Rían or Riain

I know a couple of Rians. Neither of the uses the fada. In Ireland, btw.

@AllRainbowsAndUnicorns
To answer your question, Rian does end in a schwa.

Nope - Ciarán is spelt with a fada. Do you have the same problem with Sebastian, Roman, Rowan, Adrian, Ian or Julian?

I deliberately missed out the fada as that can give the pronunciation 'Keir-awn' when I intended to make a point about an unstressed schwa.

All other names you mention have an unstressed schwa for their final syllable, e.g. seh-BASS-tee-un, RO-mun, etc.
Hence my question, is it REE-un or ree-ANNE.

Presumably, the OP has posted to determine how the name she is considering for her son might be received in England. I hope it was helpful to her for me to reply that, in my personal experience, it sounds the same as a popular girls' name. Personally, that would put me off, but ultimately, it is for her to decide if this is problematic, immaterial, or even desirable.

All the ones I know say it the welsh way, but I have worked with a Rhian in England. Some said Reeun, some said Ree-anne and 3 of us said Rhian. Why use a pretty name and say it in an ugly way?

The thread is about Rian and sadly people will say it's a girl's name or say Ryan.

😂 A Welsh girls name does not overrule the existence of an Irish boys name, they are just homophones. OP does not live in Wales - if they did, you might have a point!

Are the names Gene and Jean acceptable? Or can only one name have that sound? Does it matter that those names are used for different sexes?

@MikeUniformMike I am Welsh and there were three variations of Rhian in my class at school. They were all Welsh too. Some non speaking Welsh parents got creative and then it got popular. Not everyone is a purist and REE-ANN is a girls name regardless.

In any case, it's the 'an' part of the name that I'm cautioning against, Ann/Anne being a ubiquitous girls' name. Unless it ends in a schwa, like Ciaran?

Nope - Ciarán is spelt with a fada. Do you have the same problem with Sebastian, Roman, Rowan, Adrian, Ian or Julian?

@Ontheblackhill, Rhiann isn't a welsh name. Rhian is.
It's like saying Susann is an English girl's name.
Rhian isn't pronounced Ree-un or Ree-Anne.

People might mispronounce it that way, but it's as insulting to a welsh ear as saying that Susan is pronounced Sussun or Suzanne would be to somebody English.

Rhiann or Rhian is a popular welsh girls name and pronounced exactly the same way. Outside of Ireland your child will not thank you. In Wales it would be like a boy named Sue!

R and RH do not sound the same

If you say so. I don't know if any of them had any Welsh connection at all.

In any case, it's the 'an' part of the name that I'm cautioning against, Ann/Anne being a ubiquitous girls' name. Unless it ends in a schwa, like Ciaran?

Rhiannon is welsh, Rhianne and Rhianna are not, and as pp said, Rh is not the same as R.
Rhian and Rian don't sound the same. Rhian is RHEE-ann, Rian is Ree-un.

R and RH do not sound the same.

Riain is an incorrect spelling. It's like naming a kid William and spelling it Willyum. Go for Rían, lovely name.

I'm English, in England. I went to school with a Rhianne, a Rhianna, and a Rhiannon- all girls. I would see Rian and assume girl.

My name is a variation of the female name. It is always pronounced incorrectly and I've been called everything from Ryan to Rain..

I'm not knowledgeable at all by the way, but my granny was a Ryan

I think the origin of Rian is so old that the meaning has been lost. The same is true for some other Irish names. Though it has been suggested that the name may be related to rí (king), others have disagreed with this analysis. The surname, which is derived from the first name, has no fada on the i.

I don't think there's a fada either. Nor on Cian.
Although there is on Rí, so I'm confused.

Someone more knowledgeable will be along to clarify.

I don't think there's actually supposed to be a fada in Rian.....though I know it sounds as if there should be one?

The fada will annoy you as it'll get dropped all the time. Lots of web forms don't allow for it, people will not know how to type it etc. Riain is too vowelly for me, and my brain jumbles it and sees raisin.

I don't think there's a fada though.

The Rh in Rhian is one letter in Welsh, and not pronounced the same as the letter R, so Rhian isn't pronounced Ree-Ann, it's Rhee-Ann.

So Rían didn't make me think of Rhian at all. Riain looked like 'ree-ayn' to me, and I think that spelling would cause more issues then it will solve.

I would spell the name the Irish way and fully honour your heritage.

Rhian is a welsh girls name. I have heard it pronounced REE-an and Ree-ANN

Neither pronunciation is correct.

I would pronounce it Ryan as I know a Rian and its pronounced like that. Ree-An pronunciation is a girl's name to me

I'd also be vary of using it, if it's pronounced the same as a Welsh girls name.

Riain is the vocative case "A Riain", so it looks wrong to me.

The tradition of using the vocative case as an anglicisdd name seems more Scottish (Hamish, Mhairi etc.) than Irish.

I'd usr the fada, but it doesn't change the pronunciation, so you'd be grand without it.