Ciara / Keira?

Thanks SeanChailleach. Ciarseach translates as mistle thrush too it seems.

@lizzieant there it is "céirseach" in Ó Dónaill. Dinneen has "ciairseach" and "céirseach" as an other spelling.
dil.ie/8501 has céirsech, ciarsech
I'm at war with my phone's spell check, sorry.

@SeanChailleach
"Ciarseach" (keersha) means "hen blackbird" and was used as a nickname or affectionate name for a woman.
I think possibly it's céirseach you're thinking of? It's pronounced something like care-shock where I'm from (very approximately; slender r and broad ch really). My mother would always refer to a male blackbird by its English name, but use the Irish term for the female, as she doesn't have her own specific name otherwise. So a blackbird and a céirseach. (I do this now too )

I like the Ciara spelling best OP, but then it doesn't cause any confusion here in Ireland.

Ciara is perfectly well known and easy to pronounce.

Ciara is lovely and perfectly straightforward. There are loads of Ciaráns, after all. Use it!

Chiara is a completely different Italian name. I guess people might mix it up but I think that will be a minority.

Well spotted. The pop star Ciara is named after a fragrance made by a company called Revlon. They named the fragrance SEE-AHR'-AH using the initials of Charles Revson, the perfume's designer.

The Irish name is from the word "ciar" which means "dark". The word appears in the earliest Irish literature and in the name of County Kerry, "Ciarraígh".
"Ciarseach" (keersha) means "hen blackbird" and was used as a nickname or affectionate name for a woman.
The name "Ciarán" appeared very early -there was a Saint Ciarán, Cornish Saint Piran born in the 5th century CE - and then later Ciara.
In Irish the name Ciara may sound like "Cheera" when a native speaker says it.
In sentences the first consonant changes so the name may sound like "Sheera" or even "Heera", sometimes "Geera". In some dialects it would sound like "Feera" or "Peera". That's why k isn't used in Irish - k is a very fixed sound.
I do think, if you are going to fix the sound, you might as well use initial k.

I pronounce it see-air-a as in the music pop star

Ciara is the nicest spelling of the name.

People are so comfortable saying “spell it a different way” because it’s Irish but wouldn’t dream of saying it about an Arabic name, is absolutely laughable. All cultures and languages should be respected.

I used to live
Near a girl called Keira-Leigh and it used to crack the other neighbours up when her mum called her in

She was affectionately known as dairylea

So I wouldn't personally

One of my best friends is called Ciara, her family is Irish and I think it is such a beautiful name. She is a ray of sunshine. You should definitely call your daughter this, it's much nicer with a C! People mispronounce even the most ordinary names so don't be put off!

@zingally They really aren’t. I know lots of Ciaras and nobody seems to have any problem with people pronouncing their name incorrectly. If someone gets it wrong on first sight and is then told “actually it’s pronounced keer-ra” that’s the problem solved. Mumsnet is really odd about Irish names. Ciara is a common name among teenagers in my part of London. It’s not unusual, has a straightforward spelling and is made up of sounds that are all occur in English too.

People learn and people cope.

This, no need to think about that small group of people who for whatever reason have never come across someone with a non English name.

Someone I know has a Ciara and when she was a baby people thought she was See-ara, Kee-ara (Chiara) or Clara.

If you're in England, people are going to say Key-ara for Ciara. If you want Kiera as the pronunication, that's the spelling you're best off using.

There are two names Niamh and Naomh. Naomh has one syllable and a broad n, like Nev, often spelt Neve. It means Saint and isn't often used as a name.
Niamh has two syllables and a slender n - like Nia. It means heaven-sent or somesuch.
Hth

I don't think you should be put off if you like it that much. It's a lovely name and not at all unusual. I have a Cillian and I would say 80% pronounce it incorrectly on first glance. It has been spelt Cillian, Killian, Khillian, and pronounced Sillian and even Sicilian. But that issue will fade as he gets older. Already the doctors receptionist knows his name, and when he starts school, one correction and the teacher will get it. Kids just learn from what they are told so they just say Killy-un no issues and Irish names are getting more and more popular so will be increasingly well known.

The pronunciation Kee-ah-ra is actually nice anyway so not embarrassing or anything, and you know what? If it really does cause issue she can just use the spelling Keira when she is older. That's what I will say to my Cillian if he finds it too annoying, just use Killian at school/work etc. The most important thing is that you love the name, and it really is a very pretty name, she will probably love it!
Good luck choosing.

Oh shame, it's such a pretty name, doesn't take a minute to correct people or spell it out! Plus the people who will know her will pronounce it correctly!

Neave/Neev/Neve are lnot anglicised versions of Niamh.

I have a Ciara so I am biased. However, it didn't occur to me just how difficult people find it to pronounce... or if you say it, you have to spell it out for people as they usually default to the Keira version.

The other day I had to pick up a prescription for her, and the same pharmacist pronounced her name no less than three different ways in the space of five minutes (Key-ar-ah, Sierra and Si-ar-ah), despite me having said her name! I was

Ciara = Irish name, pronounced Kee-ra
Kiera = anglicised spelling of the above
Keira = alternative to Kiera
Chiara = Italian name, Italian for Clara, pronounced Key-a-ra
Any of the above pronounced “Sierra” = weird American thing probably arising from a mistake

I’d go with Ciara which is the correct spelling and really shouldn’t be too hard for people to get their heads round.

Ciara.

I'm English. I went to school with a Ciara. People didn't have problems pronouncing it.

If someone said 'key-ara', Ciara just corrected them and that was that. People learn and people cope.

I think Ciara is prettier than Keira. I also like Chiara (which really is pronounced key-ara!)