Pronounciation of Name Aoibhe

Agus · 30-10-2008 9:24pm

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 1:17am

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 6:02pm

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 3:44pm

My name is Aoibheann and I pronounce it "even"

craoltoir · 09-12-2009 4:03pm

Agus tá an ceart agat.

And you are right.

usitwisely · 30-04-2010 4:13pm

aoibhe is my name and I say it like Aoife.

People say it should be like aoibheann and be like Eva but its Aoife for me so you choose.

WolfpactVI · 03-05-2010 8:17pm

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I have a question regarding Ava/Éabha. While it seems widely acknowledged that "Éabha" is pronounced "AY-vah", what confuses me is that I have never seen "bha" pronounced as a "v". I thought only "bh" plus a slender vowel was a "v" sound, while "bh" plus a broad vowel was a "w" sound. So how is it that the "bha" in "Éabha" is a "v" sound?

Thanks!

cathy01 · 17-09-2011 9:05am

Another one thinking of Ava , but Id like it in Irish, can I safely say its Éabha"
Thanks,Cathy

deirdremf · 17-09-2011 11:47am

cathy01 wrote: »

Another one thinking of Ava , but Id like it in Irish, can I safely say its Éabha"
Thanks,Cathy

Pronunciation is as close as you'll get, although some people pronounce the bh as w, others pronounce it v.
Properly speaking though, Éabha is the Biblical character Eve:
clann Éabha = Éabha/Eve's family i.e. the human race.

ildaite · 20-09-2011 11:50am

I'd say Eva. Aoi= eeee, or weee

Some examples:

Aoife
Caoimhe
Aoihbeann
aoine
caoi
spraoi
laois
aois....

sr, srl... definitely eeeva.

Bebo stunnah · 03-12-2011 2:18am

simu wrote: »

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

But is Éanna isn't Ey-nah... it's pronounced Ay-nah... so?

I think it all depends on the area, and alot of Irish words are just adapted to sound like whatever ya want... Just look at the Irish for phone and television!

Insect Overlord · 03-12-2011 2:27am

Bebo stunnah wrote: »

But is Éanna isn't Ey-nah... it's pronounced Ay-nah... so?

I think it all depends on the area, and alot of Irish words are just adapted to sound like whatever ya want... Just look at the Irish for phone and television!

Guthán is widely used for "phone", but that's beside the point.

The root "tele" comes from Greek, as does the word "phone", while "vision" has Latin roots. English borrowed the words from other languages, so suggesting Irish is flawed for doing the same thing is a poor argument.

mr chips · 03-12-2011 12:40pm

deirdremf wrote: »

... some people pronounce the bh as w, others pronounce it v.

Hadn't spotted this thread before, and while the wider discussion throws up some interesting insights into people's approach and attitude towards the language, this post caught the interest of my inner "Geek na Gaeilge".

Please bear in mind that I'm not a native speaker, but many years after getting my degree in a couple of other languages, I did the NUI diploma in Irish (and got 84%, go me!) and I am a daily speaker of the Ulster dialect, both at home and at work. This means that I'm generally confident of my grammar and pronunciation - BUT none of us is perfect and I'm always open to learning from someone more knowledgeable/expert than me. Anything I write here is informed by all that.

Pronunciation of "bh" in Irish is governed by the vowels in the word that precede/follow it, i.e. good old broad & slender.

Bhí mé - pronounced with a V sound as it is followed by a slender vowel.
Ní bheidh mé - ditto.
Sibh - ditto

Bhailigh mé - pronounced with a W sound as it is followed by a broad vowel.
An bhó - ditto
Bhur bpáistí - ditto

This is why, for example - and without being judgmental - the OP's daughter's name Aoibhe would normally be pronounced as something like "Eeveh" (please allow for obvious limitations to how Irish pronunciations can be expressed in writing in English).

Words containing "mh" are pretty much the same:
Mhínigh mé - pronounced with a V sound as it is slender
Mhéadaigh siad - ditto
but
A Mháirtín
an mhóid
an mhuc
- are all pronounced with a W sound as they are all followed by broad vowels.

Where there can be a slight grey area is at the end of a word, rather than at the beginning or middle.
Garbh - often pronounced "garruv" (or an approximation thereof!) but technically should be along the lines of "garrú".
Sliabh - same idea as Garbh, should really be pronounced a bit like "slee-oo", rather than the English word "sleeve" that most people seem to use.

Of course, dialectic differences mean that people in e.g. Dingle might say "ag déanav", whereas here in Ulster it's "ag déanoo" (which of course is the best way to say it

).

