We have a 2.5 year old named [name]Mair[/name]éad Líadan and we would prefer if all of our children were traditional Irish or Scottish Gaelic names. We have had our hearts set on “[name]Eilidh[/name]” since we named our first daughter for the next girl, but it maybe we had the pronunciation wrong.
We like it “Eye-[name]Lee[/name]” not “Ay-[name]Lee[/name]”. I’ve been scouring the internet for the appropriate Gaelic letter combination to make it sound like we like it to. I think “Aillidh” is it (since AI in front of double “L” makes the sound that the letter “Y” makes in the English word “[name]Sky[/name]”). But I can’t find Aillidh pronounced online anywhere!
I have seen [name]Eilidh[/name] pronounced like we prefer online, but I just want to be certain we aren’t butchering the classic name. And no, we don’t want to Americanize the name, we want it to be truly Scottish.
On a side note, we also need boys name ideas (we don’t know what we are having yet) and we like old or obscure Gaelic names. Thank you for reading all this and posting!
Oh I love Irish names too, especially [name]Mair[/name]éad!
If this helps, my mother’s name was [name]Eilish[/name] and she was from Co Armagh, she and her siblings said ‘Ay-lish’ but many people from other parts of [name]Ireland[/name], such as my aunt from [name]Kerry[/name], say ’ Ee-lish’; my point is that there are very different accents and pronunciations within [name]Ireland[/name] and as much local variety as between say Mississippi and [name]New[/name] [name]York[/name] so I think it is quite possible for both to be ‘right’, you could try your local Irish club for further suggestions but I it is possible that both versions you have read are authentic…in different parts of [name]Ireland[/name].
[name]Eilidh[/name] is Scottish though. I’ve only heard it as ‘ay-lee’.
Wikipedia suggests that this: ài, is the combination of letters that makes the ‘eye’ sound which suggests that Àilidh (with accent) is the list of sounds you’re after. However, this isn’t a real name. So if you want something genuinely Gaelic I’d go with [name]Eilidh[/name].
I love the prn Eye-lee, but [name]Eilidh[/name] is ay-lee (I use the spelling Ailey or Isley for Eye-lee). Of course, in [name]America[/name], it wouldn’t really matter much, since no one will be able to pronounce it on their first try anyways (except name nerds and those who are Scottish).
Sorry to be the clueless one but how do you pronounce [name]Mair[/name]éad Líadan? it looks really beautiful! someone suggested a way to make the ‘eye-lee’ pronounciation i know its not a really name but still beautiful and new names are being invented all the time! [name]Vanessa[/name] was invented! What is wrong with inventing a name lol
Thank you all for your input! When I first came across the name [name]Eilidh[/name] the pronunciation in the book said “ay-lee” and I must have thought “ay” was “aye” and had mispronounced it for a long time. So I fell in love with the sound of “eye-lee”, and I’ve never been a fan of [name]Hayley[/name], so “ay-lee” kind of puts me off of the name. My mother’s name is [name]Helen[/name] though, so [name]Eilidh[/name] was perfect, and when we thought it was “eye-lee” it was similar to [name]Eileen[/name], which is my husband’s grandmother’s name. It became our instant favorite name for a girl (after [name]Mair[/name]éad. We felt it was more a younger sister name, and [name]Mair[/name]éad was an older sister name).
So we have to intentionally misspell it (which makes me sad, I don’t want to invent a new name, nor do I like alternate spellings [for us! I don’t mind some for other people!]) or intentionally mispronounce it, with good reason (the my mother, his grandmother reason). I think the only way we can use [name]Eilidh[/name] as “ay-lee” would be if we had twins, and one was [name]Eilidh[/name] and one was [name]Islay[/name] ([name]Isla[/name]).
By the way, [name]Mair[/name]éad is pronounced like parade but with an “m” instead of “p”. Liadan is pronounced very much how it is spelled ([name]Lee[/name]-uh-din).
[name]Isla[/name] (eye-la) seems so perfect for you, as does [name]Iona[/name] (eye-oh-na). Is [name]Isla[/name] too mainstream for you? It is Scottish and just so sweet.
E initial and Scottish makes me think of [name]Elspeth[/name], which has a gentle vintage sound to me, but with just a touch of spunkiness.
ee-sound suggests [name]Aoife[/name], (ee-fa) which is beautiful and well-matched to [name]Mair[/name]éad, and I’m guessing “difficult” pronunciations don’t bother you?
I’ll second the suggestion of [name]Eilish[/name] (I’ve always heard it pronounced “EYE-lish”, as in [name]Eileen[/name], but yes, there is lots of regional variation). It’s the Irish version of [name]Elisabeth[/name], so fits very well alongside [name]Mairead[/name] as a variation of [name]Margaret[/name].
I love rare, vintage names (of the Celtic, Scottish, Irish and Welsh varieties especially)! It it much more about how they sound, and what they mean rather than spellings. Although, I do love the really out there type of spellings [name]Isla[/name] is a tad too mainstream, I would prefer my children to all be the only one in their classes at least with their names (I was always the only [name]Scarlett[/name] in my entire school. Now it is gaining in popularity though). I am not a fan of names that I hear regularly (or more than a hand full of times, ha ha!). Deglán was our favorite boys name, but I hear [name]Declan[/name] is in the top 100 now
Have you considered Eibhlín? It is pronounced the same way as [name_f]Eileen[/name_f], being the original version of the name, and Eibhli / Aillidh could be a nickname.
Best of luck!
