HAVING FOUR of the five vowels in your name is cool. Except when it isn’t.
1. No one knows how to pronounce it abroad…
2. …But in Ireland, you have the ‘Quee-va’ or a ‘Kee-va’ issue
‘Quee-va’ is most popular in the south, but Nordie Caoimhes will insist on ‘Kee-va’. You get both on a daily basis.
3. Or else you’re one of those Caoimhes who likes to be called ‘Keefa’, and you don’t care about anyone’s rules
4. All those vowels coming together intimidates the hell out of people
Even if they’ve pronounced ‘Caoimhe’ properly in conversation, seeing it written down throws them into a world of doubt.
5. So you’ve been called everything under the sun
Chelsea. Reeva. Craig.
6. Anglicised spellings get your goat
Oh, ‘Kiva’, is it? That’s nice, but you don’t know the struggle.
7. And you know every misspelling in the book
Even Irish people have trouble with it sometimes.
8. Occasionally though, you’re genuinely surprised by them
‘Chomine’? OK…
9. But at the end of the day, it’s a badass name
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It comes from the Irish word caomh, meaning ‘dear one’. Own it, Caoimhes of the world.
