Caoimhín

The c and the ao together give KWEE, the mh is a v, and the fada on the i makes it a long ee. KWEE-veen.

• bh, mh → v — or w in the middle of a word
• ao → ee, or ay in Munster
• á é í ó ú (the fada) → a long vowel — and never optional

All seven rules, and every name with a respelling →

St Kevin founded Glendalough in the Wicklow mountains and, folklore insists, stood so long in prayer with his hand outstretched that a blackbird nested in it — and he waited for the chicks to fledge. Seamus Heaney wrote a poem about exactly that patience. Its anglicised form, Kevin, was so common in mid-century America that it became shorthand for an Irish-American boy.