How would you pronounce Aoife?

Girl Names
1

I want to name one of the major characters in my book [name_f]Aoife[/name_f] but I’m concerned about how people would pronounce it.

[name_m]How[/name_m] would you pronounce it if you had to guess (or if you know)?

2

Like [name_f]Eva[/name_f], only with a slight F sound to the V. That’s how I think of it, anyway - as far as I know, it’s just supposed to be a V sound.

3

EE-fa is the pronunciation.

4

EE-fah! A gorgeous name.

5

Ee-fa - I’ve met a few and that’s how they’ve pronounced it

6

I would pronounce it ee-fa but depending on where you’re located I could imagine some people being unfamiliar with the name and not knowing how to pronounce it.

7

EE-fuh, but only since being on NB. Otherwise I really wouldn’t have a clue. :smiley:

8

I know it’s EE-fuh because of the character in the show Lost Girl. Otherwise I would have no idea, to be honest. (I live on the east coast of the US if that’s relevant.)

9

I only know how to pronounce it because I looked it up. when I first saw the name, I had no idea how to say it (I’m also on the east coast of the US!)

however, I think it’s a beautiful name and you should definitely use it. I’m sure if someone didn’t know how to pronounce it, they’d just google it.

10

EE-fah. :stuck_out_tongue: It might be better to poll non-name-nerd friends, though, as opposed to Nameberry. I think more of us are familiar with [name_f]Aoife[/name_f] than the average [name_m]Joe[/name_m] would be. :stuck_out_tongue:

11

Ee-fah, w/only the tiniest -ah- sound. I only knew that because of reading [name_f]Patricia[/name_f] Keannally-[name_m]Morrison[/name_m]'s Kelts in Space books. :slight_smile:

12

My first instinct is always to pronounce it A-OH-[name_u]FEE[/name_u]

13

Ee-fah - but that’s only because I’ve seen the name before. I think if I was seeing it written for the first time Ee-fah would not be my instinctive pronunciation.

14

I pronounce it Ee-fa. :slight_smile:

15

EE-fa, but I only know that because of Nameberry. I think a lot of non name nerds/people who don’t know basic Gaelic pronunciation would get it wrong.

16

That’s how I thought it was pronounced for a long time. [name_m]Even[/name_m] now I still want to say AY-fee when I see it.

17

I know it’s EE-fah because of Nameberry. However, my mind still hears aye-OH-fee when I see it and that would have been my best guess if I had never been exposed to its proper pronunciation here.

18

It’s pronounced ee-fuh!

[name_f]Aoibhe[/name_f] would be [name_f]Eva[/name_f]. ‘bh’ makes a v sound.

19

It’s pronounced Ee-fuh.

It’s an Irish name so ‘ao’ sounds like ‘ee’, and the ‘f’ is the same as english hence the pronunciation Ee-fuh.

For the v sound you would expect to see a b or m, like in [name_f]Siobhan[/name_f] ([name_f]Shavonne[/name_f]) and [name_f]Niamh[/name_f] (nee-av/neev).

[name_f]Eva[/name_f] would be the english version of [name_f]Aoife[/name_f] it’s just slightly different.

20

I have a few friends called Aofie and they all pronounce it as Ee-Fuh.