# Spelling IRISH names!



## TheNewMrs

Hey there girls, I've been browsing this section for a while now. You ladies just LOVE the Irish names which I think is fantastic. 

ALTHOUGH...... Tonnes of you are getting the spelling horribly wrong.. :(
I don't mean to offend anyone, but if your not sure if the name you like is spelled correctly, please post it here and *I will find out for you.*

Its just a pet peeve, so I'l gladly help anyone who wants it find the correct spelling to the name they like. 

Happy Name Hunting!


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## xSarahM

I'm pretty sure i've spelt Aoife right?
Please dont tell me its wrong! :blush:


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## TheNewMrs

Sarah its definitely right! :thumbup:


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## xSarahM

TheNewMrs said:


> Sarah its definitely right! :thumbup:

Haha, thank you.
I was so scared you were going to say it was wrong after all this time :haha:


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## fairy_gem

Great idea! Thanks!

Although, mine is a pronounciation issue...

We loved Lorcan and it seemed like the perfect name, but then I read it was pronounced more like "lur-con" than "lor-ken" (which I had read before) and now I'm not so keen, do you know of the correct pronounciation please.

Thanks muchly :flower:


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## Midnight_Fairy

How do you prn: Aoife ?


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## TheNewMrs

fairy_gem said:


> Great idea! Thanks!
> 
> Although, mine is a pronounciation issue...
> 
> We loved Lorcan and it seemed like the perfect name, but then I read it was pronounced more like "lur-con" than "lor-ken" (which I had read before) and now I'm not so keen, do you know of the correct pronounciation please.
> 
> Thanks muchly :flower:



It depends where your from to be honest, I would pronounce it "Lor-kin"
My Husband would say (Lur-kin)
My cousins down south would say (Lor-con)
But in the West the would say Lor-ken

Pronounce it however pleases you, Ireland is such a wee country but we have so many accents!! :thumbup:


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## TheNewMrs

Midnight_Fairy said:


> How do you prn: Aoife ?



Aoife - [Eee-Fa] 

Hth:thumbup:


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## Lottie86

Brilliant thread! It really irritates me when people either can't spell the names or they anglicise the spelling of them :growlmad:


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## lozzy21

I get so many comments about Niamh's name its irritating. 

"that doesent spell Niamh"," oh thats an unusual spelling" etc etc etc

Dont get me started on the people who cant get her name right when i say it!


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## fairy_gem

TheNewMrs said:


> fairy_gem said:
> 
> 
> Great idea! Thanks!
> 
> Although, mine is a pronounciation issue...
> 
> We loved Lorcan and it seemed like the perfect name, but then I read it was pronounced more like "lur-con" than "lor-ken" (which I had read before) and now I'm not so keen, do you know of the correct pronounciation please.
> 
> Thanks muchly :flower:
> 
> 
> 
> It depends where your from to be honest, I would pronounce it "Lor-kin"
> My Husband would say (Lur-kin)
> My cousins down south would say (Lor-con)
> But in the West the would say Lor-ken
> 
> Pronounce it however pleases you, Ireland is such a wee country but we have so many accents!! :thumbup:Click to expand...


Brilliant thank you!, I didn't want to use it and pronounce it wrong, I felt it should only be pronounced in the correct way not in a made up way, I feel it would be a tad disrespectful, if you know what I mean. But all is good again if I can use "Lor-ken"!!, whoop whoop!!. :happydance:

:flower:


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## Lucy22

Yay, another Irish lady :happydance: :thumbup:
It doesn't feel like there are any Irish ladies on here at all!
It irritates me too though :haha:


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## mushroom

I wouldn't say it's a problem of spelling them wrong..more a case of deliberate anglicisation. Personally, the names should NOT be anglicised IN Ireland, but I'm a bit more open-minded as to how they are spelled abroad, and the majority of members are obviously from the UK and US. I know 'Neev; is despised and doesn't look near as pretty as Niamh..but spellings like Keira and Kieran have become perfectly normal and I see no problem with that. Even IN Irish the spellings are so varying..Aoife itself which you would think is fairly standard can be spelled and has been historically as Aoiffe. And then you get into Maeve/Maebh/Meabh/Meabhdh and Saive/Sadbh/Sadhbh! You can see why the first spelling instead of the third/fourth would appeal to people.

