Baby Names

Caoihme

It's pronounced keeva.

I think the spelling is actually beautiful and I love the pronunciation BUT I can not see how the spelling and pronunciation work together.

Yay or nay?
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Re: Caoihme

  • I do but have strong ties but none of us have accents. And no large Irish population.
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  • Very true.
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  • I look at it and would probably say Kay-o-im-he. I would be one of those people who would butcher her name. Don't put her through a lifetime of that
  • I would also butcher that name in real life.

    However, Keeva (spelled that way) is what actress Alyson Hannigan named her younger daughter, I think it's cute (although I may be biased because I love her- the actress, not her kid!). Not sure if it is actually a legit spelling but it might be an option.
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  • I agree with PP that since you don't live in Ireland or in a community with a lot of Gaelic speakers, this name would be hard for your little girl to have.
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  • Yeah. I don't think I could put her through that either.
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  • I love it. It's one of my favorite Irish girl names.

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  • It's a beautiful name, and usually I say to hell with worrying about people mispronouncing the name, but in this case, I agree with pp. I wouldn't cut it out entirely if you absolutely love it, but since it's such an "exotic" name, I would be hesitant to use it as the first name. It could be a beautiful middle name, though.

    That being said, some people might say the same thing about my name, and I've never considered it a burden. To the contrary; I love it.

    I guess, in a roundabout way of saying it, if you truly love the name, use it. Be prepared for lots of corrections and questions and puzzled looks. If you don't want to deal with all of that or only kind of like the name, then keep looking.
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  • It's pronounced keeva.

    I think the spelling is actually beautiful and I love the pronunciation BUT I can not see how the spelling and pronunciation work together.

    Yay or nay?

    I'm from Ireland. The thing is it isn't actually pronounced kee-va, it's pronounced qu-eeva. I do know a person who is American rather than Irish (has some Irish heritage) and they named their daughter Keeva and he had Caoimhe tattooed on his arm as he mistakenly thought it was pronounced Keeva. Didn't have the heart to tell him it isn't though as it's permanent. That being said anyone can make up their own pronunciation if they so wish, it's a free world, but IMHO kind if defeats the purpose of using a traditional name if the pronunciation is invented.
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  • mjreilly2 said:


    Deardra77 said:

    It's pronounced keeva.

    I think the spelling is actually beautiful and I love the pronunciation BUT I can not see how the spelling and pronunciation work together.

    Yay or nay?

    I'm from Ireland. The thing is it isn't actually pronounced kee-va, it's pronounced qu-eeva. I do know a person who is American rather than Irish (has some Irish heritage) and they named their daughter Keeva and he had Caoimhe tattooed on his arm as he mistakenly thought it was pronounced Keeva. Didn't have the heart to tell him it isn't though as it's permanent. That being said anyone can make up their own pronunciation if they so wish, it's a free world, but IMHO kind if defeats the purpose of using a traditional name if the pronunciation is invented.

    @Deardra77 Both the Caoimhes I know from Ireland (and still live there), pronounce it /KEE-va/. From what they have told me, it is regional. There are parts of Ireland that pronounce it /qu-eeva/ or /KWEE-va/ and parts that pronounce it /KEE-va/, but neither is wrong. 

    tuh-may-toe tuh-mah-toe

    Lol tuh-May-toe would be wrong in Ireland too!

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  • vulpinivulpini member
    edited August 2014
    This will probably be a very unpopular opinion on this board, but traditional Irish spellings make my head hurt. Obviously I wouldn't bat an eye if they are actually from Ireland or have very strong ties. ;) But I think for a child born and raised in the US unless they're in a heavily Irish community, they will constantly encounter people who are completely stumped by how to spell and pronounce their names.

    This.  I'm one of those people that always butcher Irish names because I'm not familiar with the Irish alphabet.  And it is essentially a different alphabet.  Some of the letters are the same, but not all are shared with English and the pronunciations are so very different from English.  Names from every other foreign alphabet get transliterated when used in English-speaking countries so that they can be read/written/pronounced correctly by others (and because you can't legally record a name in US in Cyrillic or Arabic script). I think in most cases Irish names should be transliterated as well so the child doesn't have to correct it all the time.  They do look beautiful written in the original spellings though.
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  • I'm not a fan, mainly because the sound is similar to kiva which is a type of Native American building structure. 

    Also, I'm a horrible speller so if I knew you daughter it would take me forever to memorize the correct spelling of her name. 
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  • bromios said:
    vulpini said:
    This will probably be a very unpopular opinion on this board, but traditional Irish spellings make my head hurt. Obviously I wouldn't bat an eye if they are actually from Ireland or have very strong ties. ;) But I think for a child born and raised in the US unless they're in a heavily Irish community, they will constantly encounter people who are completely stumped by how to spell and pronounce their names.

