Pronounciation of Name Aoibhe

masterK · 23-01-2005 9:41pm #1

Can somebody please tell me how the name Aoibhe is pronounced, I have looked it up on the web an found it is the Irish Form of Ava, so is it pronounced as AVA. If not how is the Irish form of Ava spelt.

This is important as we would like to call our daughter Ava but spell it in Irish.

dbyrne · 23-01-2005 9:53pm

Some people pronounce this Eve, depending on where there from in Ireland. Aoibhe, which I would say would be Ave (Aoibheann is pronnounced a-veen) so i suppose that the short version would take the same affect. Is there a name that is like Aoibhé, not too sure on Irish names though is the only problem.

parasite · 23-01-2005 10:03pm

i'd pronounce it ay-veh, not ay-vah

seamus · 23-01-2005 10:03pm

dbyrne wrote:

Some people pronounce this Eve, depending on where there from in Ireland. Aoibhe, which I would say would be Ave (Aoibheann is pronnounced a-veen) so i suppose that the short version would take the same affect. Is there a name that is like Aoibhé, not too sure on Irish names though is the only problem.

In this country it can also vary person to person. Caoibhe can be pronounced Kwee-va or Key-feh depending on what it's owner wants. There are loads of names similarly variable in Ireland.

I'd pronouce Aoibhe as Eva, mainly due to its similarity to Aoife (pronounced Ee-fah), and I've seen other people pronounce it as so. Perhaps someone actually called Aoibhe may clarify for us

GoneShootin · 23-01-2005 10:14pm

eefa

masterK · 23-01-2005 11:28pm

Thanks for the replies.

Can anybody suggest anywhere I can get a certain answer or is it just a name that would differ from person to person.

Is the name Aoibhe actually the Irish form of Ava or am I mistaken?

seamus · 23-01-2005 11:56pm

I can't vouch for this site:
http://www.namenerds.com/irish/
But given it's huge database, and how much it correlates to my own experience, it seems pretty accurate. It concurs with my pronunciation of "ee-veh".

This site:
http://www.behindthename.com/
Lists "Ava" as being an alternative of "Eve".

This site says the Irish equivalent of "Eve" is "Aoife" (although, it's only equivalent in sound. The two names have different roots). Aoibheann, Aoibhe, Aoife and other names with that "Aoi" start, all seem to be roughly similar in meaning - radiance or radiant.

I've seen other sites that confirm that Eve == Aoife in meaning, but not Ava.

*Most* sites have said that Ava is another form of Eva or Eve, and that any name starting with "Aoi" as above, is usually an Irish substitute for these.

masterK · 24-01-2005 12:20am

Thanks for the detailed response Seamus.

We had wanted to spell or duaghters name Aoibhe put pronounce it as Ava. Do you think that is incorrect or is it a matter of preference? We haven't applied for the birth cert yet so we might be safer to simply call her Ava.

Gael · 24-01-2005 11:55am

"Aoibh" is pronounced EEV. Anything else is wrong*

If you have an e at the end i.e. "Aoibhe"
it would be pronounced "EEV-UH/EEV-EH" Any other pronunciation is wrong*

If you start putting in fadas, the pronounciation will change again, so you'd want to know for sure how you're going to spell it.

*Cocky statement based on possession of Honours Irish degree

simu · 24-01-2005 3:06pm

Gael wrote:

"Aoibh" is pronounced EEV. Anything else is wrong*

If you have an e at the end i.e. "Aoibhe"
it would be pronounced "EEV-UH/EEV-EH" Any other pronunciation is wrong*

If you start putting in fadas, the pronounciation will change again, so you'd want to know for sure how you're going to spell it.

*Cocky statement based on possession of Honours Irish degree

I'd agree with Gael there. It would only confuse the poor girl when she's learning to spell if you tell her that the letters a-o-i-b-h-e should be pronounced Ava.

In the Bible, Eve is Éabha in Irish though - it's pronounced Ey-vah (ey like hey)(approximately).

uberwolf · 24-01-2005 3:11pm

siobhain gives another guide to the pronuciation of the 'bh' sound in irish, i.e as a V. I'd be tempted to soften the start of the name to aid the pronunciation.

making it an aev as opposed to eev.

masterK · 24-01-2005 11:25pm

We have decided to register her name as Ava. As much as we would like to use an Irish spelling there seems to be too much confusion about the Irish form of Ava. Thanks for all your help.

*Sinéad* · 02-02-2005 12:06pm

dbyrne wrote:

(Aoibheann is pronnounced a-veen).

Deirfainn Aoibheann mar ee-von, toisc go raibh muinteoir agam a litrigh agus a dúirt e an sli sin

Gael · 02-02-2005 6:49pm

*Sin&#233 wrote: »

Deirfainn Aoibheann mar ee-von, toisc go raibh muinteoir agam a litrigh agus a dúirt e an sli sin

Mar tá sé ceart!

