Irish baby names are so gorgeous and loved in Ireland, but as popular as they may be here, some still confuse people around the world with their spellings and their pronunciations.
This can be a bit of a headache for people with Irish baby names who may well wish they were just named Emma or Paul, but we as parents can’t stop using these traditional names – they are just too beautiful.
Below are 16 girl and boy names that are very common here in Ireland (you are likely to know more than a few Aoifes or Eoghans), but the pronunciation still causes problems for the rest of the world.
Irish baby names that confuse the rest of the world: Girls
Aoife
It is pronounced ‘ee-fa’, but you are more likely to hear something like ‘ay-if’.
Aoibheann
Pronounced ‘ay-veen’ or ‘ee-veen’ (we don’t make it easy as pronunciation differs depending on where you are), it is often mispronounced as ‘a-bean’.
Sadhbh
While this gorgeous name looks complicated, it is pronounced ‘Sive’; it may be mispronounced as ‘sad-be’.
Caoimhe
Such a simple and popular name, here it is pronounced ‘queeva’ or ‘keeva’, but you are more likely to get called ‘kay-ohm-he’.
Gráinne
This is an ancient and mythological name which is pronounced ‘grawn-ya’, but people may think your name in ‘graine’ or ‘granny’.
Meadhbh/ Maebh
The anglicised ‘Maeve’ is soaring in popularity around the world, but if you use the Irish spelling, you are likely to be mistakenly called ‘mead’ or ‘meab’.
Órfhlaith/Orlaith
Although this is the traditional way to spell Orla, people will likely pronounce it something like ‘or-fla’ or ‘or-lith’.
Niamh
This name is oh, so popular and simple, the anglicised Neeve is commonly in the US, but the Irish Niamh is often mispronounced to ‘nim’.
Irish baby names that confuse the rest of the world: Boys
Tadhg
This name, pronounced ‘tige’, has become popular in recent years but is often mispronounced to ‘tag’.
Pádraig
Pronounced ‘paw-ric’, not ‘poddrig’.
Oisín
This sweet name is pronounced ‘uh-sheen’, but is confused for the word ‘ocean’ at times.
Ruaidhri
We can understand that the letters are confusing, leading people to mispronounce this name as ‘rud-re’, but it is simply pronounced ‘rue-ree’.
Eoghan
This common name is pronounced ‘Owen’ but is often mispronounced as ‘egan’ – we can see why, to be fair.
Odhran
Another newly resurfaced in popularity and fairly confusing name, it is pronounced ‘oh-ran’.
Domhnall
You would think that with the fame of Domhnall Gleeson that this name would be easier to pronounce, but no, it is often mispronounced as ‘dom-nal’ (it’s ‘dough-nall’).
Donnacha
This name, pronounced ‘don-acka’, has become popular in recent years but is often pronounced as ‘don-cha’.
*This article was originally published on RollerCoaster.ie.