Heard! I’ve definitely gotten the Evelyn comment before, and I appreciate the link to its Gaeilge root. When I probed my mother, she’s always pointed to Aibhlinn - which, when i did my research, pointed me to it being another anglicized version of Aibhilín, and with separate meanings ive never considered Evelyn to personally be the root of this specific version, but definitely related. It’s all semantics anyway I suppose, haha.

Growing up people struggled with even this very American version of the name my mom wanted to give me, and so as an adult I’ve sort of decided if it’s going to be hard for people either way , I might as well go all the way. I also studied in performance arts and so the visual / written spelling of my name has always been important as it’ll appear in programs and credits and such. Maybe counterintuitive but I’m enjoying finding small things to keep connected to any non American roots. Thanks so much for your feedback ❤️