Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

How would you pronounce the name....

117 replies

MamaMimi · 08/05/2009 12:37

...Catriona.

Dp and I have differing opinions on this and I just wonder what the consensus would be amongst everyone out there. Maybe it depends on where, in the UK, you come from(?)

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
TheFallenMadonna · 08/05/2009 19:48

Ca-TREE-uh-na

pointydog · 08/05/2009 19:45

i|t should definitely be pronounced Cat-ree-na

salvadory · 08/05/2009 19:34

NOOOO it's pronounced Cat reen ah, saying Cat ri oh na makes me wince, I once got talking to a girl who said her name was cy ann and weh I said ooh that's unusual how do you spell it, she was just a mispronounced Sian, I didn't have the heart to tell her

JoPie · 08/05/2009 18:42

Haven't we established that there isn't one "proper" pronounciation?

macmam · 08/05/2009 18:10

Properly pronounced Ca-Tria-Na...Gaelic for Catherine. Def not Cat-tree-o-na uurgh....

But then again whatever floats your boat as it were..

OrmIrian · 08/05/2009 14:07

Talking of ways non-English ways of pronouncing things, there was a Scottish poet on R4 yesterday talking about 'poyems'. I love that. It is such a beautiful sound.

Salleroo · 08/05/2009 14:04

I'm with the Irish prounouncers (being one myself). Love the name, cant bear to hear it pronounced with the O rather then the lovely lilting uh.

Cork is the only way to go!

mrsruffallo · 08/05/2009 14:03

cat-ree-owner

JoPie · 08/05/2009 13:58

I love sayin Vay-hick-el, just for the laugh like! My Oh is a Dub but he's a munster fan and should have been a Corkonian. I'm a mutt who moved around a lot, wasn't even born here.

I'd tell you my name but then I'd have to kill you...

Caitni · 08/05/2009 13:50

JoPie up the People's Republic of Cork! . Now I'd love to know your name as I love when people assume all Irish names are all spelt with fadas and bhs and the like .

Caitni · 08/05/2009 13:48

PuppyMonkey although again the "fil-um" thing depends on where you're from as I'm proud I've never done the two syllable thing on film (my Limerick mum on the other hand says "fil-um" which we thought was hilarious growing up, along with when she'd say "vay-hic-el" for vehicle" - poor woman, stuck with a crowd of Corkonian children who thought the Cork way was the only way )

OrmIrian funnily enough I ended up going by "Cait" (Irish for Kate) in school mostly as there was a Caitriona and a Triona in my primary class!

Original poster
MamaMimi · 08/05/2009 13:45

Thanks everyone for the posts. I think the consensus sort of reflects the difference between mine and dp's opinions - more or less 50/50.

I just always thought of it as Ca-tree-na, as it would be said in Scotland or the celtic way, and would want it pronounced this way.(I am not Scottish but dd's and my surname is)

Then my dp argued that he knew someone with the name that was pronounced Ca-tree-oh-na and it got me thinking that it could be one of those names that you would have to constantly spell out or advise on how to say it, as OrmIrian says.

BTW, this was the girl's name I had decided on for dd before she was born as I liked the shortened names like Kitty or Cat aswell. As it turned out, apart from dp pointing out the potential problems with pronounciation, she didn't really suit the name when she was born and we picked something much more appropriate in the end.

That was a few years ago now and I am expecting dd2 now and we are struggling to come up with the right name, but it definitely won't be Catriona (even tho' I still like it when said how I would say it!)

OP posts:
JoPie · 08/05/2009 13:43

Caitni, you're right of course, names are often pronounced quite differently in Donegal than they would be in the Peoples Republic of Cork, for example!

I'm in Leinster, and I don't recall hearing it any other way than Cat-ree-na, but then I wouldn't really notice probably!

I have a name which is very simple to pronounce, but its arabic, when people assume its Irish, so they make it harder than it is and are always throwing fadas and gh's in it!

wolfear · 08/05/2009 13:41

Same as Katrina

PuppyMonkey · 08/05/2009 13:40

Caitni - that just sounds like the Irish accent coming out. Like when my mum says fi-lum for film.

OrmIrian · 08/05/2009 13:38

Ha! kaitni! At last. Some sanity.

I was beginning to feel invisible. It's my name and I know how it's bloody pronounced! .

tassisssss · 08/05/2009 13:37

It's fairly common in Scotland. My Highland dh would pronounce it with a lovley Gaelic twang...Ca-tray-ona with the empahsis on the middle sound in a lilting highland way. I'm Scottish but without the Gaelic background and I'd say pronounce it like Ca-tree-nah, same as the name Katrina.

I think Cat-re-oh-na is the anglicised way.

Caitni · 08/05/2009 13:36

I'd say "Ka-tree-uh-na", with the emphasis on the "tree".

I'm Irish and this is my name in Irish (so it's what I was called throughout Irish lessons in school etc) but the pronunciation in Ireland depends on where you're from (so JoPie I'd say we're from different counties ) - bit like how Padraig (common Irish boy's name, means Patrick) can be pronounced totally differently in different parts of the country.

It's a lovely name so I'd say just go with whatever pronuciation feels right as it does depend on where you're from.

LittleMonkeysMummy · 08/05/2009 13:35

Pronounced Cah-tree-nah up here in Aberdeen.

buggylovinmummy · 08/05/2009 13:32

Cat-tree-o-na

My name is Katrina and ive never seen it spelt like that so definatly cat-tree-o-na

OrmIrian · 08/05/2009 13:30

As far as I know it's Gaelic rather than Celtic - or an anglicisation of that. Was the name of a novel by RL Stevenson. If we could just ask him.....

Plonker · 08/05/2009 13:30

Cat tree oh nah

That's how I read it, but admittedly, I don't know anyone of that name.

Am NW

PuppyMonkey · 08/05/2009 13:26

Cat ree na

East Midlands. Irish parents. Nuff said.

JoPie · 08/05/2009 13:24

Catriona, same as Katrina, Cat- tree-na.

Its Irish and so am I so thats def right

Wallace · 08/05/2009 13:17

Ca-tree-nah

Swipe left for the next trending thread