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Mar 16, 2024 · That’s because while the Irish language uses the same Latin alphabet letters as English, they represent different sounds and have different spelling rules. Here’s a guide, with audio clips, on ...
I think this is the key point. Monolingual English speakers struggle with Irish names as they try and pronounce them as an English name. Try saying Pierre using English pronunciation and you end up with 'Pie-rey' instead of 'P-air'. Same principle applies to Irish names.
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- Caitríona
- Caoimhe
- Ciara
- Ciaran
- And 14. Eoin and Eoghan
- Fionnuala
- Maebh
- Naoise
- Padraig
- Saoirse
Outlander star Caitríona Balfe says her name exactly like American English speakers say Katrina: “Kuh-TREE-nuh.”
Caoimhe comes with options: Some people say “KWEE-vuh,” while others say “KEE-vuh.” Either way, that mhmakes a “v” sound.
American pop singer Ciara says her name like “See-AIR-uh.” But the Irish pronunciation is “KEER-uh.”
If you already know Ciara, its male counterpart isn’t tough to remember: Ciarancan be “KEER-in” or “KEER-awn.”
The first name of Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer is simpler to say than its vowels suggest: “OH-in,” like Owen. Eoghan, an alternate spelling, is also pronounced “OH-in.”
Mastering Fionn will help you nail the first name of legendary Irish actor Fionnuala Flanagan: “fin-OO-luh.”
Whenever you see a bh or mh in an Irish name, it’s a safe bet to replace it with a “v” sound. Maebh is pronounced “MAYV,” just like Maeve.
Nobody in Ireland is naming their baby Nosy or Noisy (that we know of). The name Naoiseis pronounced “NEE-shuh.”
Padraig and its various alternate spellings—including Pádraic, the name of Colin Farrell’s hapless character in The Banshees of Inisherin—can be pronounced“PAW-drig” or “PAW-rick.”
As Saoirse Ronan once said on Saturday Night Live, “It’s ‘SER-shuh,’ like inertia.” Then she sang a whole song about the pronunciation of her name in the hopes of clearing up the confusion once and for all. But there probably will still be a little uncertainty, in part because not even all Irish people pronounce it the same way—some say“SEER-shuh.”
Mar 24, 2019 · It would be helpful first to review some Irish sounds that can fool you when spelled using english letters. However, this is not as simple as it seems because a consonant pronounced differently depending on whether it has the letters “a,” “o,” or “u” next to it (considered a “broad” consonant) or the letters “i” or “e ...
Jan 3, 2020 · Two features of Irish orthography that can make the written language look alien are lenition and eclipsis, both of which appear frequently in Irish names. Both involve changing the first letter of ...
Dec 20, 2023 · Thanks to our Irish colleagues at Contiki Marketing HQ, we’ve whipped up a list of 22 classic Irish names and given you a pronunciation guide, as well as some interesting facts like their meanings and origins. Many Irish names come from Gaelic mythology, so you’ll be gaining some knowledge there too, and you’ll be able to dazzle all the ...
With this, the written Irish became more similar to the pronunciation, but a complete congruence is not the case. The artificial Lárchanúint (central dialect) came into being as a result of this reform; in which the written Irish mirrors the pronunciation the most.
