A Healer’s Geste

Names

I thought Matt and I might have a candidate we both like for Ilse’s middle name. Right now my own current front-runner is “Brighe,” which is Gaelic and pronounced “Bree.” Whenever I write it or say it Matt simply replies, “Brig,” and refuses to participate further. Well, the other day I introduced the name “Brigid” and I was not met with an instant rebuff. “Ilse” is Germanic, but I’ve been hankering after a more Gaelic/Scandinavian/Celtic/Old-English middle name.

So I looked up “Brigid” again the other day to double-check that I was pronouncing it correctly. Was I correct in saying “BRI-jid” or could it be “BRIG-id”? Turns out it’s neither. Turns out it’s pronounced “BREED.” Personally, I think it’d be rather uncouth to make “BREED” a girl’s middle name. :) Rats.

So, even Brigid is added to the list of names I like the look of written out, but aren’t acceptable when pronounced: Eilis (AY-lish), Aine (EN-ya or AWN-ya), and several others I can’t remember off the top of my head that began with Ao and had random unpronounced gh and dh combinations. :)

Brighe is still my choice, but I might just add “Eilidh” to the list on our white board, even if it does look like “eye-lid.” It’s actually “AY-lee,” and that doesn’t sound too bad. I’d be alright with Mae, too, but I’m afraid of Matt jumping on it and it being settled when I might possibly be able to wear him down to accepting Brighe. :) Or I might get a hold of the paperwork first. :)