Niamh Marie

This just happens to be my 50th blog post. And for the last 50 blogs, I have used Neve to spell my little girl's name. But there's more to the story of her name...

When we became pregnant (and I say "we" loosely of course), Beth and I thought long and hard about baby names. We went through a lot of books and resources, but we always seemed to come back to one particular girl's name. And that name ended up sticking... Niamh. Niamh is an Irish Gaelic name that is pronounced pretty much like Eve but with an N in front of it. If you can't wrap your head around the fact that Niamh is pronounced "Neve," it might help to know that in Irish Gaelic an "i" makes a long e sound and "mh" makes a v sound. That has kind of helped me with the pronunciation (and with explaining it). 

So, when we found out our baby was going to be a girl and made the final decision to use this Irish name, we had to decide whether we wanted to spell it Niamh or use an anglicized version such as Neve. We went back and forth, debating the effects on us and her of having to pronounce the name to probably 99% of the people (in America, at least). So, we came up with a compromise that we were going to use both spellings. Niamh is on her birth certificate, but we reserved and still reserve (until Niamh/Neve tells us otherwise) the right to use Neve in certain situations for ease of use or just because we feel like it.

And we do use both. It's actually kind of fun. Niamh's favorite blanket that we got from our neighbors has Niamh on it. Neve's toy train is spelled Neve. For the doctor's office, we use Niamh. For Great-Grandmas we use Neve (most of the time because even Neve seems hard enough for them). When N receives gifts, we get spellings all over the place. Which actually doesn't bother me at all, I enjoy seeing the creative ways her name is spelled.

For the past 50 blog posts, I have spelled her name "Neve." For the next 50, I'm going to try and remember to use "Niamh." I want to be fair with the spellings of the name. Because at some point, we're going to let Niamh decide which spelling she prefers. And I don't want Neve to think that I prefer one spelling over the other. Because I don't. I've grown to love both. And to absolutely love my little "bright" and "radiant" Irish princess.

In Irish mythology, Niamh was the daughter of the God of the sea and a princess of the land of eternal youth. But that's a story for one of the next 50 blogs...

Have a great night!