Pronouncing them wrong is a different story! I'm very passionate about that and have created threads advising on the pronunication of LOADS of Irish names.

I would pronounce Lorcan as Loor-kun. It is definitely not the 'o' sound in 'orange', it's similar to that of 'look' but with more emphasis. My own accent is completely netral so that does not effect it...I don't have a regional/country/city accent at all.


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## TheNewMrs

mushroom said:


> I wouldn't say it's a problem of spelling them wrong..more a case of deliberate anglicisation. Personally, the names should NOT be anglicised IN Ireland, but I'm a bit more open-minded as to how they are spelled abroad, and the majority of members are obviously from the UK and US. I know 'Neev; is despised and doesn't look near as pretty as Niamh..but spellings like Keira and Kieran have become perfectly normal and I see no problem with that. Even IN Irish the spellings are so varying..Aoife itself which you would think is fairly standard can be spelled and has been historically as Aoiffe. And then you get into Maeve/Maebh/Meabh/Meabhdh and Saive/Sadbh/Sadhbh! You can see why the first spelling instead of the third/fourth would appeal to people.
> 
> Pronouncing them wrong is a different story! I'm very passionate about that and have created threads advising on the pronunication of LOADS of Irish names.
> 
> I would pronounce Lorcan as Loor-kun. It is definitely not the 'o' sound in 'orange', it's similar to that of 'look' but with more emphasis. My own accent is completely netral so that does not effect it...I don't have a regional/country/city accent at all.



Yep, as I said in the opening post, its only for people who actually DO want to know the CORRECT spelling....


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## TheNewMrs

Lucy22 said:


> Yay, another Irish lady :happydance: :thumbup:
> It doesn't feel like there are any Irish ladies on here at all!
> It irritates me too though :haha:



YEAy!!! 
I'm Irish-AND PROUD! 

Delighted to meet another Irish Chick, Congrats on your pregnancy... :D


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## sun

lozzy21 said:


> I get so many comments about Niamh's name its irritating.
> 
> "that doesent spell Niamh"," oh thats an unusual spelling" etc etc etc
> 
> Dont get me started on the people who cant get her name right when i say it!

I have been on BnB for 2 years and heard this name tons (only here though, never heard it where I live) and just found out the pronunciation yesterday! :haha: 
The funny thing is the non-irish spelling for this name is my OH's top pick for our LO - I didn't even know they were the same name! :dohh:


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## Julia323

lozzy21 said:


> I get so many comments about Niamh's name its irritating.
> 
> "that doesent spell Niamh"," oh thats an unusual spelling" etc etc etc
> 
> Dont get me started on the people who cant get her name right when i say it!

Naimh is one of my favourite names, it's so gorgeous! But I think if I used it here I'd get looked at like I had three heads. No one would have a clue how to pronounce it, and when they found out they'd think it's crazy.

If I had more than 1/8 of anything close to Irish in me I'd consider being more open to using (and defending proper spelling) but I probably won't use it to save the hassle. I'll continue to love it on other babies!


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## Lucy22

Any of the other Irish ladies notice that about 80% of names listed on name sites as "Irish" are either not Irish at all, or completely unheard of?
I mean, just tonight, I found "Aghavilla", as a girls name. Anyone else heard of this?
I also found Alastrina, Chrissy and Choncobarra in the same section :wacko:


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## TheNewMrs

I know right!!! Apparently cobalt is Irish too!!! Lol!! X


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## lozzy21

sun said:


> lozzy21 said:
> 
> 
> I get so many comments about Niamh's name its irritating.
> 
> "that doesent spell Niamh"," oh thats an unusual spelling" etc etc etc
> 
> Dont get me started on the people who cant get her name right when i say it!
> 
> I have been on BnB for 2 years and heard this name tons (only here though, never heard it where I live) and just found out the pronunciation yesterday! :haha:
> The funny thing is the non-irish spelling for this name is my OH's top pick for our LO - I didn't even know they were the same name! :dohh:Click to expand...