Comedic one-upmanship aside, of course there are exceptions in practice, and I have to admit it's occasionally hard for me to be sure when the exceptions are down to very commonly used, but nevertheless incorrect pronunciations (thanks to our historical butchering of the language in classrooms around the country) or to accepted dialectic variations. So in response to WolfpactIV's question above, I would pronounce Éabha as something approaching "Aywa/Ayawa" - if you assume that the "Ay" part rhymes with "day".

deirdremf · 03-12-2011 6:04pm

mr chips wrote: »

Please bear in mind that I'm not a native speaker, but many years after getting my degree in a couple of other languages, I did the NUI diploma in Irish (and got 84%, go me!) and I am a daily speaker of the Ulster dialect, both at home and at work. This means that I'm generally confident of my grammar and pronunciation - BUT none of us is perfect and I'm always open to learning from someone more knowledgeable/expert than me. Anything I write here is informed by all that.

That's the point, in Ulster and Connacht, BH before A, O or U would be like a W.
Not so in Munster, where it is more of a V.

Historically, the Munster pronunciation is claimed to be the correct one, up until I think, the 16th century, when W began to come into use. (I could be wrong about the date)

Pronunciation of "bh" in Irish is governed by the vowels in the word that precede/follow it, i.e. good old broad & slender.

Bhí mé - pronounced with a V sound as it is followed by a slender vowel.
Ní bheidh mé - ditto.
Sibh - ditto

Bhailigh mé - pronounced with a W sound as it is followed by a broad vowel.
An bhó - ditto
Bhur bpáistí - ditto
...
Where there can be a slight grey area is at the end of a word, rather than at the beginning or middle.
Garbh - often pronounced "garruv" (or an approximation thereof!) but technically should be along the lines of "garrú".
Sliabh - same idea as Garbh, should really be pronounced a bit like "slee-oo", rather than the English word "sleeve" that most people seem to use.

Of course, dialectic differences mean that people in e.g. Dingle might say "ag déanav", whereas here in Ulster it's "ag déanoo" (which of course is the best way to say it ).

Good summary, but the why is missing! It is, as I said above, down to dialectal differences.

So in response to WolfpactIV's question above, I would pronounce Éabha as something approaching "Aywa/Ayawa" - if you assume that the "Ay" part rhymes with "day".

And that would be true in Ulster and Connacht.

Now, how about the name Sadhbh? How should that be pronounced????

mr chips · 03-12-2011 11:21pm

AFAIK the "dh" in Sadhbh effectively acts like the letter i (same as in "fadhb"), which would mean the name being pronounced like "Saibh" - however I'm open to correction on this!

Munster pronunciation the correct one? How very dare you!

Insect Overlord · 04-12-2011 12:45am

deirdremf wrote: »

Now, how about the name Sadhbh? How should that be pronounced????

Isn't that pronounced "sow" (as in a female pig) + v in Scotland?

Aard · 04-12-2011 1:08am

Sadhbh is pronounced the same as its anglicisation "Sive" (as in the John B Keane play).

Insect Overlord · 04-12-2011 1:17am

Aard wrote: »

Sadhbh is pronounced the same as its anglicisation "Sive" (as in the John B Keane play).

Ní bhíonn sé i gcónaí.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFlHO3r9UBk

unhappy holly · 15-12-2011 1:30am

I think Éibhe is most accurate?!?

Aard · 15-12-2011 7:50pm

Yeah, but "Éabha" is actually a name. "Éibhe" isn't...

unhappy holly · 15-12-2011 8:18pm

but it could be i mean if harper 7 is a name now.. .

BeidhArLaLinn · 07-03-2012 1:39pm

Aoibhe - ay-vuh (no emphasis on e)
Aoibhé - ay-vee (emphasis on e)
Aoibha - ay-voh (no emphasis on a)
Aoibhá - ay-va (emphasis on a)

Aoife is generally pronounced eef-ah, but by rule of grammar the same emphasis would apply if a fada is used.

GaedhealGlas · 20-03-2012 2:52am

BeidhArLaLinn wrote: »

Aoibhe - ay-vuh (no emphasis on e)
Aoibhé - ay-vee (emphasis on e)
Aoibha - ay-voh (no emphasis on a)
Aoibhá - ay-va (emphasis on a)

Aoife is generally pronounced eef-ah, but by rule of grammar the same emphasis would apply if a fada is used.

Aoibhe is "ee-vuh" /i:v'ə/
"Aoibhé", "Aoibha" & "Aoibhá" do not exist.

BeidhArLaLinn · 20-03-2012 5:54pm

GaedhealGlas wrote: »

Aoibhe is "ee-vuh" /i:v'ə/
"Aoibhé", "Aoibha" & "Aoibhá" do not exist.

I was merely trying to point out where the emphasis lies when using a fada. They may not "exist" but people are free to come up with whatever name they like.
My apologies if I in any way offended your intelligence.

Insect Overlord · 21-03-2012 2:01am

BeidhArLaLinn wrote: »

I was merely trying to point out where the emphasis lies when using a fada. They may not "exist" but people are free to come up with whatever name they like.
My apologies if I in any way offended your intelligence.

This thread has truly ventured into the realm of the ridiculous. The OP was looking for help to pronounce a name that does exist, not a list of made up names.

Thread locked.

Pronounciation of Name Aoibhe

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