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Irish is not a language that you can figure out phonetically like English. A recent video on social media showed non-Irish residents struggling to figure out how to pronounce first names that they might see in books. But to spare you any blushes should you meet a real person with a name spelled this way here is a list of some that have caught me out in the past.

Pronoucing Irish Names

My cousin is Mairin, but people call her Maureen. Her husband is Eamon, and their sons are Ciaran and Ultan.

Is Aoife the Irish for Eve? Is there an Irish form for Korie Beth? 'Korie' is 'maiden' in Greek; does that help? It's a form of Cora....

Hi, Korey

The middle name is easy since Eilish is Elizabeth, as well as Alice.

The other name is more complex since the name looks similar to anglisized versions of some surnames. But if you go by the translations of a names meaning (like with Elizabeth) then it becomes easy. Colleen! Which is translated as girl, which can also be maiden. There are other translations of maiden - maighdean and réamphósta - but I think Colleen is probably more user friend.

But your cousins might have other ideas on the matter, so it is worth polling them. Things are never just one way in Ireland, or in the Irish language.

And yes, Aoife is the Irish for Eva and sometimes Ave (although one friend's daughter is spelled Aibhe for Ava.)

Eithne is "Enya"? I saw that on the web....

I had a student named Chevonne. It took a long time before I realized that Mum had heard the name Síobhán and either didn't know how it was spelled or just decided not to deal with it!

The singer known as Enya is technically an Eithne. But I also have a Sligo friend (who runs the most amazing restaurant in Mullaghmore) who is an Eithna. And she pronounces it Eth-na. The th is almost the softest of T's. Just like the D in Donal or Dohnail is almost lisped it is so soft.

Again, you have to allow for regional dialect variations in pronounciation. Sligo is Connaught and Donegal is Ulster.

But Eithne or Eithna is the Irish for Edna.

You do find the anglicized versions of the Irish pronounciations are really common. Although the name is more Shiv-awn, rather than Chevonne. You spell Síobhán with two fadas (those accents over the vowels) but I have Dub friend that only has a fada over the á.

This only makes me want to harp on the 'two-ness' of everything in Ireland. Even local pubs have an official name and then what they are called by the locals. I think it is to confuse any invaders.