I didn't think this name would be so unpopular

To those saying that seeing a c to start the name they would say sillian explain why you would not pronounce Cathy as Sathy

Circus - sircus
Citronella - sitronella
Citrus - sitrus
ci is an ss sound in my world, before today id never seen the name

Cathy isn't a good comparison as it's Ca not Ci. I'd pronounce Cilla as Silla not Killa and Priscilla as Prissilla not Priskilla so it's a reasonable assumption to pronounce Cillian as Sillian.

Like killian I should of said

Like Gillian but with a c

To those saying that seeing a c to start the name they would say sillian explain why you would not pronounce Cathy as Sathy. Those that continue to pronounce a name wrong after being corrected are just ignorant.

@Sooverthemill - maybe give Duolingo a go? They have Irish on it. The discussions also often point to some useful resources.

I'm from N Ireland but have never learnt Irish because it's generally only taught in Catholic schools. But it's amazing how much the language must have influenced my own speecha and understanding, without me really being aware of it. Despite knowing no Irish, it's very obvious to me how most (not all, but certainly the more widely used ones, like in this example) names and words are pronounced because they generally follow very standard pronunciation rules, so if you've seen one name written down and heard it pronounced, you can understand the next one you see. I find it so odd that people struggle with names like Ciara or Ciaran, or Siobhan or Roisin when they are so obviously phonetic to me. I obviously know more about Irish than I ever realised.

Anyway, the bottom line is that it's perfectly ok to not know how an unfamiliar name is pronounced, but it's really rude to refuse to pronounce it correctly once you've been told. I'm always amazed that so many people claim to be simply unable to pronounce Irish or Welsh names but have no trouble at all with names from other languages.

Or Ann. The E is trying too hard.
My sil is Ann, shortened to Annie!

Thanks @OchonAgusOchonO. I love languages

My cousin is called Brian, I wonder why we never shortened it to Ian

You don't hear 'Ian' when you say Brian. It's Bry-Anne. So I think it tends to be shortened to Bry. Though could be shortened to Anne?

@Sooverthemill - Wish I knew what the rule was!

There isn't A rule. It's an entire language so lots of rules. There are also several dialects.

Irish is much more phonetic than English so once you know the rules, you can pronounce most things correctly within the dialect your are using.

My kids have nicknames. PK, which are not his initials, Ga which is what ds called dd1, and Bim who is a 23 year old engineer. These are nothing like their real names.

It's a really lovely name. I only knew it was pronounced Kill ee an because of the Irish actor and have since heard of a couple of other Cillians. Yes most of us would automatically pronounce is Sillian when we have seen it written down for the first time, but once we've been told the correct pronunciation, what's the problem?
I would say tough luck to anyone in your family and circles who have difficulty remembering - that is the name of your little one and they need to learn it. If they struggle, they need to try harder!
You don't need to apologise or worry about others. It's a great choice.

Both my brothers and I, have had our names shortened by family and others.

Are they shortened to a standard alternative or some random thing like you suggested above with Ian for Cillian? If the former, an understandable error until corrected. If the latter, extremely rude.

Caveat - nicknames by close family and friends are different. They often have nothing to do with the name and tend to evolve organically.

Yes the Catherine example is a good one. The spelling of that that caught me out was kathryn (staff). We have warnings on lists now where there are similar names and triple check details when the patient arrives.

@Pixielou16 I just googled him. Never seen him in anything but I dint watch much TV I guess. I have heard of Peaky Blinders but not seen it. You'd be surprised at what people don't know!

Sill-EE-Ann. Like Gillian? But if you tell people they should say it correctly once they know. Tbh I never know how to pronounce Gaelic names like Saoirse until I hear them. If I read them I kind of mumble them. Wish I knew what the rule was!

I'm Scottish highlands . It's not looking for problems anywhere. It's just experience. Both my brothers and I, have had our names shortened by family and others. All of us have to correct people in terms of spelling and pronunciation. One of my colleagues is in her 60's and is still spelling out and explaining her name, she's shortened it and hated it at school. As I say it's the child that has to carry the name and consideration to that needs to be given.

He'll need to be sure that the spelling is correct to prevent mix ups

Like Katherine/Katharine/Catherine/Catharine?

Killian not sillyan

He'll need to be sure that the spelling is correct to prevent mix ups. Be prepared for it to be shortened by schoolmates and a bit of teasing

Jesus H Christ.

My cousin is called Brian, I wonder why we never shortened it to Ian. Perhaps because his parents would have called him Ian if they liked that name.
We never shortened my cousin Patrick's name to Ricky either.

I always thought it was silly-un and I've heard lots of people introduce Cillian Murphy as that - he must be bored of correcting them too.

You might find its changed to Ian and They may well shorten it. - What is this obsession with some english people in shortening names? Sure, lots of people in Ireland use abbreviations or variants of their name but it would be unusual for someone to shorten a name to some random, made up variant, on someone else's behalf. And if they did, they would be corrected pretty quickly.

What a lovely name congratulations!