[name_u]Baby[/name_u] is just a few months away and husband and I can’t seem to get on the same page. I am American, he is from [name_f]Ireland[/name_f] and we live in [name_m]Boston[/name_m]. He is pretty adamant about giving our little girl (1st child) a traditional Irish name, I just can’t seem to warm up to his picks. His top choices are: [name_f]Grainne[/name_f], [name_f]Aoife[/name_f], Fionnoula, [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] and [name_f]Niamh[/name_f]. Mine are [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f], [name_f]Zoey[/name_f], [name_f]Lila[/name_f] and [name_f]Naomi[/name_f].
I love [name_f]Aoife[/name_f] and [name_f]Maeve[/name_f]. Especially [name_f]Maeve[/name_f], and the fact that he’s fine spelling it [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] instead of [name_f]Maebh[/name_f] seems like a great compromise already. That said, I love [name_f]Lila[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f]. I don’t think [name_f]Finola[/name_f] [name_f]Zoey[/name_f] flows as well, but [name_f]Finola[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] or [name_f]Finola[/name_f] [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f] would be nice… nickname [name_f]Nola[/name_f]??
I understand his preference for traditional names, going on his heritage, but maybe something to think about is how in [name_u]America[/name_u], names like [name_f]Niamh[/name_f] and [name_f]Aoife[/name_f], will be difficult to be pronounced? I really truly understand his desire (agree because these names are special and uniqe), and I love that you want to do it to, so coming together and discussing that maybe finding some more phonetic spellings for some names (such as ‘[name_f]Neeva[/name_f]’ [name_f]Niamh[/name_f] and ‘Ifa’ [name_f]Aoife[/name_f])? I love the suggestions of [name_f]Lila[/name_f] [name_f]Mave[/name_f] and [name_f]Finola[/name_f] [name_f]Zoey[/name_f]!
Here’s a little list of other Irish names, that are a little less hard on pronouncing haha!
[name_f]Brona[/name_f]
[name_f]Saoirse[/name_f] or [name_f]Sorcha[/name_f]
[name_f]Deirdre[/name_f]
[name_f]Bidelia[/name_f]
[name_f]Brenna[/name_f]
[name_f]Ceara[/name_f]
[name_u]Dara[/name_u] or [name_u]Darragh[/name_u]
[name_f]Kiera[/name_f]
[name_u]Tiernan[/name_u]
[name_f]Neila[/name_f]
[name_f]Riona[/name_f]
[name_u]Bellamy[/name_u]
[name_u]Madigan[/name_u]
Wow I do not love his name choices!!! I don’t know how her teachers/classmates would begin to pronounce those. [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] is the only nice one. What about these?
I love [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] and [name_f]Niamh[/name_f]. They are two of my favorite names. I would spell [name_f]Niamh[/name_f], [name_f]Neve[/name_f] “neev”, and sacrifice authenticity for easier pronunciation. [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] is pretty well known and pronunciation is not an issue. My sisters daughter is [name_f]Nuala[/name_f], which is a shorter form of Finnuala. She does get Nu-uh-la instead of Noo-la, but just with people on first meeting.
[name_f]Lila[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] is adorable! Some other possibilities:
[name_f]Zoey[/name_f] [name_f]Neve[/name_f]
[name_f]Zoey[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f]
[name_f]Maeve[/name_f] [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f]
[name_f]Neve[/name_f] [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f]
[name_f]Scarlett[/name_f] [name_f]Neve[/name_f]
[name_f]Scarlett[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f]
[name_f]Maeve[/name_f] [name_f]Naomi[/name_f]
[name_f]Nuala[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f]
[name_f]Scarlett[/name_f] [name_f]Grainne[/name_f]
[name_f]Naomi[/name_f] [name_f]Aoife[/name_f]
[name_f]Neve[/name_f] [name_f]Lila[/name_f]
[name_f]Maeve[/name_f] is such a pretty name.
Personally, I adore [name_f]Ciara[/name_f] and [name_f]Siobhan[/name_f] and almost wish we had Irish heritage so I could justify giving my girl a name she’d forever be pronouncing (because I know a [name_f]Ciara[/name_f], and EVERYONE incorrectly assumes it is said “Key-era”, and while I don’t know any Siobhans it’s pretty obvious Americans aren’t going to guess that one right most of the time…)
[name_f]Finola[/name_f] is nice, and I do like [name_f]Finola[/name_f] [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f]…
I love [name_f]Maeve[/name_f]! [name_f]Lila[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] is adorable. I do love [name_f]Zoey[/name_f] too though I’m not sure how to say his other names correctly. But [name_f]Zoey[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] is cute too.
[name_f]Maeve[/name_f] is a great name. It wasn’t on the list, but I also love [name_f]Oona[/name_f]/[name_f]Una[/name_f] for a girl. I know some unas in real life. [name_u]Love[/name_u] the name.
My daughter’s name is [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] so I’m a little bit biased. Haha. I love the name. [name_f]Lila[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] sounds great. If you were open to using [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] as a first name, I think it sounds great with a longer middle name. Something like [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] [name_f]Amelia[/name_f] would be sweet.
[name_f]Maeve[/name_f] is definitely the best name you have there.
[name_f]Lila[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] is super cute, and I like [name_f]Naomi[/name_f] [name_f]Aoife[/name_f] as another combination name. It can be a little annoying having a slightly uncommon/difficult to spell name, but I love my name because it reminds me of my heritage.
[name_f]Lila[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] is cute!
[name_f]Fiona[/name_f] could be a loose variant of Fionnoula.
[name_f]Brigid[/name_f]/[name_f]Bridget[/name_f]/[name_f]Britta[/name_f] is a name with an Irish connection/history.
Sinead - a more “english/american” version could be [name_m]Cheney[/name_m] (pronounced shen-ay)
[name_f]Siobhan[/name_f] - a friend with this name ended up with the nickname [name_m]Chevy[/name_m].
[name_f]Catriona[/name_f] - Gaelic form of [name_f]Katherine[/name_f], pronounced like [name_f]Katrina[/name_f] (ka-tree-na) but I’ve also heard it be pronounced like ka-tree-oh-na
[name_f]Orla[/name_f] - means golden princess
[name_f]Roisin[/name_f] - pronounced ro-sheen, means little rose, could use nn [name_f]Rosie[/name_f]
But [name_f]Zoey[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] is cute too.