Baby name Oilibhear?

I would pronounce it uh-sheen, it's a brilliant name, I think. I heard a little Irish boy being called Ush by his mum as a nickname once, which I also like.

But with the "oh" said like in orange

Not Gaelic but another example of an actually lovely name, but not pronounceable in English...
I'm a big fan of Skye McAlpine, who has a beautiful name herself, but why oh why did she saddle her child with the name Aeneas. Poor kid - we know what his nicknames are going to be.

Oisin is nice. Again, being Irish the pronounciation is blindingly obvious to me. He'll still be spelling it out, but at least it'll be quicker! :)

@OakPine
I think its oh-SHEEN

I'm Irish and even I would struggle to spell that. I was able to pronounce it without even thinking about it, but the poor kid will have a lifetime of spelling it out painstakingly for people and probably swith to Oliver on his first day at Uni and never look back.

How is Oisin pronounced? My brain says 0h-sheen but I can lay £20 on that being incorrect 😂

I know enough Gaelic pronunciation to read it as "Oliver", more or less. But it's not an Irish name. It's a Gaelicisation of an English name. If you lived in Ireland, I'd recommend you just give him an actual Irish name. Since you don't, giving him an English name but insisting on inflicting a Gaelicised spelling on everyone just comes off as really wanky.

I think that any Gaelic names can be problematic in the UK - I'm Scottish not Irish but remember several Siobhans at school (not sure I've even spelt that correctly!) who spent their time saying Shi-V-ohn not SIO-BANN!
I think some malicious people will say it incorrectly.

I don't know how to say Oisin - is it Wazzin or Oy-sin?

Another name we like is Oisin - I wonder if you also think this will sentence the poor little guy to a lifetime of spelling issues in the UK?

Oisin is much much nicer. It's pretty well known outside of Ireland and should not pose too many problems in terms of pronunciation and spelling.

Oisin is a better choice

Sorry I also read that as Olly Bear in my head. If you don't live in Ireland he will have an entire lifetime of nobody pronouncing his name correctly (trust me I know).

@Juliette222

Oisin is really cute :)

You're setting him up for a lifetime of Hyacinth "Bou-kaaay" jokes because when he speaks his name everyone will just think he's called Oliver and a bit of pretentious twat.

My friend has an unusual Irish name and hates it. Much mickey taking at school.

Give your son a name he can fit in with and won’t spend a life spelling out. This is about him, not what your DH wants. If he’s so keen on Irish names go more mainstream like Kieran or Finn or Liam… There’s loads.

And to answer specifically on this name, I don’t like the ‘hear’ bit of it. Makes me think of someone with an olive stuck in their ear trying to say olive-can’t-hear.

If you're in Ireland, fine, crack on. If you're anywhere else, please just call him Oliver. He won't thank you for that spelling (and neither will his teachers).

It would come very far down my list of choices, partly as I don't like it and partly the spelling issue - that said, we all have different tastes and you maybe wouldn't like my son's name (fairly common, not old or modern, spelled the standard way). Did you 'invent' it or did you see it somewhere? If you like Irish looking names maybe have a look on a specific website with some suggestions, or if you want to make someone thing up then don't make the spelling too confusing! Good luck finding something you like. :)

I agree with @Valeriane it's not like it's an irish name at its root.

It's an Irish spelling applied to an existing popular name to make it phonetic in Irish.

Ok so I saw it and thought is that meant to be Olly-bear 🙈 Don't do it as Ul get this and many other pronunciations.

I'm English and managed to work out it was an Irish transliteration of Oliver, but I don't like it and I don't see why you'd choose it over a more uniquely Irish name (the Cromwell associations make it a bit weird anyway, but then I'm an Elvis Costello fan so that might just be me).

But if you're a native Irish speaker who wants to name your baby after his late grandfather Oliver while using your own language then crack on.

NewMum has it I think - it's an unusual Irisg name as being the Irish for something, I think and stand corrected if not, rather than being an Irish name in itself. Like carr instead if gluaisteán.

What about Seoirse OP? Shore-sha. Love the sound of that. Cathal, Cormac, Cillian, Conor, Aodh, Pádraic... Lots of lovely Irish boys' names.

You and your son will spend hours of your life spelling it out. If you live in Ireland it will be less annoying for you, but the majority of people will not have a clue. It will also be mispronounced regularly. If that is something you can live with them it’s a lovely name.

It just looks like you've tried to make an English name Irish, and I love Irish names. It's a no from me.

It's basically Oliver but with a vair ending. I think it's an awful pity people aren't arsed to just listen and make an effort with less common names, it's really not that hard. But as these problems do seem to exist, it is up to you OP. I have an unusual surname and was always proud of its exclusivity So it will depend on baby's personality perhaps too.