Saoirse...

Well done, plumpy, although have you learned NOTHING from the baby naming boards?! Never ever discuss names with anyone in RL before the child has arrived, unless you have rock solid confidence in the face of and expressions.

Well done. Lovely name imo. I prefer the Seer-sha pronunciation too.

(Saoirse Ronan pronounces her name wrong. It's not Sur-sha).

'I actually prefer Sorcha though, which is more straightforward to pronounce in England maybe?'
LadyAntonella, you must have missed Sorcha-gate

I wouldn't know how to pronounce or spell it had I not read the thread! But that's a reflection of my lack of familiarity with Irish names rather than anything else. If a friend called her child this name I'd soon pick it up :-)

Absolutely love the name Saoirse! I'm boring old English, and I can spell and pronounce it no prob.

Aoife is quite popular, and the vowels are in the same order, so I think people will learn to spell it, and I really wouldn't anglicise it- you'll end up in a 'Shivawn' situation. My name is easy to spell, but you'd be amazed at the variations I get, and my surname is impossible. Do I care? Not in the slightest.

i quite like the spelling of it too anyway! Only problem is i think i would be trying to adopt an irish accent (obv. im joking) when saying it cos it sounds just so beautiful with the irish lilt (especially the little brother who says it in the cartoon) my gutteral Scots doesn;t do it as much justice lol

And what cherish says :D I have a difficult-ish name to spell with several pronunciations. Correcting people as to spelling and pronunciation is nothing, but id be a bit if people were trying to 'correct' me. Surely that would just be rude its never happened to me and only something i have seen on mn.

It's a beautiful Irish name. I'm English and I know how to pronounce it. No way would I change the spelling that is how it's spelt

i love this name. Its top of my list should i ever have a girl looking less likely as the years roll on . I got it from a cartoon too, think it was the same one, a little girl swimming with seals (didnt really watch it had it on for ds2) but i loved the sound of the name. Im Scottish and dont have any irish connections at all but id still be using it.

It's lovely OP.
Go for it if you like it.
I am sure there are many more just as difficult to pronouce names in a multicultural UK.
On hearing D4 and Ross O' Carroll Kelly mentioned on this thread I wish there was an Irish section in Mumsnet.
Lots of regular Irish postets like Squoosh, Mathanxiety and KenDodds could contribute.
Just sayin.

Actually my first name does seem to require spelling quite a bit, but I've not found it that big a deal.

For me the issue isn't about spelling, it's about the arrogance to think that someone should write their name wrongly according to the rules of their own language so that other people don't have to listen for half a second, or take a moment to observe the spelling.

We don't suggest this with Chinese names, where the vowel sounds don't follow British rules, and we don't suggest it with Polish names, where the consonants may give the English a bit of jip. Yet some MNers think it's perfectly acceptable to tell Irish people to rewrite their own names.

Is it a 'familiarity breeds contempt' thing? The Irish are near neighbours so it's fine to act like culturally oppressive twats?

I'm guessing cherish that you have not actually had to live your life with a name that's difficult to interpret written down.

I have, and I've had over 40 years of being mispronounced and I know even in my ancient years when I'm bloody 85, the nurses in the hospital will be still mispronouncing my name.

It ends up being the responsibility of the person with the name to "educate". But you didn't ask for that responsibility and it gets fucking boring, very fast.

No Elspeth, the problem is solved by people opening their ears when the child is introduced, or, if the name is written down, asking how it is pronounced.

The re-writing of Irish names because people "in the UK" (I'm guessing by that you don't mean the NI bit) find them a little bit trickier than Grace and Jack is not acceptable.

Embarrassed now, but I've never known how to say it and in my head, read it as 'sore arse' !!

It's a gorgeous name but not with the Irish spelling in the UK - no way!

She'd have a life of hassle.

Just spell it Saorsha. Problem solved.

It's a lovely name for an Irish child.

It's the name of Sinn Fein's magazine so I'd wonder if you were a republican but it's just be a passing thought. I think it's a pretty name. I'm English living in Northern Ireland

Believe it or not, my parents are Irish! But they are very anglicised having lived here all their lives, so I don't have any experience of Irish names.

I am being thick.

I know a Saoirse, she pronounces it Seersha with a silent 'r'. I love it!

Umm, no. She pronounces it as sur-sha. To rhyme with 'inertia'.

What, so she pronounces it Sinertia?

If I had to guess for a week how to pronounce Saoirse, I would not come up with that.

Saoirse Ronan rhymes her name with 'inertia'. But she's the only Saoirse I know who does!

I love it. I'm Irish (Ulster) and pronounce it seer-sha. It doesn't have political connotations for me either.

I'd say Seer-sheh too OP. I don't think I know anyone that says 'sare-sheh'. What does Saoirse Ronan say?

I don't like 'really' Irish names - they look ugly to me and most people don't know how to pronounce them.