Dearbhla
Replies
I've known a Dervla and a Dervela (the "e" isn't pronounced very strongly). I quite like it.
Nyree I have a gp liking for. It is the name of an actress who was in the 1960's version of The Forsyte Saga which I'm a fan of so I like it because of that. Although I appreciate the authenticity of Ngaire and the fact that it's pronounced slightly differently from Nyree, it doesn't appeal to me.
Nyree I have a gp liking for. It is the name of an actress who was in the 1960's version of The Forsyte Saga which I'm a fan of so I like it because of that. Although I appreciate the authenticity of Ngaire and the fact that it's pronounced slightly differently from Nyree, it doesn't appeal to me.
I like Ngaire, but please not Nyree! It's not even a phonetic spelling, the 'e' on the end is pronounced as in 'meh', not as in 'me'. And the 'ng' is just that, not an 'n'.
I quite like Dearbhle in sound, although I'm not sure I like how it looks, which is quite odd for me coz usually I like how Irish names look. I think I actually prefer the anglicisation Dervla more in this case, which I suppose is a bit hypocritical of me given what I just said about Nyree. Although at least Dervla gives a good approximation of what the name is supposed to sound like. IMO there's no point in anglicising the spelling of Maori names because they were first written down by English-speakers anyway, so the way they're spelt is as close as you're going to get to phonetic without actually using the IPA. This is (obviously) not the case with Irish names, which is why I think it's sometimes OK to use anglicised versions if they're a bit obscure and spelling it differently gives a better chance of correct pronunciation.
Oh dear. I'm burbling. I hope I'm making sense!
I quite like Dearbhle in sound, although I'm not sure I like how it looks, which is quite odd for me coz usually I like how Irish names look. I think I actually prefer the anglicisation Dervla more in this case, which I suppose is a bit hypocritical of me given what I just said about Nyree. Although at least Dervla gives a good approximation of what the name is supposed to sound like. IMO there's no point in anglicising the spelling of Maori names because they were first written down by English-speakers anyway, so the way they're spelt is as close as you're going to get to phonetic without actually using the IPA. This is (obviously) not the case with Irish names, which is why I think it's sometimes OK to use anglicised versions if they're a bit obscure and spelling it differently gives a better chance of correct pronunciation.
Oh dear. I'm burbling. I hope I'm making sense!