-2008 11:11PM

I HAD to post this! My daughter's name is Aoife. I pronounce it Ay-fa! Think Ava and soften it with a 'f'. My mother's entire family are from the outer hebrides and speak 'Scottish' Gaelic. Please note even the simple difference between the name of the language being 'gaylic' in Irish gaelic and 'gallic' in Scots gaelic. All of my family are sure of the way in which i spell and say my daughter's name. I feel that most people who use the name Aoife use the 'Irish' pronunciation 'ee-fa'. Therefore most people who have heard of the name tend to attempt to correct me and tell my daughter is called 'ee-fa'! She is not. However my Irish friend Aoibheann says her name is pronounced 'aveen' and assures me of the pronunciation i use. I think maybe it depends what part of Ireland folk are from for the pronunciation. I can only assure you of what is correct from my 'gallic' gaelic.

We chose the name Aoife (ay-fa) as it was linked to my heritage. It was the name of a Scottish amazonian woman/queen. At the end of the day i know of four other girls named 'ayfa' and only one is Irish. The remaining three attempt to fight with me about the pronunciation of the name! Irish 'gaylic' gaelic is more widely known about in many areas and therefore the presumption is that they have the correct spellings and pronunciations. I believe they do, in their language and i do in my language.

Take Mairead for example. In my gaelic it is a bit like 'my-radth'. I bet that is far away from the Irish pronunciation! have managed to converse with some confusion with an irish gaelic speaker, however much of what i said was, isn't this funny you say it that way and i say it this way.

The funniest thing of the lot was when a Gaelic speaking elderly lady told me my daughter's name should be pronounced uy-fah! Totally different again. I would never presume to tell an Irish person that their name Aoife was being said wrong, as i believe things are simply pronounced differently by the Scots and the Irish and there are even differences in different parts of Ireland. Gorgeous place, so is Scotland too. Both are correct in my opinion.

aoifekiss · 18-10-2008 11:14PM

p.s. Aoidheann has just told me that many associate Aoife with the famous Aoife and the legend of Lir. However, it is more widely associated with a queen from the isle of Skye for me! Odd isn't it! I wonder who really had the name first?! I'm off to see to Aoife (Ay-fa).

aoifekiss · 18-10-2008 11:15PM

*Aoibheann* not 'Aoidheann'! She will go mad at me now...:(

superhooper · 19-10-2008 01:40PM

The problem as I see it is that wanabee Celts from the Pale are coming up with these derivations and are basically adding to the degeneration of our native language e.g "gay-lscoil v gaelscoil"

arse..biscuits · 19-10-2008 02:21PM

superhooper wrote: »

The problem as I see it is that wanabee Celts from the Pale are coming up with these derivations and are basically adding to the degeneration of our native language e.g "gay-lscoil v gaelscoil"

What a load of bollox. If it's ok to have different pronunciation in Munster, Connacht, Donegal Ulster etc well why can't there be different pronunciation in Dublin?
Wanabee Celts from the pale? Don't be so ignorant.

superhooper · 19-10-2008 03:13PM

It is ok to have different pronunciation in different areas...they're called dialects. Mispronunciation,however, is not acceptable.

arse..biscuits · 19-10-2008 03:31PM

I'd say "Ag fan-acht"
You'd say "Ag fa-nacht" (assuming you speak Munster Irish)

They are just different pronunciation, is one right and one wrong? How do you think different dialects start.

aoifekiss · 19-10-2008 03:57PM

Like i said, i would never presume to tell an Irish person how to say things in their language. Anyone who presumes to tell me how to say my daughter's name in my language, when they do not even speak it, comes off as ignorant and arrogant to me. Its funny how some immediately jump to insults when i live quite happily discussing these things with an Irish native, in her language, all the while commenting on how different the pronunciations are in my language!

Sorry to upset anyone, but Scottish Gaelic speakers are celts too!

I wonder if we are now going to head into a debate of which celts were first etc?! Hilarious

superhooper · 19-10-2008 04:11PM

arse..biscuits wrote: »

I'd say "Ag fan-acht"
You'd say "Ag fa-nacht" (assuming you speak Munster Irish)

They are just different pronunciation, is one right and one wrong? How do you think different dialects start.

They are both correct. Good luck with the evolution of your own dialect!Personally I cant see the rest of the country taking to your mispronunciation(e.g. gay-lscoil,Niamh=Neeve) but who knows?Maybe in a few years a new section of Leaving Cert audio examination will include the Dublin dialect!

aoifekiss · 19-10-2008 04:33PM

The rest of which country exactly? Scotland? Ireland? Northern Ireland?

Just because i am scottish and pronounce things differently and (i am presuming this) you are Irish, does that mean that one is correct or incorrect?

