Neasa

My daughter is named Neasa. She attends a Gaelscoil (Irish speaking school). As do my other children - they also have Irish names. Neasa is pronounced "Knee-ass-a". I.e. Ní (not) asa (gentle). Her teachers pronounce it this way. And when she speaks Irish she pronounces it this way. However outside of her Irish speaking community she pronounces it as "Nasa".

My girlfriend's name is Neasa, but hers is pronounced (nEE-sa)

Neasa Bheilbigh and Irish Girl are correct. When pronounced correctly within the Irish language sound system it is pronounced as both these contributors have stated it. All other pronunciations belong to non-Irish sound systems. My own daughter is called Neasa.

Pronunciation: http://forvo.com/search/Neasa/

In Gaelige, 'EA' is pronounced as a hard 'A' as in the name Eammon. The proper way to pronounce Neassa would be N-aye-sa. However, the owner of the name may pronounce it as they wish. After all, it is a privilege of having the name. :)

Neasa is never pronounced NES-a. Nessa is pronounced NES-a.
Neasa is an old Irish name and the "ea" make a "yeah" sound. So really it be pronounced Nya-sa.
I'm sorry for this sounding like a bit of a rant but I HATE the name Nessa and love my own name Neasa!

I'd have to agree with Neasabheilbigh and IrishGirl on this. I'm not Irish and though I'm learning Irish I'm still a beginner, but I have spent many years learning linguistics.

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A basic linguistic summary: In Irish every consonant is either broad (velarized with a labial offglide, which means it has a "w" sound after it) or slender (palatalized with a palatal offglide, which means it has a "y" sound after it). I'm pretty sure the "N" in Neasa is slender, which means it does in fact have a "Y" sound after it.

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So in other words it should be something like [ˈnjɑ.sɑ] in IPA (international phonetic alphabet) or [NYAH-sah] as an English approximation. Pronouncing it like Nessa [ˈnɛs.ə] / [NEHS-uh] would be incorrect. [noted -ed]

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Irish speakers are welcome to correct me if I've made any mistakes here =)

And it's pronounced Nassa or NASA (like the space station). Nessa is pronounced like Nessa, but Neasa isn't.

Actually it can be pronounced like any of those three. I am from Ireland too and know two girls with this name. One of them pronounces it NASA and the other Nessa.

I'm going to say that IrishGirl, who is from Ireland, and the site, would list the correct meanings. If you're actually looking for the correct way to pronounce the name, go with those who have the actual credentials.

It's pronounced "Nyasa".

Actually I believe it's pronounced Nessa.

Actually, you're both wrong. It's pronounced like Nass-ah. As in NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.