    This.  I'm one of those people that always butcher Irish names because I'm not familiar with the Irish alphabet.  And it is essentially a different alphabet.  Some of the letters are the same, but not all are shared with English and the pronunciations are so very different from English.  Names from every other foreign alphabet get transliterated when used in English-speaking countries so that they can be read/written/pronounced correctly by others (and because you can't legally record a name in US in Cyrillic or Arabic script). I think in most cases Irish names should be transliterated as well so the child doesn't have to correct it all the time.  They do look beautiful written in the original spellings though.
    Okay, those are SO not the same thing... Irish is written in a very, very slightly modified version of the Latin alphabet that English uses. That's like saying that German names should be spelled out phonetically all the time because of the eszett and the umlaut.
    I couldn't agree more. As someone once said here, it's just dumb to spell a foreign name phonetically just so the stupid Americans can have an easy time pronouncing it. Or something like that ;)
  • bromios said:



    We're naming baby girl Niamh, but Caoimhe is just a little too much for me. It's beautiful, though.

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    It was between that and Clara. Hardest decision ever.

    No question there in my opinion! I'm so excited you chose Niamh!

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  • Threadjack! LOL. Beautiful names people
  • We an Irish name for DS. It should have been spelt Odhran but we dropped the dh and went with Oran to make it easier on him, we're not the ones that will have to spend the rest or our lives spelling and correcting pronunciation. Oran is a legit alternative but I sometimes wish we had gone with the original and kept the dh. 
  • I can appreciate that this is an Irish name that fits your family heritage, but to someone that is completely unfamiliar with this name and the pronunciation of it, beware that you and your child will have to pronounce and spell this for most people.  If I were you I would choose another name that fits your background but is easier to say/read/spell. 
  • I would never ever pronounce that properly.  I'd pronounce it similar to Naomi.

    Whether it's Keeva or Queeva I think there are much prettier names out there; Gaelic and otherwise.

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  • I do love the name. But, ask yourself something. Would you want to have every single person you meet in your life butcher you name, in spelling and pronuciation? Cause, that is what will happen to your daughter. One of the reasons my beloved Saoirse was dropped from our list.

     

     

     

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  • I do love the name. But, ask yourself something. Would you want to have every single person you meet in your life butcher you name, in spelling and pronuciation? Cause, that is what will happen to your daughter. One of the reasons my beloved Saoirse was dropped from our list.

     

     

     

    I grew up in a city with a huge Italian-American population and people still butchered my first name, Gianna (they still do but not as often). 

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  • bromios said:
    vulpini said:
    This will probably be a very unpopular opinion on this board, but traditional Irish spellings make my head hurt. Obviously I wouldn't bat an eye if they are actually from Ireland or have very strong ties. ;) But I think for a child born and raised in the US unless they're in a heavily Irish community, they will constantly encounter people who are completely stumped by how to spell and pronounce their names.

    This.  I'm one of those people that always butcher Irish names because I'm not familiar with the Irish alphabet.  And it is essentially a different alphabet.  Some of the letters are the same, but not all are shared with English and the pronunciations are so very different from English.  Names from every other foreign alphabet get transliterated when used in English-speaking countries so that they can be read/written/pronounced correctly by others (and because you can't legally record a name in US in Cyrillic or Arabic script). I think in most cases Irish names should be transliterated as well so the child doesn't have to correct it all the time.  They do look beautiful written in the original spellings though.
    Okay, those are SO not the same thing... Irish is written in a very, very slightly modified version of the Latin alphabet that English uses. That's like saying that German names should be spelled out phonetically all the time because of the eszett and the umlaut.
    Can an eszett be used in a legally recorded name with the SSA?  Or must it be spelled out phonetically using existing English characters?
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  • sorry but when i saw the post title I went "that better not be a name, looks like a kid playing with the keyboard. after i read the Irish alphabet and explanation I understand but if you're in the US i agree with pps 1. I would butcher the pronunciation and probably most americans would? 2. I would never ever remember how to spell it.
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  • When we were naming DD my husband desperately wanted to use the gaelic spelling, Maedbh (or something like that)....I immediately vetoed that idea because I knew NOBODY would be able to figure it out and to me the figuring it out starts to take away from the prettiness of the name. SO, we have Maeve...and although people still struggle a little, we only have to tell them how to pronounce/spell it once.

    Not a fan of Keeva, however you spell it, just NMS (have a cousin with a Kiva), but the gaelic spelling of it is just tooooo, confusing and complicated for most people. You should think long and hard about that before using it...she has to live with it. And despite what you may think now, you WILL get annoyed with how much time you have to take to help people pronounce and spell it. You may think you won't, but you will. Just warning you....;-)
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  • My niece is named Eilidh (Ay-lee). She is US born, as are my siblings and I, but our father is Scottish and our family has a strong Scottish identity and my niece's name honors that. Does anyone pronounce it right first time? No. Spell it right? No. And you know what? It doesn't matter one bit. It is a beautiful name that honors her heritage. Give Americans a little credit. Once you take the opportunity to educate folks, they do get it. Americans are, in fact, trainable. No one regrets the name, not my sister or my niece (though she would love to meet another Eilidh). I'm not a huge fan of the sound of this particular Gaelic name, but if you love it, go for it. It is legit. It is spelled correctly. Don't be bullied into giving up or watering down your cultural heritage just to make things easier for folks who have not been exposed to it before. But that's just my opinion. ;-)

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  • 4N6s4N6s member
    Way too hard to pronounce
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