We’re expecting our first boy in [name_f]September[/name_f]. Before we were even pregnant, my husband and I decided his name will be [name_m]Eoin[/name_m]. Since we are not sharing this name with family or close friends before the birth I would like to know what everyone’s first impression is. Specifically, how do you think it’s pronounced? Two years ago when we named our daughter [name_f]Chara[/name_f] we thought the pronunciation was obvious. Her name is the Greek word for “joy,” and coincidentally is also the Irish Gaelic word for “friend” in the Connacht dialect. It is pronounced like other words borrowed from Greek into English, such as [name_u]Christmas[/name_u], chorus, psychology, charisma, etc. In our eagerness to assure ourselves that the “ch” is often pronounced like a “k” in English, we overlooked the pronunciations of [name_m]Charles[/name_m] and [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]. But no one else has. Nurses who read her name pronounce it like [name_m]Charles[/name_m] instead of Character. The pronunciation issue isn’t such a big deal to me, since my own name is mispronounced a lot, but I would like to be able to anticipate how [name_m]Eoin[/name_m]’s name will be mis/pronounced (or any other issues that may come up) so I can have a helpful explanation ready.
[name_m]Eoin[/name_m] is an Irish variant of [name_m]John[/name_m]. Does it help if I say the “e” is silent? His name is pronounced exactly like “owen.” It may be helpful to know we live in the Midwest of the United States and not the British Isles where this name is better known.
Reasons we like this name:
Great meaning: [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] means “Yahweh is gracious” and indeed God has been gracious to us this past year.
It’s Irish: my husband fell in love with all things Irish, and especially Irish names when he met his biological father a few years ago and discovered he had Irish roots.
Family naming tradition: nearly every generation of my family has had someone named [name_m]John[/name_m] in it, from the ancestor who immigrated to my youngest nephew. I am delighted that our son can participate in this naming tradition without actually having the overused name. It also honors my husband whose middle name is [name_m]Ian[/name_m], the Scottish form of [name_m]John[/name_m]. (unfortunately my husband doesn’t like his middle name enough to give it to one of our children.)
Bible name: While [name_m]Sean[/name_m], [name_u]Shane[/name_u], and [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] are all variants of [name_m]John[/name_m] from Irish Gaelic, [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] is the one used in the Irish translation of the Bible. Also I don’t like [name_m]Sean[/name_m] and [name_u]Shane[/name_u] as names for personal reasons.
[name_m]Cross[/name_m]-cultural: Since [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] is a Bible name it has already been translated into multiple languages. The Russians can call him [name_m]Ivan[/name_m] and in [name_f]China[/name_f] he can go by [name_f]Yue[/name_f] Han.
It’s a compromise: My husband really likes Irish names with the original spellings. I vetoed [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f] for our first child because I thought the pronunciation was too far removed from the spelling for an English speaker to figure out. But [name_m]Eoin[/name_m] seems a little more intuitive than say, [name_f]Aine[/name_f] or [name_f]Eibhlin[/name_f].
It’s short: yes, our son will always have to spell his name, but he only has to say four letters.
It passes the “starbucks test?”: Barristas don’t have to spell the name correctly in order to say it correctly. I don’t think I’ll be upset if my son’s name is spelled “o-w-e-n” on a disposable cup. (We don’t want to spell it as “[name_u]Owen[/name_u]” because the names are completely different with different roots. [name_u]Owen[/name_u] is the Welsh variant of the Greek “[name_m]Eugene[/name_m]” meaning well born and not another variant of [name_m]John[/name_m].)
When my husband first introduced me to this name I thought it looked really strange and wanted to sing “Old [name_m]Macdonald[/name_m] had a farm E-I-E-I-O” but over the last few months of thinking about it as our son’s name it has become familiar to the point of ordinary. So I need some fresh eyes, what do you think about this name?
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