Help with correct spelling of a name

Sparkyahaon

Hi all, we are expecting a new baby soon. If it's a girl I like the name Cl ona/Cl odhna. I have Munster Irish and have always heard it pronounced Klain-a or Klee-na. I am now living in Ulster and have heard it pronounce Klee-own-a which I really like. Just wondering about spelling. Which of these spellings is correct to pronounce it like this or is the pronounciation just totally wrong up here. TIA for any help/ suggestions

Sparkyahaon

Sorry fadas don't seem to be coming out the blanks should be I with a fada

TheChizler

Cl odhna I would say.

Insect Overlord

They're both pronounce the same way. Spelling Clíodhna with the "dh" left in is a bit more traditional.

Neither pronunciation is wrong. It's just a case of different accents and dialects. More like Clee-uhna as you get further south, Clee-owe-na further north.

Call me Al

I've only ever seen it as Clíona and Clíodhna with separation of the í and o for pronunciation. This is in Connaught.
It's a beautiful name with either spelling.

Sparkyahaon

Call me Al wrote: »

I've only ever seen it as Cl ona and Cl odhna with separation of the and o for pronunciation. This is in Connaught.
It's a beautiful name with either spelling.

Sorry Al not sure what you mean. Can it be pronounced Klee-own-a in Connaught too or is it more Klee-na.

Call me Al

Why is "i" fada not coming up?
anyway at home I've only ever heard the name pronounced as Clee-a-na.
Edit.. now the I fada is showing!
Weird.

byhookorbycrook

Clíodhna isn't a name I'd choose for a child. Traditionally she was the queen of the fairies and the wave named after her precedes disasters in West Cork. A quarry near Carrig Chíodhna in North Cork, had a lot of problems in recent
with equipment/ accidents until a mass was said there.
Blame my superstitious mother for inculcating all of that in me, but for me, it's a no as a name !!

http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/places/northcorkcounty/grovewhitenotes/caherduggantocastlehyde/gw2_42_58.pdf
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/15430/carrigcleena.html#folklore

endacl

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Clíodhna isn't a name I'd choose for a child. Traditionally she was the queen of the fairies and the wave named after her precedes disasters in West Cork. A quarry near Carrig Chíodhna in North Cork, had a lot of problems with equipment/ accidents until a mass was said there.
Blame my superstitious mother for inculcating all of that in me, but for me, it's a no as a name !!

Could be worse. Could be Gobnait.

implausible

Gas, I was having this very discussion with a colleague the other day. I'd heard another colleague calling a student Clee-owna and was wondering was it a Donegal thing. It seems both are used up here. Personally, I prefer Clee-ona and love the spelling Clíodhna (I have Connacht Irish). The spelling is the same regardless of how you pronounce it, but Clíodhna is the older version and more traditional.

It's down to personal preference, but also where you live. I have a child whose name is pronounced one way by me and immediate family and another way by every single other person he meets. It doesn't bother me or him and neither of us 'correct' people on it, but if it did bother you, it could be worth looking at different names.

Sparkyahaon

implausible wrote: »

Gas, I was having this very discussion with a colleague the other day. I'd heard another colleague calling a student Clee-owna and was wondering was it a Donegal thing. It seems both are used up here. Personally, I prefer Clee-ona and love the spelling Cl odhna (I have Connacht Irish). The spelling is the same regardless of how you pronounce it, but Cl odhna is the older version and more traditional.

It's down to personal preference, but also where you live. I have a child whose name is pronounced one way by me and immediate family and another way by every single other person he meets. It doesn't bother me or him and neither of us 'correct' people on it, but if it did bother you, it could be worth looking at different names.

Thanks for your help. No doesn't bother me people pronouncing it wrong. I have no problem correcting them just want to make sure it's a legitimate pronounciation and not incorrect. It will be fine letting the relations at home know but just one of my friends threw me when she said she never heard of it, I suppose I've heard it often up here and kind of used to hearing it pronounced that way.

An gal gréine

The spelling first of all. Clíona or the older spelling Cliodhna.
As far as I know there is no fada on the 'i' in the older version, like the name Ó Dónaill and the older Ó Domhnaill. Some grammar expert might explain why.

No native speaker in Donegal would say Clee-ow-na.
Clee-uhna, yes.

Sparkyahaon

Oh really but I wonder is Tyrone different - that's where I've heard it pronounced the other way,,

An gal gréine

Sparkyahaon wrote: »

Oh really but I wonder is Tyrone different - that's where I've heard it pronounced the other way,,

They may have thought it was the same as Fiona (Fióna i nGaeilge). Did they speak Irish?

mcgiggles

I'm Connaught and I would tend to pronounce both the same way.. Clee-anna.. I like the Cliodhna way of spelling it though

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Cl odhna isn't a name I'd choose for a child. Traditionally she was the queen of the fairies and the wave named after her precedes disasters in West Cork. A quarry near Carrig Ch odhna in North Cork, had a lot of problems in recent
with equipment/ accidents until a mass was said there.
Blame my superstitious mother for inculcating all of that in me, but for me, it's a no as a name !!

http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/places/northcorkcounty/grovewhitenotes/caherduggantocastlehyde/gw2_42_58.pdf
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/15430/carrigcleena.html#folklore

Not what the OP was asking dear...

An Riabhach

Rogha álainn mar ainm Gaelach.
Lovely choice for an Irish name.
I always thought the spelling Clíodhna was nicer because it looks more like classic Irish.

Sparkyahaon

Thanks An Riabhach I love it but do you know if it's correct to pronounce it Klee-owe-na,

An Riabhach

Sparkyahaon wrote: »

Thanks An Riabhach I love it but do you know if it's correct to pronounce it Klee-owe-na,

My own opinion of that would be,with the fada being on the i, the emphasis would be on í, for example "Cleeeona".

But people from different areas may pronounce it slightly differently.

implausible

Checked with two native speakers today (Donegal) and they'd never rhyme it with Fiona.

Using the example of Fiona isn't helpful anyway as I don't think it's the original form of the name and it's not an example of how you pronounce words with 'ío' in them e.g. díon (roof) is 'jee-un', líon (fill) is 'lee-un' and 'fíon' (wine) is 'lee-un'. Though pronunciations vary slightly, emphasising the first part of the word doesn't.

An Riabhach

"Tríona" and "Ríona" would be the best examples of pronunciation similarities with Clíona/Clíodhna.
If the fada was over the o in these names,they would all sound like Fiona.

Sparkyahaon

Thanks for that. My own thinking is that I need a fada over the I to get the 'e' sound of Klee- but then I agree that the fada should possibly be over the o to get the owe sound.I know this definitely doesn't look right though. Know plenty of Odhrans where some use a fada and others don't but they they all pronounce like Oran. Likewise with the name Orla. With or without fada still gets the o pronounced the same. So I'm wondering if I it can just be pronounced either way- this is what seems to be what people are doing up here. Whether it's correct or not though is another thing.

dubhthach

Personally I'd leave out the word internal -dh- given it's now silent in Irish it only lead to confusion with name spelling in the future.

I wonder if Clee-owna is Hiberno-English pronunciation as oppose to an Irish language one?