Saoirse?

Yes one man from Kildare so far. And he made me think of it like that too. So now I don't like the name.

It's not that big of a deal is it. Most people on here talk about which names they like and don't like. I'm not a fan of saoirse either.

I also wouldn't be a fan of janejeffer . That's a boring name and comes with an irritating personality 😂

I couldn't care less if Clíona is someone's favourite name or least favourite name. It's a name I'm pretty indifferent to. I just find it very surprising that a fella from Kildare would claim never to have heard that (very commonly used) name before.

I've only ever heard the 'clíona sounds like cleaner' comment from English people with a non-rhotic accent.

Because it sounds like cleaner to some people
One man from Kildare so far.

yes, a terrible state of affairs indeed.

Jesus Christ. The level of maturity on here. Can I say anything about Ireland without people thinking it's unbelievable.

When I write even the smallest thing. Something like someone getting a name wrong , some one will write "that didn't happen".

Even though people get peoples names wrong all the time in life. People get my name wrong all the time.

I simply wrote the anecdote, as I wanted to say that cliona is one of my least favourite Irish girl names. And why. Because it sounds like cleaner to some people. I'm allowed to have a least favourite girl names . There are many Irish girl names that I do like. There are some beautiful Irish girl names.

I'm sitting in my bedroom in Ireland right now looking out the window. I suppose someone will say "that sounds unbelievable"

mmm, sounds so believable...

LTB

I lived in Ireland. This happened in Ireland. My boyfriend was Irish! He was from Kildare. He had never heard of the name Cliona.

When I mentioned Cliona, he would say "you have a cleaner?"

Oh the old adding an R at the end which is totally incomprehensible to Irish people. ClionA not ClionaR.

I don't get the sore arse thing either. It looks nothing like that.

*i personally think of Irish names

I personally think or Irish girl names, that saoirse is one of the uglier ones.

Cliona is another one I don't like . I used to have a friend called cliona. Which was not very common in the part of Ireland I was in. Youd hear about one or two clionas but it wasn't popular.

I think it sounds bad. Also when I first used to talk about cliona to my boyfriend he would say who? Your cleaner?

@2teenboys where do you live?
I saw that pronunciation here:

https://rollercoaster.ie/pregnancy/baby-names/behind-the-name-saoirse-the-name-that-nobody-but-the-irish-can-pronounce/

They are talking about the film Willow which has a massive fan base. The character’s name is spelt Sorsha in the credits, but Rollercoaster are attributing it to Saoirse.
Soirche would sound a lot like Sor-sha but no one uses that spelling. Means “radiance” like Sorcha.

Gorgeous name, love it. I’m in England and there was a Saoirse at my kids’ school. No-one mispronounced it when they were taught how to say it.

@2teenboys

There's another Irish name, Sorcha, that's often mispronounced like that. Maybe Saoirse is too though.

where I live its pronounced Sore-sha or like sausher (cup and saucer with a shh sound.

didnt know it was supposed to be seer sha.

It’s a lovely name. One in my daughters class and us non Irish soon got used to how you pronounce it. You’ll be fine in Ireland though

This thread is fucking mental.

If you call her Saoirse tell her never to wear a name badge in Donegal 🤣 fuck sake I have seen some shite about Ireland on here but that one beats the band.

@harrietm87

Yes you’re absolutely right that the surname etc is taken into account too separating the catholic and protestant Johns. The first name is part of the overall “assessment”.

Both DH and I were in Belfast during the troubles and had sectarian attacks against us - marked out due to names/schools. So obviously that will colour our viewpoint, particularly his.

And thankfully we are seeing Protestants using Irish names now, I would have too but for DH.

And I agree Saoirse is a special case, I can’t think of anything else so categorising on its own merit.

@ColleenDonaghy don't forget Siobhan, Sinead, Lana, Vivienne, Caitlin/Caitlyn/Katelyn/Kaitlin/etc, Niamh, Aisling, Geoffrey/jeffrey... there's SO many spelling variations it's utterly ridiculous that poster would use a lifetime of spelling their name as a reason not to use it, i'm guessing their name is so basic they've never been questioned on the spelling before, boring x

Agree with everything @harrietm87 wrote there.

Yes @Sparklecats as I said I grew up
in a flashpoint area of Belfast during the troubles, so I know full well what you are talking about, but you are exaggerating in an effort to prove your point and it’s actually undermining what you’re saying as it’s all really nuanced.

Everyone from NI is good at assessing stuff about the backgrounds of the people they meet, but that includes first name + surname + address (+ other things like school/workplace/friends/hobbies etc etc). John O’Reilly is probably Catholic, John Adair is probably Protestant, John Smith who knows.

Any Irish name at all used to indicate Catholic/nationalist but that is not the case anymore. I have a DUP voting friend who lives in Finaghy with an Aoife.

I would say though that Saoirse is probably unique in the specific republican (as opposed to Irish/Catholic/nationalist) connotations that it has (if and only it the person is from
NI).

And I don’t think there are any Protestant equivalents at all - even Billy.

OP is in Ireland @YourWinter . It's an Irish name in Ireland.

What's awful about it?

Claire/Clare, Sarah/Sara, Catherine/Katherine/Kathryn will have a lifetime of spelling their names, and Helena, Naomi and Alicia will have a lifetime of telling people how to pronounce their names.

@WhatapityWapiti its not as bad, easier to find a house where couple is mixed.