When she was born you could tell who knew how to pronounce it and who dident, the ones that knew how it was pronounced called her by the name and the ones that dident called her baby (my surname)


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## lozzy21

mushroom said:


> I wouldn't say it's a problem of spelling them wrong..more a case of deliberate anglicisation. Personally, the names should NOT be anglicised IN Ireland, but I'm a bit more open-minded as to how they are spelled abroad, and the majority of members are obviously from the UK and US. I know 'Neev; is despised and doesn't look near as pretty as Niamh..but spellings like Keira and Kieran have become perfectly normal and I see no problem with that. Even IN Irish the spellings are so varying..Aoife itself which you would think is fairly standard can be spelled and has been historically as Aoiffe. And then you get into Maeve/Maebh/Meabh/Meabhdh and Saive/Sadbh/Sadhbh! You can see why the first spelling instead of the third/fourth would appeal to people.
> 
> Pronouncing them wrong is a different story! I'm very passionate about that and have created threads advising on the pronunication of LOADS of Irish names.
> 
> I would pronounce Lorcan as Loor-kun. It is definitely not the 'o' sound in 'orange', it's similar to that of 'look' but with more emphasis. My own accent is completely netral so that does not effect it...I don't have a regional/country/city accent at all.


I think you should spell a name how its supposed to be spelt not how you think it should be, its kinda disrespectful to the country it comes from.


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## cherry_pie

yay for irish mummies, im one too, (to - be haha)


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## truly_blessed

I love Niamh but we would spell it Neve it we chose it, we just prefer it that way.


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## GingerNut

truly_blessed said:


> I love Niamh but we would spell it Neve it we chose it, we just prefer it that way.

That spelling doesn't actually reflect the sound of the name, though? The 'a' isn't silent.


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## GingerNut

I just remembered another one of these that drives me mad - people spelling Caoimhe 'Keeva'. Or pronouncing it that way. My mother mispronounces it all the time and it really annoys me.


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## birdiex

I love irish names, can't use them though as somehow, they defeat OH's mental capacity :rofl: Anglicising names is also a pet peeve of mine, oh it's SO annoying! And people who pronounce names wrong.. At work the other day there was a little girl called Niamh, but her mum was saying it nee-amm! I just wanted to bludgeon her!


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## truly_blessed

Must be an accent thing, Neve and Naimh are pronounced the same here in Lancashire. I must admit the irish pronounciation does sound better though.


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## Lucy22

GingerNut said:


> truly_blessed said:
> 
> 
> I love Niamh but we would spell it Neve it we chose it, we just prefer it that way.
> 
> That spelling doesn't actually reflect the sound of the name, though? The 'a' isn't silent.Click to expand...

I agree, I pn Niamh like "Nee-av" too. It does depend on the accent though, I know some people that pn it "Neve".


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## sun

Neve is actually OH's favourite name for LO at the mo (Neve is heard of here, whereas Niamh isn't). So strange because none of the sites/books I have mention that it originates from Ireland. They all say it is a form of the latin name Neva! x So we had no idea!


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## truly_blessed

ooooo now I do like Neva


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## TheNewMrs

Hey girls, just on the topic of the name *Niamh * it is certainly IRISH, and it is pronounced my IRISH PEOPLE as 

[Nee-a-uv] or [Nyee-a-uv] 

Neve is not Irish, its an entirely different name. 

Hope that helps!


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## TheNewMrs

GingerNut said:


> I just remembered another one of these that drives me mad - people spelling Caoimhe 'Keeva'. Or pronouncing it that way. My mother mispronounces it all the time and it really annoys me.

:wacko: dives me insane... 

[Kw-ee-va] -thats how I'd pronounce it as well. :happydance:


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## mushroom

lozzy21 said:


> mushroom said:
> 
> 
> I wouldn't say it's a problem of spelling them wrong..more a case of deliberate anglicisation. Personally, the names should NOT be anglicised IN Ireland, but I'm a bit more open-minded as to how they are spelled abroad, and the majority of members are obviously from the UK and US. I know 'Neev; is despised and doesn't look near as pretty as Niamh..but spellings like Keira and Kieran have become perfectly normal and I see no problem with that. Even IN Irish the spellings are so varying..Aoife itself which you would think is fairly standard can be spelled and has been historically as Aoiffe. And then you get into Maeve/Maebh/Meabh/Meabhdh and Saive/Sadbh/Sadhbh! You can see why the first spelling instead of the third/fourth would appeal to people.
> 
> Pronouncing them wrong is a different story! I'm very passionate about that and have created threads advising on the pronunication of LOADS of Irish names.
> 
> I would pronounce Lorcan as Loor-kun. It is definitely not the 'o' sound in 'orange', it's similar to that of 'look' but with more emphasis. My own accent is completely netral so that does not effect it...I don't have a regional/country/city accent at all.
> 
> 
> I think you should spell a name how its supposed to be spelt not how you think it should be, its kinda disrespectful to the country it comes from.Click to expand...


