Caoimhe the name.
 

When i first saw Caoimhe's name i was pronouncing it Kay-oi-me.
But then i found out it is pronounced Kee-va, and wonder how such variance on the spelling is acheived?

It's the same with Padraig ( Pad-raig) being pronounced as Poric, and Siobahn (Si-O-barn) being pronounced as Sha-vorn.

Is there some sort of grammer rule here that can be used to ascertain other similar spellings, or is it just a matter of an interpretation?

It's in Irish which is a different language, that's why. There is no letter V in the Irish langauge and so mh together are pronounced like a V, see my username Niamh is pronounced Nee-av. It is not in English so different rules apply

Everytime i read her name i still pronouce it in my head as Kay-oi-me. :laugh:

we actually pronounce it more like Kwee-va rather than Kee-va

Camho will be just fine.

I agree with NojoMixon

Thats what i thought, but then i wonder how letters mean one thing in one language and something else in another? Surely when letters, in the form we know now, had a certain meaning when they were first used? By that, i mean that Germans speak a different language, but the pronunciation of the words is similar to how an English speaker would say them. Although their use of V and W gets mixed up.
A similar thing is the mix up of the oriental use of L and R. Now ive always thought that the original translation from the oriental characters was perhaps wrong, and that L and R got mixed and has stuck ever since. But can this be said of Irish to English? Do the Irish have their own characters to represent certain letters? By this i mean that as the Irish doesnt have a letter V..why/who where/when was it decided mh was a valid substitute?

Er..why..what is the ruling there?

BTW..this isnt a pisstake as its always interested me, and thanks for your insight Niamhxo.

Well we only have 18 letters in our alphabet, generally speaking they are pronounced as they would be in English except for the ones that needed to be compensated for like V. And as for who made it up? I have no idea :joker: I doubt it was considered a substitute for anything in comparison to English as I presume languages aren't made up as a substitute to other languages, If you get what I mean?

It's just the way that I've and everyone I know has always pronounced that particular name

It's a matter of pronunciation of the language. Like English, Irish has loads of dialects and is open to different pronunciations. I would pronounce it Kwee-va as well.

German pronunciation is not that much similar to English at all, I studied German for five years and almost every letter of the German alphabet has a different sound to the same letter in English.

Irish is a language too, there are lots of Irish names, it might be a bit difficult to know them first go but it's not an impossible task. Irish has a different alphabet with ten vowels, many of the letters are pronounced differently to in English like in any language, it's not that difficult.

oh yeah Shiobhan is pronounced Shiv-awn because BH together also makes a V sound

Dont listen to the Irish as they cannot even agree what their country or countries is called

lol

Excuse me?

:conf:

You should change your location to deep, deep up your own arse

Its the same with Welsh, we don't have certain letters like X, Z. But we have extra letters :D like ll, th, ch, ng.
Certain letters produce a different pronounciation too:
ll = cll.... so Llys would be pronouced Cllys.

Is that sent with an mh or bh sign :joker:

lol, i dunno how they came across that spelling!

:laugh2:

Who?

I don't think they know that Ireland has its own language. :shocked:

Pronounce goes = Kwanzaa

I get what your saying Jessica, but if i read German out of a book, my pronunciation is very near spot on....except for the V and W type mix. So with the recognised (usually) mix of V and W, it can generally be accepted that WHAT is pronounced VOT for example.
I know the rule in language translation is not an exact science, but how some rules are translated confuses me. My missus is Thai and trust me..trying to work out the pronunciation of their language..when the letters are there in front of me..is a head-banger.:conf: