I didn't think this name would be so unpopular

Must admit my first reading of it was Sillian, but if friends or relatives called their child this and told me how it was pronounced I'm pretty sure I'd manage to remember.

Would you shorten it, and if so what would you shorten it too?

We have got a Cillian in the uk too, he gets lots of compliments about his name. He occasionally gets silly-an but he just corrects them and that’s the end of it. There has only been one person who has consistently pronounced it wrong and she is not very nice and generally a rude person so it’s more about her than the name. We don’t see her often thankfully.

@rayoflightboy I am in Finglas

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.

At least, I hope there's only one - the thought of more than one person thinking like that!

It's Kill-ee-en

My little boys middle name is Cillian too. I would worry about ppl mispronouncing it. They are not ignorant swine.

*British Isles = Ireland and Great Britain. Yes, I realise this term is controversial.

I do know that the Celtic languages have two groups, one which pronounces C soft as in a Scottish football team, and the other hard as in the more usual way of pronouncing Celtic.

@MollyButton - there is no soft C in any of the Celtic languages of the British Isles. All are hard Cs.

Celtic the football team and the Boston Celtics (basketball) are anomalies. The word Celtic is pronounced with a hard C, and so is the word Celt.

Mrstwiddle Tue 21-Apr-20 22:55:26

Another one thinking silly an. I actually prefer that to the hard k, although neither is great, also think it’s a name that may not work as well in England as it does Ireland.

That's a pity, and actually quite parochial.

The name works well in Germany especially (as well as everywhere else) because the original St Cillian was known as the Apostle of Franconia (the northern part of modern Bavaria) in the 7th century. The cathedral of Wurzburg is dedicated to Kilian (German spelling), and his statue stands in the city.

Dublin's German International School is St Kilian's Deutsche Schule.

@Pangur2 Ballymun,its a small world.Im from Cabra.

My son is now 5 and none of my husbands family can say his name correctly, but the effort they put in is reflected on their general attitude. My family is closer and no one has a problem saying his name although effort was put in to get it right. One issue is that there are a number of ways to say it (depending on where you are from), so no one is technically incorrect but they use a different pronunciation.

I couldn't get it right for the first 3weeks of his life!

Some teachers struggle, most put in the effort to get it right. All of his friends get it right.

He doesn't mind if people get it wrong. I think he thinks the people that can get it right are in a secret society of his nearest and dearest. I don't think he's too far wrong.

If you like the name, keep it. My son has a variety of easier options (shortenings or using middle name etc) but is more bothered by people using those than saying his actual name incorrectly.

The general rule in English is when a single c comes directly before the letters e, i or y we use the /s/ sound.

In other cases we use a /k/ sound.

So the natural inclination to pronounce it Cillian if you've never heard it before is understandable. But like others have pointed out, lots of names are not immediately clear on how to pronounce, and people just tell you and then you know. Not a big issue.

Repeatedly pronouncing it wrong after being corrected is a dick move. Maybe if you just firmly correct them every.single.time. they might stop?

If @Vgtasd was really Irish she would join in and help us make up more silly fake Irish names like Conchubhair and Caolfhionn and laugh at British people when they think they are real.
😂

I have a Sadhbh, much to my NI Protestant family’s horror. The difference between them and OP’s family is that mine didn’t say anything and strove to make sure they could pronounce and spell it properly because they didn’t want to be culturally insensitive to DH. He’s from Dublin (Ballymun as well, Pangur!), and they didn’t want to offend.

Also, if Irish people can learn how to pronounce the name St. John and Worcester Etc properly, then English people can manage Niamh, Cillian etc without the “bUt It’S nOt phonETic” claims.

I don't think Vgtasd is from Ireland - since she thinks Cillian is pronounced Kill-EE-An

I'm not really sure what I'm apparently sitting on the fence about.
Is it about @Vgtasd being an extremely boring troll who isn't even fun to argue with? The anti-craic if you will?

I don't think I'm actually on the fence about that at all...

the funny things is one of my dc has a pretty generic name that's fairly common in the UK although it's a European name, loads of people pronounce it wrong so go with what you like.

@eggandonion pffft of course I wore a blazer! We were a grammar school... Haha it loved to think it was posher than it was with its Latin and all

This whole thing with vgtsad not believing anyone else is Irish is while weird, there are a ton of regular users I can name off the top of my head I know to be Irish, some who haven't even appeared in this thread. It's not so far-fetched at all considering it's a UK-&-Ireland-based forum

I only knew because my partners family member have the same name

@Vgtasd it is true that aggressive people see nice people as "fake" because we are not angry like you.

Try to work on your anger issues

And I'm proud of it! 😁

@annamaria14 nope I don't think I'm the only Irish person but I can spot a fake sit on the fence from a kilometre away

@showerdodger you are whatever you want to be. That is a lovely heritage

I've one of those "weird Irish names" no one can pronounce & despite being raised in London in the 90s onwards, it's never been a problem. Lots of compliments & lots of people can pronounce it now since traditional names are more in fashion.

Does being born & raised in London make me fake Irish (my dad hates the Paddy word)? My mum, dad, grandparents, great grandparents were all born & raised in Ireland & only my mum lives in England.

@Vgtasd do you really think that no one else is from Ireland, only you?

What a strange, strange person.

I am from the county of Westmeath.