I didn't think this name would be so unpopular

Killy-an from me as I’ve adored and worshipped Cillian Murphy since Intermission. Great name, congratulations 🥳 x

I know how to pronounce it. I like it. I don’t want to cause a row but are your family being a bit mean? If you and your DH like it just keep correcting them or ignore them.

Silly-un? Killy-un?

And I'm afraid it doesn't convey either gender to me. (But perhaps that's good these days?)

But so what? A lot of his friends will have unpronouncable foreigh names. much worse than that. They'll cope.

(Both my first and last name have a choice of acceptable spellings. I've got inured to seeing the wrong one in programmes and reviews.)

There's one in my son's class and Cillian Murphy so I'd know. Ignore them they'll get used to it!

It's a lovely name. I know two, one adult and one teenager and I've always thought how nice it is. .

Killian but I live in Germany and not uncommon here

I would have said silly-an, but said it right after I had been corrected. I’m sorry to say, but choosing Cillian instead of Killian means you have set him up for a lifetime of correcting people (but there are plenty of first & last names that can be said for).

I go straight for Killy-en but I am Irish, so unfair advantage, though even I struggle with some Irish names 😂

I've not heard that name before and would not know how to pronounce it. I have a name that most people in England cannot pronounce and it is tedious spending your life trying to explain how to say your name and listening to it being said wrongly. I chose common English names for my children for this reason.

People will learn over time. If you like it keep it. My LG is called Ciara (I’m Irish in UK) and people struggle to pronounce correctly but once they are told they get it.

Orla' is properly spelled, 'Órlaith' in Irish

Or, going slightly further back, Órfhlaith.

Sorry id also pronounce it silly-Ann

I knew it was pronounced Kill-e-an. Good name. Don't worry about people not knowing how to say it. There are loads of names like that. When he grows up he can tell people he meets how it's pronounced and then they'll know.

@sabbii - if you want to pronounce it as sil-i-an then by all means.

Have you not read the op? She knows how to pronounce it. It's her family who are refusing to pronounce it correctly.

@sunshine11 - Still time to change it rather than saddle child with a silly name for life.

A perfect example of the xenophobic attitude of a certain subset of English people.

I would say 'sorry is it sillian or killian?

Oh, and @CaffiSaliMali, 'Orla' is properly spelled, 'Órlaith' in Irish

I used to always pronounce Cillian Murphy wrong in my head until I learnt the correct pronunciation (from an interview with the man himself saying how people always said it incorrectly!) You will have a lifetime of correcting it if you live in England, but consider yourself providing a cultural education!! We all had to learn Siobhan, Niamh, Aoife, etc...!
It’s a gorgeous name btw!

I would pronounce it Killane but that’s because I had an old friend with this name and that’s how he pronounced it. It’s lovely.

My dad was Irish so I like it. As he gets older people will hear his name rather than read it if that makes sense?

My daughter had a names never before registered in Britain and one stranger has read and pronounced it right in the three years she’s had it.

We laugh about it now and hope she won’t hate us.

Kill-ee-an, but then my exH is Irish. It's a grand name just keep correcting them until they get it right. Congratulations on the birth of your lovely baby boy!

@sunshine11 Are you that rude and ignorant in real life? I suppose you think we should have a list if a limited number of 'English' names to choose from.

It's a lovely name. It's quite popular so I doubt your DS will have a problem later on. I have a 'foreign' name which was rare when I was young, but quite mainstream now.

Its pronounced Kill-e-ann and it's my favourite boys name although I am irish so know how to pronounce it. Congratulations on your new baby boy 🥰

I used to live in Co Antrim, we could wave across at Scotland. I have never met a Mhairi, but I know it is a name, and I can pronounce it because I have heard it said aloud.

@sunshine11 - but OP's DH, the father of her child, IS Irish. Little Cillian is half-Irish and half-English/Scottish/Welsh or whatever the OP is.

By the same logic OP can't give any DC an English/whatever she is name either as her DH would also be giving the DC that name, and he's Irish.

This is the downside of being half and half. I get it myself 'oh you can't use a Welsh name as you're not properly Welsh', from the same people who object if I support England as I'm 'not properly English' either.

I guess any DC I have shall remain nameless as I'm too English to use a Welsh name and too Welsh to use an English one

Also, Cillian is not a silly name. Names from other cultures aren't silly. I would advise anyone to think of potential pitfalls of a name - for example I would avoid Myfanwy in England as to someone who doesn't know how to pronounce it, it looks like Myfanny - but that doesn't mean other Welsh names (or Irish/Scottish or any other cultures names) are verboten.

There are plenty of people with Celtic names in England - Tadgh, Aoife, Seán, Orla, Eoin, Caoimhe, Saoirse, Ailbhe, Mari, Seren, Siôn, Ioan, Aneurin, Eira, Eirlys, Tomos, Alys, Tesni, Taliesin, Morwenna, Jago, Elowen, Lowenna - none of these names are stupid, and neither is Cillian.

Remembering that Cillian is Killian, not Sillian, is not difficult when said Cillian is your grandchild/newphew/cousin. OP's family are perfectly capable of pronouncing it correctly, the issue is that they are choosing not to!