My husband and I really like the name Irish name Niamh (pronounced Neve) but recently we really like Neva but we would prefer the Irish spelling. We were just wondering if it would be Niamhe? I know it’s up to us what way we spell the name but would like to make sure it’s right.
Thanks
I am not a fluent Irish speaker by any means, but I did have some classes years ago. One of the things I remember is that Irish has “broad” and “slender” vowels, and a broad vowel should always be flanked by a broad vowel, and likewise for a slender vowel. “A” is a broad vowel and “E” is a slender vowel. So I don’t believe Niamhe would be orthographically “correct”. I would suggest Niamha instead.
This link explains it far better than I could.
What this means is that, with the exception of a few older compound words, within any given word, if there is an “i” or “e” on one side of a consonant (or consonant group), there will be an “i” or “e” on the other side as well, and the consonant is said to be “slender.”
Are you pronouncing [name_f]Neva[/name_f] neeev-uh or nehv-uh?
Initially we were thinking it would of been Niamha but we were thinking as [name_f]Caoimhe[/name_f] was similar pronunciation it would be an ‘e’ but again we have no idea.
Would be neeev-uh
Thanks for you responses 