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HelpRe: What's your opinion on the traditional spellings of Irish names?
in reply to a message by ash
In a novel, I think it's best if you maybe try to seamlessly hint at the pronunciation without disrupting the story. For example, something like "Niamh's sister was named Eve - clearly the rhyme didn't bother their parents" - OK, that was a terrible example, but I'm not a writer! Or have another character mispronounce the name, and get them to sound it out - e.g." "Cah-oym...hee?" he read out. Caoimhe sighed and told him for the second time: "It's Kee-va. Kee-va.". "
However, if you're writing a story peopled entirely by Irish characters and place names and so on, perhaps it is best to have a glossary at the back. It would be irritating not having a clue what any of the characters were really called.
As for which I prefer, I sometimes feel, like you, that the spelling adds something to a name I wouldn't usually like - e.g., I love Niamh, but Neve does nothing for me. Orlaith is stunning, whereas Orla is quite blah. Sean is handsome, but Shaun is ugly. It totally depends though - there are some Irish spellings that I find really unattractive. For example, I love the sound "Ashleen" but dislike Aislin. And I hate anything that ends in "gh"!
However, if you're writing a story peopled entirely by Irish characters and place names and so on, perhaps it is best to have a glossary at the back. It would be irritating not having a clue what any of the characters were really called.
As for which I prefer, I sometimes feel, like you, that the spelling adds something to a name I wouldn't usually like - e.g., I love Niamh, but Neve does nothing for me. Orlaith is stunning, whereas Orla is quite blah. Sean is handsome, but Shaun is ugly. It totally depends though - there are some Irish spellings that I find really unattractive. For example, I love the sound "Ashleen" but dislike Aislin. And I hate anything that ends in "gh"!
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