I don't see a problem with names changing spelling outside of Ireland. In Ireland, NO but abroad, doesn't bother me. Several Irish names have spellings that are easier for non-Irish speakers anyway than some of their other spellings- plenty of them don't have one official spelling anyway. I would see it as a nod to the country and the language if spelt in Irish but still a good thing to take the pronunciation of an Irish name and modify it slightly. That's my opinion anyway. I can see why a name like Caoilfhionn would be changed to Keelin..looks better as the first but it's quite unwieldy if you have no knowledge of Irish.


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## TheNewMrs

*Looking better is a matter of opinion*. Nobody came on here to debate weather or not its ok to spell IRISH names the NON IRISH way. 

The reason for starting the thread was to help people out who do wish to spell Irish names correctly, not to debate weather or not its wrong or right to do so.


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## lozzy21

Lucy22 said:


> GingerNut said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> truly_blessed said:
> 
> 
> I love Niamh but we would spell it Neve it we chose it, we just prefer it that way.
> 
> That spelling doesn't actually reflect the sound of the name, though? The 'a' isn't silent.Click to expand...
> 
> I agree, I pn Niamh like "Nee-av" too. It does depend on the accent though, I know some people that pn it "Neve".Click to expand...

It does depend on the accent. I say it Neev but an irish friend says it Ne-av.

Its like Siobhan, some pronounce it, Shiv-on and others say Shiv-vorn.


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## xSarahM

I just thought i'd butt in and say, i hate it when people spell Niamh, as "Neve". Its so much more beautiful how its originally spelt, why would you want to change it?

Also, because im not from Ireland, and i dont really even know any Irish people, im preparing myself for the. "Aoife? How do you pronounce it?" "How do you spell that?" "What, you're not even Irish?" :dohh:


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## lozzy21

xSarahM said:


> I just thought i'd butt in and say, i hate it when people spell Niamh, as "Neve". Its so much more beautiful how its originally spelt, why would you want to change it?
> 
> Also, because im not from Ireland, and i dont really even know any Irish people, im preparing myself for the. "Aoife? How do you pronounce it?" "How do you spell that?" "What, you're not even Irish?" :dohh:

Oh yes your going to get lots of that :rofl:


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## truly_blessed

It seems Niamh and Neve aren't even the same name so I don't see what the issue is to be honest.


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## xSarahM

lozzy21 said:


> Oh yes your going to get lots of that :rofl:

My cousin has a little girl who is almost a year old called Niamh. So she had alot of it too. :haha:


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## TheNewMrs

truly_blessed said:


> It seems Niamh and Neve aren't even the same name so I don't see what the issue is to be honest.

Theres not an issue so long as people who use the name Neve don't claim it to be Irish, because it isnt.


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## TheNewMrs

xSarahM said:


> lozzy21 said:
> 
> 
> Oh yes your going to get lots of that :rofl:
> 
> My cousin has a little girl who is almost a year old called Niamh. So she had alot of it too. :haha:Click to expand...

My friend live in TX and called her daughter Saidhbhe [Sive] , and u should see the looks she gets when she writes the babies name , people called her [sad-ab] until said friend corrected them... It was quite cute watching her grampa trying to give it a go!!! :haha:


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## sun

TheNewMrs said:


> Hey girls, just on the topic of the name *Niamh * it is certainly IRISH, and it is pronounced my IRISH PEOPLE as
> 
> [Nee-a-uv] or [Nyee-a-uv]
> 
> Neve is not Irish, its an entirely different name.
> 
> Hope that helps!

