This is a fairly easy question for anyone who is familiar with the names. Would someone please tell me how to pronounce the following? I came across them and didn’t know how to say them and had the bright idea that someone here probably does.
William Alisdair
(alice-dare, alice-drr, ali-stir)
Benjamin Ailig
(eye-lig, eye-leak, A-lig, A-leak, eye-lick, you get the idea)
Karina Eilidh
(Kuh-reen-uh A-lee, aye-lee, etc)
Thanks for any help!
Irish and Scottish Gaelic are different languages, and the letter combinations are pronounced differently…so knowledge of one won’t help much with pronunciation of the other.
If the last two are Irish, and assuming there are no accents missing (which change the pronunciation of the vowel), I’d pronounce them Ailig/A-lig (“a” as in “cat,” stress on the first syllable) and Eilidh/EL-ee. That’s based entirely on my knowledge of modern Irish phonics, and may not apply to the actual names (phonics can change over time, but names often retain their old pronunciations). But I suspect they’re Scottish (they don’t really look like Irish surnames, which, when in Irish, will have a prefix, such as Ó, Uí, Ní, Mac, Mhic, Nic or de) and I suspect there may be some missing accents as well.
Redwolf
Based on my time in Scotland,
I’d say:
William Alisdair LIKE William Alistair - Aluh-stare/Alistur
Depending on YOUR accent.
Benjamin Ailig - Ay-lig with a gentle “g” that might well disappear completely.
Karina Eilidh - Much like Ailig, oddly enough. Eylie.
It’s odd. My immediate reaction is “what do you mean, how do you pronounce them? Just like they’re spelled!”
But these are expatriot efforts. If Chrisoff or Big Davy tell you different, then hark to them.
I am under the impression that they are all three Scottish Gaelic Christian/first names. Alisdair and Ailig both being Alexander and Eilidh being Helen according to baby name sites. (None of which provide decent, or any, pronunciation guides along with them–and the few that do have vastly different suggestions.)
I do know that many Eilidhs complain of being called eye-lid. I don’t know of any missing accent marks. I am under the impression that all three are fairly common or well known, meaning anyone from that general vicinity of the world would recognize them. I was limited in the title’s length and used every last space, so I thought that would provide the highest likelihood that someone who knows what s/he is doing would see it.
Edited to add a thank you to the ex-pat.
Hi Katie
As previously suggested the names are Scottish rather than Irish.
Alisdair would be pronounced in the West of Scotland in a 3 syllable form:- Ah-liss-dare is probably the closest to how it would sound.
Ailigh would be two syllable and would sound like ay-lay (ay pronounced as hay without the h) as would Eilidh in certain pronunciations. The alternative pronunciation for Eilidh would be eye-lay. The closest English equivelent would be Hayley, not Helen
Chrisoff will probably chip in with the North East versions later.
David
After sleeping on it, I wonder if they are just transliterations of names in common currency: Alistair, Alec and Hayley! They would be pronounced much the same.
Nope, I’d pronounce them pretty much the same as you said.
The baby naming websites, which I wouldn’t trust, say Alasdair is the Scottish Gaelic equivalent of Alexander, while Alastair is the Irish Gaelic of Alexander.
And they say Ailig is the same as Alec and Alex, with Ailig and Alec both being Scottish.
Eilidh is said to be “a pet form of Eibhilin. Eibhilin is a form of the Germanic name Avelina, which we now know as Evelyn. However, due to association, Ailie/Eilidh has come to be regarded as the Gaelic form of Helen.”
I’ve seen a lot of other blatant inaccuracies on baby name websites, so I don’t know how much is true. I only went to them hoping for a pronunciation. My great appreciation to those here who provided them!
Eibhlín is an Irish name, and has been said, Eilidh is Scottish. Eibhlín is pronounced EV-leen
The closet Irish has to “Ailig” is “Ailís” (EYE-leesh), which is a 'Gaelicization " of “Alice.” The Irish form of “Alexander” is “Alasdar.”
Take those sites that tell you that “this name is a Gaelic form of that name” with a HUGE grain of salt. I don’t know about Scotland, but in Ireland, people with native Irish names were ASSIGNED names that the English thought sounded more like English forms of their real names, thus giving rise to the assumption that certain native Irish names are “Irish forms” of English names, when in fact they’re totally unrelated. For example, you’ll read that “Sorcha” is Irish for “Sarah,” or that “Gráinne” is Irish for “Grace,” when in fact both are native Irish names with no relationship whatsoever to the English names that have become attached to them. There are some names that are Irish phonetizations of names from other cultures, but never take that as a given without further research. In most cases, the only relationship is a vague similarity in sound.
Another thing to bear in mind when researching…when you see the word “Gaelic” by itself, it refers to the language spoken in Scotland. The Irish language will either be called “Irish” (preferred) or in some cases “Irish Gaelic.” As I said before, the two languages are related but not the same (the relationship is rather like that between Spanish and Portuguese).
Redwolf
Pretty much except the “H” on Hayley would be silent unless Eilidh is in the vocative but you would only use that if you were speaking to Eilidh in Gaelic.
Now that’s interesting! What would one say speaking of an Eilidh?
And is it Haylay or Haylee (without the H) that it would mimic?
I’m not totally clear on the details of the vocative form, just that any name in vocative is lenated, which is where the name Hamish comes from… it’s Seumas lenated.
Eilidh rhymes with Ceilidh… AY-lee and KAY-lee respectively.
Does Gaelic also use the vocative particle? For example, in Irish, the example you mentioned would be “a Shéamais” (pronounced “uh HAY-mish”) in the vocative (regular nominative form “Séamais”).
I’m always curious about the similarities and differences between the two languages.
Redwolf
I only dabble but both Gaeilge and Gaidhlig lenate in the vocative. The differences between the languages are largely variations in vocabulary, pronunciation and syntax… but again I only dabble.
Plus there are lots of dialect variations within each language. One example is D flanked by I or E. I was in a workshop with an instructor from Lewis and she pronounced the D more dentally whereas it’s pronounced more from the palette in other Gaelic communities.
Slender “d” (i.e., “d” flanked by an i or an e) is pronounced between “j” and “dts” in Irish, depending on dialect.
Fortunately, there are only four main dialects in Irish, and knowing one it’s easy to follow the others.
It was the vocative particle…the “a” in front of the name in the vocative…that I was curious about, however. It’s required in written Irish, though it’s often dropped in spoken Irish, especially in front of vowels.
Redwolf
Oh, yes the “a” is there in Gaidhlig too. I don’t know firmly that practice is held in colloquial usage.