Keir?

I'm Scottish, there was a Keir in my class at school. So seems fairly normal to me.

Nothing like Kallum or Kloe.

Cool.

The only annoying episodes have been when people call him Kieran or pronounce it key ar grrr

Ds1 is Keir. It's a fab name although I am obviously biased. It's about all I took from my history of politics a level! Also when I was expecting in mother and baby magazine they used to have diaries at the back and one of the mums had a little boy called Keir.

My brother said he would be called Keir the queer but I just asked him and in his 17 and a bit years no one has ever called him that.

I love it! Good, strong name with excellent political connotations, IMO

I also know a 'Kern,' which I think is lovely.

OP If it helps at all, there's not a break between syllables as in 'Kia' - the sound flows. As in 'weir' or 'pier'. And a soft roll on the 'r'!

Pronounciation of Kerr is more tricky. It's somewhere in between 'fur' and 'care'. Almost 'Keh-urr', but flowed on as above, not as two separate sounds.

In the past, some people - such as filmstar Deborah Kerr - said 'Carr'. I belive the same old pronounciation is still used in parts of USA where Scottish emigrants settled.

One of my all time top boys' names, and it's on our list for our baby due in a few weeks! We're not sure if it goes that well with the surname though so might not use it. Also lefties and worried we might be tainting him a bit if we went with it though... But my Scots granny was from the same area as Keir Hardie and I like that connection too... This baby naming thing is hard.

I like Keir. I used to know a boy at university back in the 90s with that name. He was very handsome and charming.

I love it. Did make me think of Keir Hardy

I have reread my comment and realised it sounds quite harsh towards people who do change a 'C' to a 'K'. I didn't mean it to.

It is not to my taste, but it's not my business.

Also, some 'C' names originally began with 'K' e.g. the Kardashian spelling of Khloe is a more accurate transliteration of the Greek original. It's not pronounced in the Greek fashion with either spelling, though.

I thought the 'K-name' problem was when 'K' was used for no good reason* on a name that would traditionally begin with a 'C', like Kallum or Krystal or Klare?

I understand people objecting to that, as with any 'yooneek' spelling, but I think all the K-hate is throwing the Kezia-baby out with the Kasey-bathwater.

• The only good reason I can think of is when English people struggled to pronounce the original spelling in another language e.g. Ciara/Keira, Cillian/Killian. I prefer the Irish originals, but these spellings are well established, and make more phonetic sense in English. I am Irish.

Basically what bump said. (Also Welsh)

I love the name Keir but every time I mention it my sister says "Keir the queer" and insists this is what my (fictional) son would be called at school!

OP, sorry to derail you a bit earlier with my contribution about my Kia car, it's just in my accent (Welsh) they do sound very similar. That said it's still a great name and if you both like it then go for it. We're having a boy too and I find boys names far harder than girls names so to find one you like is good news I think.

Personally I think it is lovely. I really liked the name Kerr when I had a DS but I was told it was pronounced Care, if I knew Keir I would have used it as lovely. Plus it's stupid to write off all names beginning with a K,

I think it's ok but I prefer James, especially with Anna.

I think Keir is a lovely name that's actually quite refreshing to hear - I've only come across one Keir. It's silly to dislike a letter and in my opinions a lot of K-hating is pure snobbery.

My favourites were Keir or Kerr, OH wanted Ciaran.

We have a Ciar - not sure if that helps?

Ciaran is from a different route history wise than Keir and means little dark one. As we didn't think he would be little we took the "an" of.

So, we sort of both got our choice. :)

Personally, I love it. But, the people I know called Keir have been middle class lefties, so perhaps that has influenced my impression of the name.

We considered it when I was expecting 8 years ago now. I also considered Kai (after the philosopher Kai Nielsen and pre Kai Rooney). I think both are great names. In the end we didn't use either as we had a girl. She has got a K name, but it is MN approved .

Agree that the pronounciation is different.

Car = Key-ah

Keir = Keer or Kee-yer

And it's not a nickname. It's a long-established variation of the surname 'Kerr' which orginally came from Old Norse. (Vikings in Scotland etc).

The 'r' is an essential part of the name, not an optional extra, unless you really can't pronounce 'r' in any way, shape or form.

But Kia is pronounced ki-a and kier is pronounced ki-er?

Don't understand the issue

do it do it

To me it just sounds like a nickname rather than a full name. I don't pronounce the 'r' at the end of words so I would say it as 'Kia'.

Kieran but Kier for short?

I think he'd be called "royale" at school but until your post I'd never heard the name so what do I know . Are you in Scotland?

I like it a lot but the spelling issues wwill be a total PITA for him when he gets older.