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Help[Opinions] Findabair?
I discovered this name in a book of Irish mythology and I really like the sound. (If I ever have a daughter, I might even consider calling her Findabair). She was the daughter of Queen Meabh of Connacht (western province of Ireland), but her story doesn't exactly have a happy ending. Findabair means "fair eyebrows", but the first thing that jumped into my mind was "hair" (vestiges of my LoTR obsession ;). A varient is Finnabair and with that you get the awesome nickname Finn. Does anyone else like it, or is it just too big and loaded?
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Replies
It sounds like "find a bar" to me. It's weird and OTT.
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Findabair makes me think "find a bear." Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's hard to avoid!
Finnabair might be a little more user-friendly, for that reason.
And Finna might be a nice nickname for a girl.
Being someone from the west side of 'the Pond,' I have to say it seems like a mouthful I'm not sure I understand the appeal. If you have a simple and common last name, though, it might be worth serious consideration.
(My name list: http://www.babynames.com/namelist/9516801)
Finnabair might be a little more user-friendly, for that reason.
And Finna might be a nice nickname for a girl.
Being someone from the west side of 'the Pond,' I have to say it seems like a mouthful I'm not sure I understand the appeal. If you have a simple and common last name, though, it might be worth serious consideration.
(My name list: http://www.babynames.com/namelist/9516801)
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Finola and Fiona are very pretty names, but they are anglicisations. Nothing wrong with that, but I prefer the traditional Irish names. But when you live in a country were every road, town and city has two names (the English one and the Irish one), you kind of wonder why. It's because the English invaders couldn't speak Irish and couldn't pronounce the place names, so they gave them anglicized names eg Dún na nGall became Donegal and Ciarraí became Kerry. To me, the English names don't mean anything - in English or Irish. Dún na nGall means "fort of the foreigner" in Irish. Donegal doesn't mean anything. The same goes with people's names. It kind of annoys me when people say names like Keely and Tierney are Irish, when they sound nothing like what they're supposed to mean. I guess I'm kind of a traditionalist when it comes to names.
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aahh... Well, if you live in Ireland, then I guess it is a whole different story!
I could imagine that the "Anglicized" versions might get on some people's nerves there.
I could imagine that the "Anglicized" versions might get on some people's nerves there.
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I think a lot of people like the Anglicisations because they're easier to pronounce. I can easily see how Maeve should be said, but Medb looks like it should be pronounced completely differently. Even for the French, Spanish, Italians, etc, the English phoenetics rules are a lot closer to theirs than the Irish phoenetics.
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I know. The Irish versions don't really work outside Ireland. I know that Caitlin is a vary popular name in America, and it's Irish but everybody pronounces it wrong there. Sometimes I feel like screaming "It's KOIT-leen, for God's sake!!" at anyone who says KAYT-lin. But I understand that they don't know how to say it any different because that's the way it looks in English phonetics. Medb is old Irish. Today that would be spelt Meabh and according to the rules of Irish phonetics and lenition, the h softens the b, so it is pronounced like a v.
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KOIT-leen..?! I never would have guessed! I don't know if it would be as popular here w/ that pronunciation!
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pronunciation
There are various ways of saying it. This site says the pronounciation is KAHT-leen, others say KAHCH-leen, but where I live we say KOIT-leen. There should be a fada (forward accent) on the last i. This lengthens the sound. The pronunciation would never be KAYT-lin because -ín (pronounced een) is a diminutive ending, like -y would be in English. "-lin" sounds like linn, the word for pond or pool.
There are various ways of saying it. This site says the pronounciation is KAHT-leen, others say KAHCH-leen, but where I live we say KOIT-leen. There should be a fada (forward accent) on the last i. This lengthens the sound. The pronunciation would never be KAYT-lin because -ín (pronounced een) is a diminutive ending, like -y would be in English. "-lin" sounds like linn, the word for pond or pool.
This message was edited 3/8/2009, 11:10 AM
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I guess I would need to expose myself to the Irish language and pronunciation a bit more to understand what the forward accent does. But, is the primary stress on the first or second syllable?
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The first. What I meant was the fada gives the i an "ee" sound.
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At least they won't have any trouble with the pronunciation (well, less than Tighearnach. I don't know what he'd do if he left Ireland).
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