The Baby Name Wizard

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Contribute to, or edit, this collection of community wisdom on the name Aoife!

Comments and insights on the name Aoife: | Edit

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Personal experiences with the name Aoife: | Edit

Of all the real Irish names, this is one of the worst to use for a North American kid - when my sister visits from Ireland she is driven distracted by the butchering her name gets!

We live in North America and named our daughter Aoife. While it is difficult for people here to pronounce, we hear so often that it is a beautiful name, that we are reassured that it was the right choice for our beautiful daughter. The Irish name, Siobhan, was just as foreign to people in the 1980s, but is now so well known that the pronunciation is not much of a problem anymore.

Nicknames for Aoife: | Edit

Aoifie (EE-fie)

Meanings and history of the name Aoife: | Edit

From the Gaelic word aoibh meaning beauty'.

Famous real-life people named Aoife: | Edit

Aoife Curley- many time Irish Dancing World Championship winner

Aoife in song, story & screen: | Edit

The Name Aoife has a number of stories attached to it - both historical and mythological.

Historically, Aoife was the daughter of Dermot MacMurrough, provincial king of Leinster, in the 12th century. When MacMurrough sought aid from the Normans in a feud, he offered Aoife's hand in marriage to Richard de Clare (aka, Strongbow). De Clare is often credited/blamed as the first Norman "invader" of Ireland.

Another Aoife was the jealous stepmother in the mythological tale, "The Children of Lir", who turned her 3 step-children into swans and cursed them to spend 300 years on each of 3 Irish lakes.

N.B. Despite the (seeming, to the Anglo ear) similarity in pronunciation, Aoife is NOT related to either "Eva" or "Ava"