(Her first name is pronounced “Ay-vah”.) More than one lecturer resorted to calling her “blondie”. Aoibhe Ní Shúilleabháin, a designer and teacher, spent two years at college in England having her name mispronounced and disrespected. Speaking to others reveals a litany of similar experiences. Mia, Sophie and Rose were among my common aliases. Anything easily pronounceable with a simple spelling would do. This led to the invention of what I call my “Starbucks name”. When I was living in London, I quickly learned that saying Niamh at the counter in a coffee shop or over the phone to make a booking simply wouldn’t fly. My surname is trickier, and has even tripped up a few Irish people it can be translated as Herbert, and is pronounced “her-a-vard”. In case you don’t know, it’s pronounced “Neev” or “Nee-av”, either is perfectly acceptable. But I rarely come across an English person who is familiar with it, despite the proximity of our two countries.
It’s not uncommon in Ireland in secondary school, there were four Niamhs in my class. I’ve heard every possible variation of my own name from non-Irish people. The names Aoife, Saoirse, Niamh and Siobhán occupy places in the top 10.Īnd it’s not exclusively a British problem: I always cringe watching US talkshows where the host quizzes their Irish guest (usually Saoirse Ronan) on the pronunciation of their and other Irish names.
A recent study based on an analysis of Google searches revealed the words that British people have the most difficulty pronouncing. Healy isn’t alone, though, when it comes to anglophone bafflement at Irish names. Last year, the lead singer of The 1975, Matt Healy, managed to offend a whole lot of Gaelgoirí (Irish speakers) when he appeared to mock a fan’s name – Dervla – at a meet-and-greet.
0 kommentar(er)
