We’re expecting our first boy in [name_f]September[/name_f]. Before we were even pregnant, my husband and I decided his name will be [name_m]Eoin[/name_m]. Since we are not sharing this name with family or close friends before the birth I would like to know what everyone’s first impression is. Specifically, how do you think it’s pronounced? Two years ago when we named our daughter [name_f]Chara[/name_f] we thought the pronunciation was obvious. Her name is the Greek word for “joy,” and coincidentally is also the Irish Gaelic word for “friend” in the Connacht dialect. It is pronounced like other words borrowed from Greek into English, such as [name_u]Christmas[/name_u], chorus, psychology, charisma, etc. In our eagerness to assure ourselves that the “ch” is often pronounced like a “k” in English, we overlooked the pronunciations of [name_m]Charles[/name_m] and [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]. But no one else has. Nurses who read her name pronounce it like [name_m]Charles[/name_m] instead of Character. The pronunciation issue isn’t such a big deal to me, since my own name is mispronounced a lot, but I would like to be able to anticipate how [name_m]Eoin[/name_m]’s name will be mis/pronounced (or any other issues that may come up) so I can have a helpful explanation ready.
[name_m]Eoin[/name_m] is an Irish variant of [name_m]John[/name_m]. Does it help if I say the “e” is silent? His name is pronounced exactly like “owen.” It may be helpful to know we live in the Midwest of the United States and not the British Isles where this name is better known.
Reasons we like this name:
Great meaning: [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] means “Yahweh is gracious” and indeed God has been gracious to us this past year.
It’s Irish: my husband fell in love with all things Irish, and especially Irish names when he met his biological father a few years ago and discovered he had Irish roots.
Family naming tradition: nearly every generation of my family has had someone named [name_m]John[/name_m] in it, from the ancestor who immigrated to my youngest nephew. I am delighted that our son can participate in this naming tradition without actually having the overused name. It also honors my husband whose middle name is [name_m]Ian[/name_m], the Scottish form of [name_m]John[/name_m]. (unfortunately my husband doesn’t like his middle name enough to give it to one of our children.)
Bible name: While [name_m]Sean[/name_m], [name_u]Shane[/name_u], and [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] are all variants of [name_m]John[/name_m] from Irish Gaelic, [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] is the one used in the Irish translation of the Bible. Also I don’t like [name_m]Sean[/name_m] and [name_u]Shane[/name_u] as names for personal reasons.
[name_m]Cross[/name_m]-cultural: Since [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] is a Bible name it has already been translated into multiple languages. The Russians can call him [name_m]Ivan[/name_m] and in [name_f]China[/name_f] he can go by [name_f]Yue[/name_f] Han.
It’s a compromise: My husband really likes Irish names with the original spellings. I vetoed [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f] for our first child because I thought the pronunciation was too far removed from the spelling for an English speaker to figure out. But [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] seems a little more intuitive than say, [name_f]Aine[/name_f] or [name_f]Eibhlin[/name_f].
It’s short: yes, our son will always have to spell his name, but he only has to say four letters.
It passes the “starbucks test?”: Barristas don’t have to spell the name correctly in order to say it correctly. I don’t think I’ll be upset if my son’s name is spelled “o-w-e-n” on a disposable cup. (We don’t want to spell it as “[name_u]Owen[/name_u]” because the names are completely different with different roots. [name_u]Owen[/name_u] is the Welsh variant of the Greek “[name_m]Eugene[/name_m]” meaning well born and not another variant of [name_m]John[/name_m].)
When my husband first introduced me to this name I thought it looked really strange and wanted to sing “Old [name_m]Macdonald[/name_m] had a farm E-I-E-I-O” but over the last few months of thinking about it as our son’s name it has become familiar to the point of ordinary. So I need some fresh eyes, what do you think about this name?
My first instinct was ay-oh-in (kind of like Eowyn), but if you told people it’s pronounced like Owen, I don’t think it would take them long to catch on. I love all the meaning surrounding the name for you.
(And yes, I also thought Chara was pronounced like the word “char.”)
I thought it was a misspelled version of [name_m]Ian[/name_m]. Then again, I’m not overly familiar with Irish names/pronunciation. If it means that much to you, then sure…use it.
I too thought it was a variation of [name_m]Ian[/name_m].
I can see how it is Ówen though, now that you’ve explained the Irish roots. If you love it, I say go for it.
