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HelpRe: Ceilidh - opinions and need some Irish name experts :P
in reply to a message by Lily
Ceilidh is the Scottish Gaelic spelling, Céilí is the Irish spelling. Ceilidh is pronounced a little differently. I'm not an expert on Scottish Gaelic, but I've heard it said more sort of like /kay-lay/.
Because I'm an uptight purist, I wouldn't use this as a name for the following reasons:
1. it's not a name, it's a vocabulary word. In Ireland it's definitely not a name. It's even used as a word in the USA, to refer to Irish dance & music competitions in certain circles.
2. A kid in the USA named Céilí would probably get called Seeley 99% of the time when her name is read off a list. The time she would spend explaining the name would be long and involved-- it's more than just "Katherine with a K"-- "cei" doesn't even make a "Kay" sound in English, so she would have to spell it every time. I'm "Norah with an H" which not everyone can handle for some reason and believe me, it gets old explaining it every single time I have to spell my name over the phone! (Norah. With an H. No, N -O -R -A -H. [people have spelled it Nhora, Nohra & Norha each more than once!] When they read it off the list, I am always Noah.)
3. The Irish language isn't pronounced like English. Though many of the sounds are similar, Céilí and Kaylee are approximate equivalents, not homophones. Céilí sounds more like /KEH e'l ee/ but I really can't spell it out well.
Caoimhe is a nice name, but I'd use an anglicized form, like Keavy or Keeva. Ditto for Aislinn. It looks pretty, but I'd probably spell it Ashlinn.
Because I'm an uptight purist, I wouldn't use this as a name for the following reasons:
1. it's not a name, it's a vocabulary word. In Ireland it's definitely not a name. It's even used as a word in the USA, to refer to Irish dance & music competitions in certain circles.
2. A kid in the USA named Céilí would probably get called Seeley 99% of the time when her name is read off a list. The time she would spend explaining the name would be long and involved-- it's more than just "Katherine with a K"-- "cei" doesn't even make a "Kay" sound in English, so she would have to spell it every time. I'm "Norah with an H" which not everyone can handle for some reason and believe me, it gets old explaining it every single time I have to spell my name over the phone! (Norah. With an H. No, N -O -R -A -H. [people have spelled it Nhora, Nohra & Norha each more than once!] When they read it off the list, I am always Noah.)
3. The Irish language isn't pronounced like English. Though many of the sounds are similar, Céilí and Kaylee are approximate equivalents, not homophones. Céilí sounds more like /KEH e'l ee/ but I really can't spell it out well.
Caoimhe is a nice name, but I'd use an anglicized form, like Keavy or Keeva. Ditto for Aislinn. It looks pretty, but I'd probably spell it Ashlinn.
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You made all your points better than I did. I always get frustrated trying to explain clearly the slight differences (but appreciable to an Irish speaker) between Irish and English words that sound alike so I usually don't try :/ I usually tie myself in knots and delete what I wrote.
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