Irish names are a gift and a curse in equal measures.
Sure, phonetically they’re beautiful and while we all reside on this beautiful little green isle we don’t encounter many problems.
But when we take those lovely Irish names abroad, difficulty inevitably ensues.
Her.ie reader Niamh Fleming sent us on a prime example of how difficult life can be with an Irish name.
Niamh writes:
“Earlier this afternoon, a letter popped through my letterbox and a fair bit of amusement followed from both myself and my housemates. I’m an Irish nurse that moved over to Birmingham in January 2015.”
“My name is ‘Niamh’, however, the name has proved difficult for some folk and living over in Birmingham has opened my ears and now, my eyes to the (amusing!!) diverse variations of it, as it pronunciation is very different from its spelling.”
Niamh explains that pronunciations of her name vary from Nee-am-huh to Nivea and to Nimu.
In an effort to make life easier, Niamh often tells people it’s pronounced like Neeve.
This letter sender took her advice far to literally but gave Niamh, her housemate and us a good chuckle when this arrived in the post.
Niamh enjoys the confusion and embraced the funny side writing:
“Hope you have found this amusing as I have and no doubt the Irish continue to conquer the world with our beautifully awkward names!”
Thanks to pronounced like Neeve Niamh for sending this our way. If you spot anything weird or wonderful, drop us a mail on [email protected], on Twitter at @Herdotie or on Snapchat: Her.ie