You’ve put a lot of thought into it, and honestly it’s not a difficult/long/obscure name, so it may only take a couple of corrections for people to catch on.
I love the spelling [name_m]Eoin[/name_m]. I think most are confusing it with [name_m]Eion[/name_m], which is the variation of [name_m]Ian[/name_m]. There was a guy I went to school with whose name was pronounced “[name_u]Owen[/name_u]” but was spelled [name_m]Eoghan[/name_m]. It’s a really cool name!
I knew how to pronounce it because of the actor [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] Macken. If I didn’t know about him I probably would pronounce it wrong, but it will be like that for your son too. Once people know him, they will know how to spell his name. I think it’s a really good name, unusual but strong and sounds lovely with [name_f]Chara[/name_f].
I quite like it, but I also really like [name_m]Eamon[/name_m], [name_m]Ewan[/name_m], [name_f]Niamh[/name_f], [name_f]Caitriona[/name_f], and [name_f]Caoimhe[/name_f], all of which are not intuitive for American speakers either, so I’m probably a little biased. lol If you love it, go for it. People will learn how to spell and pronounce it. Also, FWIW, not all American’s instinctively pronounce your daughter’s name like [name_m]Charles[/name_m]. I thought it was pronounced like CAR-uh rather than CARE-uh, but I did realize the ‘h’ was silent. xD
I was familiar with the name [name_m]Eoin[/name_m], though I thought it was pronounced like [name_m]Ian[/name_m] for years before learning it’s like [name_u]Owen[/name_u].
Also I thought [name_u]Owen[/name_u] is just an anglizised spelling of [name_m]Eoin[/name_m]?
My first impression is that it’s irish. So I’d assume that the boy is irish or of irish heritage.
But…
You’ve listed so many reasons why this is the name for you, you should really just go ahead and use it.
I would assume it is said like “ow-en” or “you-in”.
I find your story interesting, as my name is [name_f]Karrah[/name_f] - my parents chose to use the K instead of the Greek “ch” because they were worried of the issue you describe. It’s sad how people don’t know how name pronunciation works.
My very first impression… is that I wasn’t sure if the spelling was referring to [name_m]Ian[/name_m] or [name_m]Ewan[/name_m]. I’m just not familiar with that spelling. On the other hand, I really like the names [name_m]Ian[/name_m] and [name_m]Ewan[/name_m] anyway.
You’ve put so much thought into it so I’d say go for it. My first guess was Ee-oyn. Honestly with the amount of babies called [name_m]Jaxton[/name_m], Alyviah or [name_f]Nevaeh[/name_f] [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] isn’t too bad.
I thought [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] was a variant of [name_m]Ian[/name_m] and pronounced like [name_m]Ian[/name_m] too. I would personally go with [name_u]Owen[/name_u] unless you really hate that spelling, there’ll be less spelling/pronunciation issues and the meaning of a name isn’t the most important thing in the end. That being said, I don’t think [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] is unworkable. After awhile you learn how people are likely to mispronounce it and if someone calls him [name_m]Ian[/name_m] he can just say no it’s like [name_u]Owen[/name_u], it’s an Irish name, and people will get it pretty quickly.
I also thought [name_f]Chara[/name_f] had the “ch” sound like [name_m]Charles[/name_m]. English is a weird language, it could be “ch” like in [name_m]Charles[/name_m], “sh” like in [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], or “k” like in [name_f]Chloe[/name_f], and they’re all very common names! (Not that those names are English in origin, but English names as in commonly used by English speakers.)
I saw it as Ee- oy-n, but I’ve never seen the name before now and I’m not very good with Irish names. If I’d had to guess at another pronunciation I would have said [name_m]Ian[/name_m].
I also would have pronounced [name_f]Chara[/name_f] as [name_f]Shara[/name_f].
Well, I like the sound of it (i have an [name_u]Owen[/name_u]). I actually jokingly call my son ee-oyn sometimes, as well as e-yo-gan for [name_m]Eoghan[/name_m] (I call him a lot of ridiculous things). I guess I forgot that [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] is actually a [name_m]John[/name_m] variant and not related. But I did know [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] is pronounced like [name_u]Owen[/name_u].
Anyway… it seems like you are pretty set with the name, and for many good reasons. I would expect some frowns in the beginning. But since you already say the h is silent for [name_f]Chara[/name_f], should be easy enough to say the E is silent for [name_m]Eoin[/name_m]. I think [name_f]Chara[/name_f] and [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] are a charming set.