Niamh is technically, "NEE-uhv," but everyone in
Ireland that I've heard says it so quickly that it's more like "neev," rhyming with
Eve.
A friend of mine from another country and language had me in stitches. When she moved to the U.S. from
Asia in the 1970s
Geoffrey Bean was a top designer. She thought "GOOF-ree" was such an odd sounding name. And she was right. :-)
I have no excuse. I should have known how to pronounce names like
Damaris but still got it wrong. I assumed it was "dah-MARE-is" or "dah-MAHR-is," not "DAM-uh-ris." I know there are others but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.
Fun.