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HelpRe: Hey!
in reply to a message by Tiziri
I would disagree with this. Many French, Spanish, Greek, German and the like make sense in English at least to some extent because they are all of similar origin. English has many french-origin words, is Germanic in nature and took many words from Greek and the Romance languages. Irish however is completely different. It is of the Indo-European tree, but it is not really as tied into the other languages as some Indo-European languages are, and is completely foreign to English Speakers for the msot part.
Many irish names have an anglacized version for a reason, to make them more user-friendly to people who do not speak or understand the native tongue. I am not saying it is wrong to use them, just saying that they are a bit different than French, German, Spanish, etc. names for English.
Many irish names have an anglacized version for a reason, to make them more user-friendly to people who do not speak or understand the native tongue. I am not saying it is wrong to use them, just saying that they are a bit different than French, German, Spanish, etc. names for English.
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From my experience....
Yes, they may "make more sense" seeing as English has borrowed many words from other languages, but please try to have the average, non-name geek, non-language learner to pronounce names from French such as Edouard and Spanish, German, etc. and you will find that they can pronounce htem just as well as say Caoimhe.
Unless they are very common like Danielle or Diego.
Yes, they may "make more sense" seeing as English has borrowed many words from other languages, but please try to have the average, non-name geek, non-language learner to pronounce names from French such as Edouard and Spanish, German, etc. and you will find that they can pronounce htem just as well as say Caoimhe.
Unless they are very common like Danielle or Diego.
This message was edited 9/8/2007, 7:59 AM
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It may be completely foreign to most English speakers now, but so were many words from the other languages at some point in history. English people got used to them, and I believe they will get used to Irish names to some extent too, as long as they don't close their minds against them because they "make no sense".
Maybe some of the names won't go over because they're just too different, but I don't see what's mad about Lorccan / Lorcan, Cuan, Cian, and once you've learned some basic rules, it's not difficult to figure out most of the others.
Maybe some of the names won't go over because they're just too different, but I don't see what's mad about Lorccan / Lorcan, Cuan, Cian, and once you've learned some basic rules, it's not difficult to figure out most of the others.
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But figuring out that C is soft with I in English is such a hard concept to get down for most people in the first place! Cian almost makes me want to cry.
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Well if it's so hard to understand that it's soft, maybe we should all just stick with the Irish prn., since it's obviously more sensible :p
I think I'm ready to agree to disagree now, I don't want to argue with you as I usually agree with everything you say!
I think I'm ready to agree to disagree now, I don't want to argue with you as I usually agree with everything you say!
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What? Cian is pronounced with a hard C. You take this way too seriously. Makes you want to cry? Why?
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"Many irish names have an anglacized version for a reason, to make them more user-friendly to people who do not speak or understand the native tongue. I am not saying it is wrong to use them, just saying that they are a bit different than French, German, Spanish, etc. names for English."
I agree with you on this part! Even in Ireland, it's not too uncommon for parents to use an anglicised spelling of a traditional Irish name, because the traditional spelling would cause too much hassle for the child. The example that always springs to my mind is nineties girl band B*witched, made up of four girls from Ireland, one of whom was named Keevy. Not Caoimhe, Keevy. So some Irish spellings don't really make sense from an English speaker's perspective, even if the English speaker happens to have been born and raised in Ireland. In fact, when a girl named Mairead (a fairly easy one to pronounce, IMO) started at my work, it was my Irish team leader (who spent her whole life in Ireland, and moved over here less than three years ago), who had more trouble than anyone else remembering how to say it!
I agree with you on this part! Even in Ireland, it's not too uncommon for parents to use an anglicised spelling of a traditional Irish name, because the traditional spelling would cause too much hassle for the child. The example that always springs to my mind is nineties girl band B*witched, made up of four girls from Ireland, one of whom was named Keevy. Not Caoimhe, Keevy. So some Irish spellings don't really make sense from an English speaker's perspective, even if the English speaker happens to have been born and raised in Ireland. In fact, when a girl named Mairead (a fairly easy one to pronounce, IMO) started at my work, it was my Irish team leader (who spent her whole life in Ireland, and moved over here less than three years ago), who had more trouble than anyone else remembering how to say it!
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