I didn't think this name would be so unpopular

@ChateauMargaux - Why would Cill be pronounced Sill when cup, cow, can, car are all pronounced with a hard c sound?

Because languages that are not English do not follow English language rules, obviously.

Until recently I would have said Sillyun.

My surname, which is Irish in origin but I use the anglicised version, is similar to our local td. That's a member of parliament. I don't cringe if people misread it, I say unfortunately not!
My Dd1 uses the Irish version of her middle name and my surname at times.

Maybe you could tell your family that all of the mispronouncing of your son's name is upsetting you (as they intend it to) and so you and DH are thinking maybe you should move to Ireland where people will get it right......
They'll probably discover it's not that hard a name after all!

Fair point.. and yes.. its irrelevant as its Irish not English.

Maybe, but every time you meet someone new, who isn't familiar with the name, they will say it incorrectly.

Every time someone gets your name wrong, you cringe.

Honestly? You sound as if you have a complex. Try travelling to parts of the world where even being called Tom or Emma aren't obvious pronunciations? My name is Aoife and I have lived out of Ireland for the last 30 years, in different parts of the UK, France, the US, South Africa, the ME. No, not many non-Irish people get it right first time without being told, but I have never had an issue with anyone consistently mispronouncing it. Nor do I 'cringe' on meeting new people.

Because in English, c is pronounced s if it comes before e, i or y.

ceiling
civet
cyborg
etc.

Because in English, most words that begin with Ce or Ci have a soft c.

Obviously Cillian follows Irish pronunciation rules though so it's a moot point.

Why would Cill be pronounced Sill when cup, cow, can, car are all pronounced with a hard c sound?

If I say my child's name - this is Olivia - surely they accept what I say? They don't change it to Oh! livia. If I say this is Seamus, do they decide to call him Seemus? Most 'new people' are told the name, they don't see it written down.
Roisin is pronounced slightly differently between north and south of Ireland, due to accent. A bit like bath is pronounced differently in the north and south of England.

They will soon get used to it

Maybe, but every time you meet someone new, who isn't familiar with the name, they will say it incorrectly.

Every time someone gets your name wrong, you cringe.
A day when you are meeting many new people, under not the best circumstances, it can be very tiresome.

People don't like to be corrected, and some people can't hear the nuances.

I would pronounce Roisin as Rosheen. Feel free to correct me.
Cillian is easy because I heard it before I read it - Cillian Murphy is popular.

I wonder how some English people cope at all. Hamish - like Ham Sandwich (or sangwidge if you prefer). Hugh Grant - Huge Grant. Sean Connery - Seen. Not to mention names from other continents, they can be so tricky.
If I'm in work and need to spell O'Mahoney for example, I ask if it is with an E. Job done.

There seems to be a certain type of English person who deliberately refuses to learn how to pronounce Irish (and presumably other foreign) names. You only have to look at the bastardisation news readers and politicians used to make of Haughey's name. Yes, it's difficult but none of the sounds are alien to an English speaker.

I love names from other languages or names that aren't spelled phonetically.

One of my pet hates is names like 'Shevaunne'. If you want to use a Celtic name then at least have the good grace to spell it properly. I know so many 'Neve's now that it makes my skin prickle. Yes, it's a lovely sound, but people can always ask how to pronounce a name if they can't work it out.

I like different pronunciations of my name.

If I go to Spain - they pronounce J as H.

So my name is similiar to Janet.

They call me Hanet

I love Róisín, beautiful name. I picture a Róisín as a real beauty.

They will soon get used to it

I feel you OP. My DD2'S name is Róisín and we live in the UK. I figured people would struggle with it initially, but even after being told how it's pronounced multiple times, all we get is "Ruh-SHEEN". There seems to be some sort of mental block on the 'row' sound for some reason.

For what it's worth, Cillian is a lovely name and I really don't think it's all that hard to pronounce for English people once they've been told it's a hard C.

I know it is pronounced Killian.

But after all the posters saying they would pronounce it Sillian.

I actually read Cillian as Sillian in the last post. Haha. So basically we can be told to pronounce something anyway and it will sink in

Pay no heed to Vgtasd, I recognise her from previous threads. Serial name changer with very fixed, and strange, ideas of what it is to be Irish. No one actually Irish has every been wealthy, for example, and you don't want her opinions on Irish people north of the border.

I remember now, too.

Yes, there's no name parochialism like Little Englander name parochialism. It must be linked to the attitude that learning another language is terrifically difficult and a bit much to ask, really.

Though I find it strange that so many people on here claim not to know how to pronounce it when Cillian Murphy's name regularly comes up on threads about sex symbols. Surely you're not all calling him 'Silly-Ann Murphy'?

I can also not pronounce the name Dewi much to the horror of my DH family as one of the nephew's has this name they are all Welsh

waves to all the northsiders

@MindyStClaire well spotted! I've seen those posts before as well but I didn't cop on to the name change.

It's probably because they first saw the name written down. I know it as Cillian with a hard k sound, but Irish names can be unfamiliar to the English, especially the spellings! I have a friend Tadgh and always had to say his name phonetically in my head when I write it. Congratulations on your baby!

OP are you me?? I have a 2 month old called Cillian, live in the UK and DH is Irish.
I must admit I have had doubts since he was born due to all the Silly-uns and was really upset about it for a while thinking we had made a mistake, but I have really started to love his name now.

One correction and people get it right and I really do think it's a great name with tons of history and suits a man, a child and a teenager. It also works well in other parts of Europe (there are Killians, Kylians and Kilians across France, Germany and Spain for example). If the spelling causes embarrassment for him in future we can just spell it Killian but I think it's a name that will get more popular over here and people will get used to the spelling.

I couldn't imagine my little Cillian being anything else now my family have also grown to love it and he gets called Cilly, and Cilly bean a lot too which is cute.

Absolute fine name . Met quite a few in teaching and now there's Killian Murphy to help too.
Pronounced Kill-ee-an