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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Saoirse (pronounced seer-sha)

61 replies

somewherewest · 05/03/2013 13:39

...sooo how cruel would I be to inflict this obscure Irish name on a child growing up in England Grin. Honest opinions wanted. Its the Irish for 'freedom' by the way.

PS I'm posting as someone who always swears blind that she will give DCs nice 'neutral' names, so probably won't go there.

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Original poster
somewherewest · 05/03/2013 14:00

PS Also accent as well. The accent in the part of Ireland I'm from tends to compress and flatten things a bit, if that makes any sense (probably doesn't Grin).

OP posts:
milktraylady · 05/03/2013 13:59

I think it's crazy to give a child a Gaelic name when they live in the uk. They will spend their entire life spelling it & explaining it. that's just mean!

mayanna123 · 05/03/2013 13:58

Lovely name. All the Siobhans, Aoifes and Niamhs I know have no problem in England. Go for it!

ImNotaPheasantPlucker · 05/03/2013 13:57

I know a Saoirse pronounced SeerSha, her nn is Cici if that helps.

Original poster
somewherewest · 05/03/2013 13:55

ShowOfHands Thats interesting. I would definitely say 'seer-sha'. Irish is divided into three regional dialects and Ulster Irish in particular can be a bit distinctive, so that might explain it.

OP posts:
PrincessOfChina · 05/03/2013 13:54

I like it, but thought it was prounounced as per ShowOfHands - closer to SaireSha.

Original poster
somewherewest · 05/03/2013 13:52

Yes I'm Irish. Saoirse's in the top 20 or 25 girl's names in Ireland now, I'm guessing would be pretty obscure to most English people (don't know if the actress Saoirse Ronan has helped with that). It doesn't have any political connotations down south.

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ShowOfHands · 05/03/2013 13:48

The two I know aren't 'Seersha' though. I can't type what they are. They're Irish and I can't replicate the exact pronunciation. More like Saresha.

ShowOfHands · 05/03/2013 13:47

It's not obscure. I would imagine most English people can pronounce it. I know two.

It's about as known as Aoife or Niamh ime.

Beautiful name.

HappyJoyful · 05/03/2013 13:43

Assume you're Irish ? Sorry, it does make a bit of difference to me in whether or not you can 'pull it off'
Friend recently was going to call her DD to it. I believe what put her off is that it's the IRA's magazines title apparently
Also know of someone that has recently named her DD it, so I'm thinking it's not that obscure, if that's what you're aiming for.

IllGetOverIt · 05/03/2013 13:40

I know one pfb but her mum pronounces it Sorsha.

Quite like the name though.