Saoirse

I know how to pronounce it but have Irish family

Gorgeous name with a lovely meaning

I only know it thanks to the wonderful Irish animated film "Song of the Sea", the main character of which was named Saoirse. It is a nice name.

Impossible spelling for somebody from England though!

I always say this as 'sore-arse' to myself in my head

I love it. It's my fave Irish name. I wanted it but DH vetoed it as he thought unfair DD would spend her life explaining how to pronounce it. I have unusual spelling also and it does get annoying. I guess it depends on how much that bothers you.

It's one pronunciation that I struggle to retain, despite having seen it explained several times on here and hearing Saoirse Ronan talked about on tv.

But, I live in England. People may be more familiar with it in Scotland.

Oh yeah, I came across a Saw Sha once.

Baffling!

V popular in Ireland. Wouldn't use it outside Ireland for anything.

Saoirse Ronan is constantly still correcting people and she's been around for years.

I pronounce it Seer Sha but she pronounces it to rhyme with inertia. And I have heard Sore Sha as well.

Saw-sha?!

All the Saoirse's I've known (OK, 3) have pronounced it Saw-sha, not seer-sha.

I wouldn't, unless I lived in Ireland where it's a lot more common and people know how to both spell and say it. (Though you would obviously disagree with me on how it's pronounced.)

It's a nice name and not so unknown outside of Ireland now so I'd go for it.

From personal experience there are 3 things to bear in mind about having a name that bog standard English speakers can't work out from the spelling.

1. When she tells people her name they'll pronounce it correctly (it's not hard) but will then likely spell it wrong on Christmas cards / party invites etc. If you just accept that, and appreciate attempts to get it right then you'll get along more easily.

2. When people see her name written down they'll pronounce it wrong. If you're not offended, and correct them and smile and grin when they say something about the vowels or whatever then you'll sail on through life more easily.

3. If you, or she, are in a situation where you need to say her name for someone to write down and it's important that it's spelled correctly (eg name badges, your favourite writer signing a book for you), always always always start by saying something like "I'm going to spell my name for you before I say it". If you say the name, even if you follow it immediately with "It's spelled S A O I...." they'll already have written down S E E.... Sometimes someone will surprise you and know how it's spelled and that will be nice.

But I think Saoirse Ronan is doing sterling work on behalf of her namesakes so more power to her and maybe it'll be the next Niamh.

'I know because of the actress Saoirse Ronan. If she wins an Oscar you're laughing.'

Yeah but she's the only Saoirse who rhymes her name inertia. So her fame might actually be counter productive!

I know a Saoirse pronounced SER-sha. It's beautiful.

She'll definitely have to spell it out all the time in Scotland, you have to decide whether you think that will be really annoying for her.

I 'knew' how to pronounce it already from spending too long here, but still I thought it was Ser-sha. Really like though!

Scot here, love the name and think up here most people would have an idea how to pronounce it. It was on my shortlist for DS but not needed.

I'm Irish and I love that name. Gave my baby an Irish name as well - anyone who doesn't know how to pronounce it can ask but I feel really strong about it as its part of my heritage

I had a discussion about this recently with someone whose dd is Saoirse (in Ireland) and she said that it even causes confusion there because some people pronounce it Seer-sha (as she does) but others pronounce it as Sare-sha.

I'm not fluent, so would love to know which pronoun citation is correct

Lovely name. I knew one once but she pronounced it Sorsha.

I like it - my friend has a Saoirse so I know how to pronounce it! She will have to tell people but I think it's worth it for a pretty, unusual name

I always know it's not pronounced as it's spelled when I see it, but I can never remember the pronunciation off the top of my head, I need to search about for it.

It's a lovely name though!

Not Irish, nor with any Irish roots. Know the name, know how to pronounce it, think it's lovely.

I know because of the actress Saoirse Ronan. If she wins an Oscar you're laughing.

If not then yes you and your DD are facing a lifetime of saying "It's pronounced Seer-sha/It's spelled Saoirse. It's an Irish name, that's where I/my parents are from". But that's fine if you're happy to do it. Lots of people have names where they have to do that, and they live with it happily.

Sorry I thought it was like Cersei in Game of Thrones. So she'd have to correct me!

I know how to pronounce it (Irish mother) and think it is lovely. I love the way it looks written down!