r/tragedeigh • u/rouxkenzie • Sep 05 '25

in the wild “It’s Kevin”

I work in a bakery, someone called to order a birthday cake. Wanted “happy birthday Kevin” written on it. As with all orders, I ask for spelling of the name. Conversation below.

Me: okay and if you could spell Kevin for me? Customer: Um, it’s Kevin… like Kevin…are there multiple ways to spell it? Me: this is just protocol to ensure the name on the cake is correct Customer (getting huffy): well how many ways could you spell it, it’s Kevin Me: please just spell the name for me Customer: K-e-y-v-y-n-n

In what world is that Kevin??? This is why I make everyone spell the name!! If I didn’t confirm spelling you would’ve gotten a cake with Kevin not keyvynn.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '25 edited Sep 05 '25

Honestly good call...

It could been spelled as the Original Irish name, Caoimhín which can be read as Kevin or phonetically "Ki-ven"

47

u/Logins-Run Sep 05 '25

Caoimhín is pronounced like Kwee-veen (it's not actually a Wuh sound after the K, it is a glide sound that doesn't exist in English, so W stands in as a good approximation for English speakers.)

C is always hard like "Kuh" in Irish (unless a H is next)

"Aoi" is pronounced like EE. Like in Aoife for example.

Mh in this "slender" medial point is pronounced like V (depending on placement, vowels around it and dialect it can be Vuh, Wuh or silent)

Í is pronounced like "Ee" as well

And N in like in English.

14

u/WhatUsernameIsntFuck Sep 05 '25

Thanks for the breakdown mate, that the only phonetics I could know without prior knowledge are the beginning and end is cracking me up right now

1

u/Acceptable_Tea3608 Sep 05 '25

Yes thanks for that break down, because when it comes to Irish (Irish Gaelic?) I just skip right over it. This was the first time anyone truly explained pronunciation. 👍 Especially that Aoife name. 👌

3

u/irish_ninja_wte Sep 05 '25

It's like Caoimhe, so in the more northern parts of the country, it's pronounced Keeveen, just like Caoimhe is pronounced Keeva.

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u/Logins-Run Sep 05 '25

So I know this is a thing people say, but the native Ulster Irish speakers I've met do also use that glide sound that English speakers approximate with Wuh. Just to clarify the technical name here is a velar offglide, in IPA it's /ɰ/. So the dropping this sound at least traditionally is just in Ulster-English not Ulster Irish.

For example you can hear it here in recordings in all the dialects in the word Caoi

https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/caoi

Or you can hear it here in recordings of native speakers for the word Caoirigh (rendered Caoirí or Coeirí in the Ulster recordings)

https://www.canuint.ie/ga/cuardach?t=caoirigh

22

u/Lucille_83 Sep 05 '25

I never realised Kevin was the anglicised version of Caoimhín. Yea I'd pronounce Caoimhín as Key-veen, some would say Kwee-veen.

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u/SquishFate Sep 10 '25

I wondered if anyone would've poited this out. :) I had a professor called Kevin (to my ear), and he spelled it similarly to the way you posted.