An Fear Aniar · 09-02-2005 8:36pm

Aoibhe

Eva...

Gael · 11-02-2005 7:11pm

An Fear Aniar wrote:

Aoibhe

Eva...

The problem is that some people would pronounce Eva, as EE-VA and others as AY-VA, with pretty much no-one pronouncing it as it's spelt, EVA.

An blas · 16-07-2007 4:44pm

We've called our daughter Aoibhe and pronounce it Ava. There. It's been done. Officially. You're all welcome to copy. Go mairfidh tu is go gcaithfidh to e.

mk.celt1888 · 29-08-2007 3:59am

An blas wrote:

We've called our daughter Aoibhe and pronounce it Ava. There. It's been done. Officially. You're all welcome to copy. Go mairfidh tu is go gcaithfidh to e.

my daughter was born september 2004 and called her aoibhe (ava) love the name love the way it sounds love the way it spelt and love the girl who has it

dame · 29-08-2007 10:29am

Correct pronunciation of Aoibhe is Eva (as in Ee-va not Ay-va)

Would you folks (who pronounce it Ay-va) like to re-invent the name Aoife too and start pronouncing if Ay-fa?

An blas · 28-09-2007 10:21pm

I've said it once and I'll say it again, we've called her Aoibhe and pronounce it Ava. It's a done deal and that makes it real. Just go with the flow 'folks'. It's a happy occasion naming your child, enjoy.

dranoel · 30-09-2007 4:52pm

Will the child be happy with a lifetime of both English and Irish speakers spelling and pronouncing her name incorrectly?

thesage · 30-09-2007 7:46pm

Perhaps more importantly, will the language enjoy being destroyed...

01-10-2007 10:01am

dranoel wrote:

Will the child be happy with a lifetime of both English and Irish speakers spelling and pronouncing her name incorrectly?

Depends on where she lives, anyway she can choose which pronounciation she would like when she meets people and introduces herself to them.

Karlusss · 09-10-2007 2:03pm

Saying you can choose how to pronounce Aoibhe any way you want is like saying you can pronounce John "yohn" if you want to. Which you can, but it's still wrong. Irish has a much more consistent orthography than English. There aren't really choices on how to pronounce things.

That said, I don't think Aoibhe is exactly a widely used name amongst the Sean-Ghael, so it's not really doing any damage to mispronounce it.

It IS Eva though, or more accurately Eeeeoveh...

monkey tennis · 09-10-2007 3:06pm

An blas wrote:

It's a done deal and that makes it real.

Doesn't make it any less incorrect.

09-10-2007 3:59pm

Going back on what I said earlier, she will be forever correcting prople on how her name is pronounced to everyone Irish speaking and english speaking.

Cionnfhaolaidh · 19-10-2007 3:13am

An blas wrote: »

I've said it once and I'll say it again, we've called her Aoibhe and pronounce it Ava. It's a done deal and that makes it real. Just go with the flow 'folks'. It's a happy occasion naming your child, enjoy.

That's the first time I've ever heard Aoibhe pronounced AVA.

Perhaps you should change the spelling of her name to "Eabha" before it's too late. Or even better, just change it to AVA :rolleyes:

NuFlyer · 15-02-2008 6:04pm

My daughter is AOIBHE. We, like the original poster here wanted her to be called AVA, but wanted it in Irish, and as there's nor 'direct' translation we used Aoibhe, as Ava & Eva are essentially the same name.
So while the purists may say it's pronounced wrong, it's the pronunciation of AVA and spelt AOIBHE. We like it, and she's 8 now and we never had any issue with it anywhere.

If you like it, use it.:)

Poll Dubh · 15-02-2008 9:36pm

We've decided to call our daughter Amelia but we want to make it Irish even though its not an Irish name coz we're so proud of our heritage. We've come up with calling her Amelia and spelling it Amadán.

Múinteoir · 16-02-2008 8:11pm

Poll Dubh wrote: »

We've decided to call our daughter Amelia but we want to make it Irish even though its not an Irish name coz we're so proud of our heritage. We've come up with calling her Amelia and spelling it Amadán.

How romantic.

Suzywuzy · 26-02-2008 3:52pm

Yeah, I'd go with Eva !

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 7:12pm

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 1:40pm

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 2:21pm

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 3:13pm

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

arse..biscuits · 19-10-2008 3:31pm

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 3:57pm

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 4:11pm

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 4:33pm

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 4:34pm

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

superhooper · 19-10-2008 4:47pm

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 9:36pm

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 9:36pm

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 9:42pm

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*

Pronounciation of Name Aoibhe

Comments