In truth all languages are bastardised and one of the most bastardised languages is English. I don't think we celts have too much to worry about!

aoifekiss · 19-10-2008 04:34PM

By the way, my gaelic says neeve too for Niamh!

superhooper · 19-10-2008 04:47PM

aoifekiss wrote: »

The rest of which country exactly? Scotland? Ireland? Northern Ireland?

Just because i am scottish and pronounce things differently and (i am presuming this) you are Irish, does that mean that one is correct or incorrect?

In truth all languages are bastardised and one of the most bastardised languages is English. I don't think we celts have too much to worry about!

Firstly I wasn't addressing you .(See quote Arsebiscuit).I was refering to the Irish language not Scots Gaelic ,which by the way, I find very interesting.Niamh may very well be pronunced neeve in Scots Gaelic and although there are similarities between the two languages this is a recent one in the Irish language due to mispronunciation and NOT different pronunciation.

arse..biscuits · 19-10-2008 09:36PM

superhooper wrote: »

Firstly I wasn't addressing you .(See quote Arsebiscuit).I was refering to the Irish language not Scots Gaelic ,which by the way, I find very interesting.Niamh may very well be pronunced neeve in Scots Gaelic and although there are similarities between the two languages this is a recent one in the Irish language due to mispronunciation and NOT different pronunciation.

So what is the difference between mispronunciation and different pronunciation?
Your also assuming a lot about my Irish, I speak with a Connacht dialect, not the Dublin "dialect".
Surely everyone has the right to pronounce any word whatever way they want, people from Cork are well known for a very strong accent and different pronunciations of words in English, I'd never dream of telling someone how to say words the "right" way.
What got my back up was the way you said "wanabee Celts from the Pale".That is the type of attitude that puts people off learning Irish, everyone should be encouraged, not lectured about pronunciation.
Your anti-Dublin attitude is another issue.

aoifekiss · 19-10-2008 09:36PM

So Niamh is a new one to Irish Gaelic? Didn't know that! Do you mean it used to have a different pronunciation or that the name itself is new? Not sure from the way you wrote..

Anyway, I'm quite fascinated by how differently things are said in Irish Gaelic. I didn't know about differences in pronunciation in area of Ireland until i met 'Aveen'. Other Irish friends refer to her as 'eveen' which drives her mad!

aoifekiss · 19-10-2008 09:42PM

This is just adding to the thread i'm afraid but do you have the name Ruairidh over there? ('Roo-a-they' is how we say it and usually it gets shortened/changed to 'Roddie')

arse..biscuits · 19-10-2008 10:05PM

Looks similar to Ruairí (Ruur-e or Roo-e-ree)

aoifekiss · 19-10-2008 10:16PM

Looks very similar. Funny, English folk usually pronounce Ruairidh the sae as you pronounce Ruari. Small differences, all subtle. My mother's name is Margaret but comes out a bit more like 'vargret'. Also people tend to say your name by saying who you belong to.. like donald of william's and margaret of Jessie and sam etc.. Does that happen in Irish gaelic too?

Sorry, so many questions so little time!

aoifekiss · 19-10-2008 10:17PM

*same*

Agus · 30-10-2008 09:24PM

Yes, it does in the Gaeltacht, for instance Tomás son of Pádraig son of Eoghan might be referred to as 'Tomás Phádraig Eoghain'.

aoifekiss · 30-10-2008 10:34PM

Ah in that, at least we are the same! Its funny, when my grandmother hears Irish gaelic she says it sounds very English/anglicised to her! However, i can imagine that you may feel the same way when you hear Scottish gaelic!

fms · 07-12-2009 12:28PM

This is interesting, because we have decided to call our baby Aoibhe and we pronounce it Ava. I guess its what you decide at the time, thats her name!

fms · 07-12-2009 12:32PM

We have named our baby girl Aoibhe and pronounce it Ava, and thats her name! Everyone seems to love it. I have had no one telling me its wrong so far.

Krusader · 08-12-2009 01:17AM

In Irish phonology the vowel combination AOI makes an EE sound, just the same as an Í
Some speakers soften this vowel sound with a 'w' in words like
faoi, Caoimhe - fwee, kwee-veh
The name Magee in Irish is Mag Aoidh - mag ee, for example

AVA in Irish would be something like Éabha pronounce Ay-vah

Irish phonology and spelling is a hell of alot more regular than English,
try these for example;
rough, cough, through

craoltoir · 08-12-2009 10:55AM

Smaoinigh ar Aoibheann Ní Shúilleabháin!

If it is the sound Ava that you want, how about Ailbhe which would be similar.

Ceilteach · 08-12-2009 06:02PM

Ava is similar to Ailbhe? How exactly?

superhooper · 08-12-2009 10:37PM

I thing if I have a son I'll call him Michael and spell it Derek.:rolleyes:

littleaoibh · 09-12-2009 03:44PM

My name is Aoibheann and I pronounce it "even"

craoltoir · 09-12-2009 04:03PM

Agus tá an ceart agat.

And you are right.

Pronounciation of Name Aoibhe

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