How would you pronounce this?

Murraydog

I need help.  We have it narrowed down to 2 names for our little girl.  We are going to wait until she's here before we actually name her and have vowed not to tell a soul what our name options are so I'm even hesitant to put them on here..........but I'm hung up on the pronunciation of one of them.........

 Aoife

traditionally it's pronounced Ee-fa but I would rather pronounce it A-fa.........

 Can we do that or will we get hasseled too much about pronouncing it wrong? 

chouli77

I think only truly Irish people would get hung up on it. But most people will need prompting on how to pronounce it anyway so you have the opportunity to tell them what you want.

Murraydog

chouli77:

I think only truly Irish people would get hung up on it. But most people will need prompting on how to pronounce it anyway so you have the opportunity to tell them what you want.

 That's the problem.......I come from a big know it all Irish family...............

chouli77

Murraydog:

chouli77:

I think only truly Irish people would get hung up on it. But most people will need prompting on how to pronounce it anyway so you have the opportunity to tell them what you want.

 That's the problem.......I come from a big know it all Irish family...............

Yeah, you're gonna have problems. If you really like the sound of A-fa. Play around with different phonetic spellings of it and see if there's one you like. Invent a new name.

pawcall

Murraydog:

I need help.  We have it narrowed down to 2 names for our little girl.  We are going to wait until she's here before we actually name her and have vowed not to tell a soul what our name options are so I'm even hesitant to put them on here..........but I'm hung up on the pronunciation of one of them.........

 Aoife

traditionally it's pronounced Ee-fa but I would rather pronounce it A-fa.........

 Can we do that or will we get hasseled too much about pronouncing it wrong? 

How would I pronounce it?  Like this: "umm, what?"

Seriously, if you want to use it, pronounce it however you want.  Assuming you don't live in Ireland, next to no one will have a clue how to say it, and will ask you and follow your lead.

ETA: left to my own devices, I'd probably say "oy-fuh" or "I-fuh" with a long I sound.  IDK why.  

But I just read your response about your family and it sounds like if you're going to use an irish name you should expect your irish family to pronounce it properly.  If you don't like that pronunciation, I'd pick a different name.

misscharlotte04

I would have no clue how to pronounce it either, so I would say it however I was prompted. If I was trying to figure it out on my own I would probably wind up pronouncing it similar to "Effie".

plunderb

Maybe it's just because I live in Boston, but I think this would be a problem. A lot of people around here are familiar with Aoife and would think you were strange (or worse ? a poser) for changing the pronunciation.

Why would you choose a name if you don't actually like that name? If you like AY-fa, name your daughter Ayfa or Aipha. You're already making up a name ? why tie it to a spelling that doesn't match?

You might also consider similar names like Aphra or Afton.

k*princess

I wouldn't even know how to pronounce it to begin with, so you would have to tell me anyway and therefore give me the pronunciation you want.

However, there are plenty of places (like pp from Boston) who may be familiar with the name, and know how to pronounce it correctly. Also, your family is Irish, and therefore also knows the correct pronunciation. So I think changing it would probably be an issue. 

CrazyToast

I met a student this last year named Aoife (pronounced Eee-fah).  I had NO clue how to pronounce it.  She could have told me anything and I would have believed it. 

J+R

I would have said it completely wrong... I would have thought it was "Oll-fee"

HappyMrsK

I think if you have Irish family members you should stick with the Irish pronounciation. Most Americans will not have a clue how to pronounce this name, but your family will. I think it's a beautiful name though. If you don't like the Ee-fa pronounciation I would choose a different name.

I'mAcrossThePond

If you want A-fa...why not just go with Ava...sounds very similar.

If you have an Irish family, then it's going to be a pain to "correct" them on the pronunciation, when you aren't really pronouncing it correctly.

I'd also be afraid that later in life, when DD comes across someone that KNOWS the correct pronunciation, and she tells them it's pronounced differently, they might do a little eye roll thinking how "dumb" her parents must have been for mis-pronouncing her name from birth. 

I'd be like someone named Melissa telling people that her name is pronounced Mi-leeza -- we all know Melissa is pronounced Mi-lissa.