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Greetings,
You wrote to us asking about the names Anoth MacAnnawyn, Caol Crisdean MacIain, and An Naoimh. Here is the information we found about An Naoimh. (The information we found about the other names will be sent separately.) My apologies for the long delay.
"An Naomh" (modern Scottish Gaelic spelling) means "The Saint".[1] The spelling you gave for your nickname, "An Naoimh", is used for both the vocative case, used when directly addressing you (as in, "O The Saint!", or "Hey you, The Saint!"), and for the genitive case, "of The Saint". Since it is being used to address you, I would expect it is the vocative that is relevant here. (For your information, when people are speaking about you, not to you, they would use "An Naomh", which is pronounced slightly differently.)
Alternatively, your family could be calling you "A Naoimh", which is the vocative form of "Naomh", meaning not "The Saint" but simply "Saint". (In this case, when people are speaking about you, not to you, they would use "Naomh", without either an "A" or an "An" before it.)
"Naomh" is pronounced \N#v\ [2] and "An Naomh" is pronounced \ahN N#v\, where \#\ represents a vowel sound not found in English that is made by saying an \oo\ sound (as in English "moo") while smiling, instead of with rounded lips as in English. English speakers often replace the \#\ sound in "naomh" with either a \oo\ sound or an \ee\ sound. The \N\ is not like a normal English \n\ sound, but rather is pronounced with the tongue pressed against the upper front teeth.
"An Naoimh" is pronounced \ahN N#iv\, where \#i\ represents a diphthong of the \#\ sound closely followed by a short \i\ sound, like the <ee> in English "meek", only of shorter duration. English speakers often replace the \#i\ diphthong with a sound like the English word "eye". The \N\ is the same as above.
"A Naoimh" is pronounced \ah n#iv\. Unlike the \N\ in the above examples ("Naomh", "An Naomh", and "An Naoimh"), the \n\ sound in "A Naoimh" is like a normal English \n\.
We can't honestly say how Gaelic speakers would react to your nickname. However, non-Gaelic speakers in Scotland are unlikely to know its meaning, and so would probably react just as North Americans do.
You might be interested to know that there is a Gaelic woman's name, "Niamh" (pronounced \nyee-ahv\, with the \y\ as in "yes" and the emphasis on the first syllable), which is popular in Ireland.[3] However, there is no connection to the word "Naomh" meaning "Saint".
Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Arval d'Espas Nord, Lindorm Eriksson, and myself contributed to this letter.
We hope this has been helpful. If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.
In service,
Effric Neyn Kenyeoch Vc Ralte
Academy of S. Gabriel
[1] Dwelly, Edward, ed., _The Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary_ (Glasgow: Gairm Publications, 1977) s.v. "Naomh".
[2] Pronunciation guides appear between \ \. For example, the Scottish Gaelic word "ri\gh", which means "king" is roughly pronounced \reee\.
[3] O/ Corráin, Donnchadh, and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_, 2nd edn. (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990) s.v. "Niam".