Very helpful! xxx I was wondering why I never came across the name Niamh when looking at Neve! :thumbup:


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## Aidan's Mummy

I spell my sons name Aidan. Pretty sure thats the Irish spelling x


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## xSarahM

TheNewMrs said:


> My friend live in TX and called her daughter Saidhbhe [Sive] , and u should see the looks she gets when she writes the babies name , people called her [sad-ab] until said friend corrected them... It was quite cute watching her grampa trying to give it a go!!! :haha:


In all honesty, i wouldnt have known how to pronounce that!
I'd have had to ask :)


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## Lucy22

Aidan's Mummy said:


> I spell my sons name Aidan. Pretty sure thats the Irish spelling x

It is the Irish spelling :thumbup: I love Aidan, and I especially love it spelled the original Irish way :cloud9:


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## Aidan's Mummy

My grandad was irish so I wanted an irish name :) I fell in love with it when I saw it :D x


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## secretbaby

Welsh names are the same - people don't spell some of them or pronouce them correctly (although I have trouble with MIL name).


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## mushroom

xSarahM said:


> TheNewMrs said:
> 
> 
> My friend live in TX and called her daughter Saidhbhe [Sive] , and u should see the looks she gets when she writes the babies name , people called her [sad-ab] until said friend corrected them... It was quite cute watching her grampa trying to give it a go!!! :haha:
> 
> 
> In all honesty, i wouldnt have known how to pronounce that!
> I'd have had to ask :)Click to expand...



It's quite rare, even in Ireland actually. You'd be lucky to come across one outside of Ireland at all. It's my favourite girl's name though :)


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## Lucy22

Aidan's Mummy said:


> My grandad was irish so I wanted an irish name :) I fell in love with it when I saw it :D x

I'd love to name a future boy bump Aidan :flower:

I love the girl version of Aidan too, which is spelled either Aideen or Eadaoin, and pronounced like "Aid-een". So sweet! :D


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## TheNewMrs

Aidan's Mummy said:


> I spell my sons name Aidan. Pretty sure thats the Irish spelling x


The Irish spelling is in fact *AODHAN * 

But Aiden has been widely used since the early 1800's...


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## TheNewMrs

xSarahM said:


> TheNewMrs said:
> 
> 
> My friend live in TX and called her daughter Saidhbhe [Sive] , and u should see the looks she gets when she writes the babies name , people called her [sad-ab] until said friend corrected them... It was quite cute watching her grampa trying to give it a go!!! :haha:
> 
> 
> In all honesty, i wouldnt have known how to pronounce that!
> I'd have had to ask :)Click to expand...



Yea Only we have a mutual friend called Saidhbhe I would have been the same... The "dh" becomes silent and the "bh" makes the "v" sound... 

I just love the Irish language!


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## Lucy22

TheNewMrs said:


> Aidan's Mummy said:
> 
> 
> I spell my sons name Aidan. Pretty sure thats the Irish spelling x
> 
> 
> The Irish spelling is in fact *AODHAN *
> 
> But Aiden has been widely used since the early 1800's...Click to expand...

I thought that Aodhan was the actual Irish version for Aidan, isn't Aodhan pn like "Aya-dawn"? I thought that Aodhan was the Irish, Aidan was the English of it?
Would you pn Aodhan the same as Aidan? I wouldn't :wacko:
Kind of like Shauna and Seodhna, if you know what I mean? :wacko:


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## TheNewMrs

Lucy22 said:


> TheNewMrs said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Aidan's Mummy said:
> 
> 
> I spell my sons name Aidan. Pretty sure thats the Irish spelling x
> 
> 
> The Irish spelling is in fact *AODHAN *
> 
> But Aiden has been widely used since the early 1800's...Click to expand...
> 
> I thought that Aodhan was the actual Irish version for Aidan, isn't Aodhan pn like "Aya-dawn"? I thought that Aodhan was the Irish, Aidan was the English of it?
> Would you pn Aodhan the same as Aidan? I wouldn't :wacko:
> Kind of like Shauna and Seodhna, if you know what I mean? :wacko:Click to expand...

No not at all, You can pronounce Aodhan either [Ay Dawn] if u put a fada over the a, it will give it that [aw] sound, but with out it , its just good old [ay-don] or [Ay-den] depending where you live.

As for Shauna, 
Well The Irish spelling is actually Séana [Shaw-na]
Séodhna - [Show-na] 

Again, entirely different names. :)


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