Named daughter Saoirse - Seer- sha

[Kira22]

Wrote post earlier but had spelling errors! I put cha instead of sha. Many of you pointed this (quite rightly out) as being different sounds- I'd realised as soon as I wrote it I had got S and C muddled (I am dyslexic) but wasn't in time enough to edit. MNHQ kindly took original post down. Just spent awhile going through it and somehow lost entire original post, DOH!

In short, daughter is called Saoirse - named after the girl in the film Song of the Sea www.imdb.com/title/tt1865505/ We fell in love with the name, we pronounce it Seer-sha - the Irish people in the film also say it this way.

I know the actress, Saoirse Ronan (who I actually don't know at all/never seen her films/just get informed alot about her when I say my daughters name!) pronounces her name SUR-sha. She says herself Seer-sha is also another, very common way. Different accents, regions and all that jazz.

An older couple today were basically telling me I was saying my own daughters name wrong today and that they had Irish in their family and it is Sur- sha. Even when I said yes my dad's side are Irish (not that is blooming matters) they wouldn't have it - the woman even said how are you spelling it so I spelt 'Saoirse' and she said 'when you said her name (Seer-sha) I wouldn't have known her name was Saoirse unless you had spelt it for me because it is pronounced 'Sur-sha'

Am just amazed sometimes people ask her name I say it is 'Seer- sha' and they say 'Ohhh, SUR- sha' with huge emphasis on Sur. When someone tells me their name/ their childs name I make a huge effort to say it how they say it, because, well, that is their name!

I wasn't going to repost but many of you kindly had taken time to write replies before, so felt I should

She's got a lifetime of explaining her name poor thing, can you shorten it??

It’s a common name in Ireland in recent times. It’s pronounced Seer-Sha normally. Saoirse Ronan is an outlier with her pronunciation.

My Dad’s from a part of Ireland where the pronunciation is Sare-sha.

Still, Seer-Sha is the accepted and most popular pronunciation.

Ignore people! I’ve had someone argue with me that Sorcha is Sorsha. It’s not, it’s Surr-a-ca.

I've just started teaching a girl called Saoirse. In her first lesson, I asked her how she said it. She said "Seersha" - like you. And she also said she doesn't mind when people get it wrong - which was a bit sad as her proper pronunciation isn't exactly difficult. Her family is Irish and all the children have traditional Irish names, so I'd trust their pronunciation.

I teach in a very ethnically diverse school and frankly, Saoirse is the least of my worries compared with names from some languages which have combinations of sounds that I find difficult to reproduce.

Irish names are a real thing and people just have to learn them as they would any other name.

It's Seersha where I grew up.

Seer sha is by far the most common pronunciation in Ireland but there are very distinct variations in pronunciation in the Irish [gaeilge/gaelic] language for lots of words so it will stem from that. Someone who speaks east coast Irish will really struggle to follow Donegal Irish.

You'll need to just find a suitable put down line and draw a line under it with people like that. "My family are from X and that's the pronunciation in that part of Ireland. Isn't it interesting how the same name can be pronounced differently in such a small country. "

Rude.
You get the same reactions to some Welsh names. I'm confused with Irish names but will go with whatever the person who owns the name says about the pronunciation.
Saoirse always looks pretty written down, but I can never remember how it's said.

Thanks for this thread OP, I always thought it was Sor-sha until now!

The normal pronunciation is SEER-sha, you haven't got it wrong.

My DD has an Irish name which is pronounced one way in NI (where DH is from) and another in Ireland. She answers to both pronunciations (and to most of the incorrect English interpretations too!)

I'm in Dublin and Saoirse is 'Seer- sha ' - just like you are pronouncing it . My kids attend Irish medium school and agree on this pronunciation .
Beautiful name !

Gorgeous name, which you are pronouncing correctly.

I am irish and pronounce it Seer-sha. I don't like the other pronunciations really, bit obviously would respect them

Pronounced Seer-sha where I'm from too. Occasionally pronounced Sair-sha (as in the same sound as air). Saoirse Ronan is the only Irish person I know who pronounces it Sur-sha. That's not to say it's wrong obviously as different accents /dialects in different parts of the country, but your pronunciation is the most common in my experience.

I love the name myself, but DH didn't want it for DD due to our unusual surname.

Neighbours kid has this name. They say sore sha

To my understanding there are various pronunciations, depending on the accent and region. I know a Seer-sha from Dublin, but people seem to use Sur-sha more commonly in England (perhaps because of Saoirse Ronan?)

I always find it a bit odd when she introduces herself as Seer-sha and people call her Sur-sha.

https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/saoirse

My Irish language skills aren't the best, despite being Irish, but I always thought -aoi- was pronounced the same as the English -ee- sound. Like in Aoife. It isn't ugh-fa, it's ee-fa. So in my head Seer-sha is correct, but, as I say, I'd obviously respect another person's pronunciation of it if that's how they wanted it said

I watched a video before where Saoirse Ronan said its pronounced Seer-sha in Ireland but Americans and English people find it easier to say Sur-sha!

I'd say seer-sha too, although if someone told me they use sair-sha I'd make the switch.

Ignore the idiots and have a line about dialects ready to go as per PP.

Saoirse Ronan is definitely an outlier which makes things tricky internationally. I've seen her say it rhymes with inertia but she says inertia very differently to me.

Irish speaker here. They were rude and you are absolutely not pronouncing her name wrong.
If they had as much knowledge of the Irish language as they think they have, they would know that Irish dialects differ hugely.

Oh it'd such a lovely name. Both pronunciations are totally fine, I'm Irish and familiar with both, I just take my cue from the name holder.
I live in the UK and decided to avoid Irish language names to avoid these issues. The ironic thing is my child has a European name that English people tend to use different pronunciations of. Sometimes you can't win 😂

I’m Irish…it’s Seer-sha!

I also knew a girl called Sorcha - pronounced Sor-sha, but Saoirse has always been pronounced Seer-sha

It’s a lovely name OP and your pronunciation is correct. I blame Saoirse Ronan for the confusion. I saw her on a chat show a couple of years ago being questioned on the pronunciation of her name. She said to make the pronunciation easier for Americans she’s settled for Sersha rhyming with inertia. 🤷‍♀️

Irish speaker here - Seer-sha is the most common pronunciation.

If you look here and choose Foghraíocht, you can hear it pronounced in the three main dialects: https://www.teanglann.ie/ga/fuaim/saoirse

I am a professional as I am called Saoirse 😁

you will see that my name is spelt Sersha on here as that’s what I get most often, plus I knew if I had Saoirse then people would know straight away it was me. Not that Sersha is so vague.

Saoirse Ronan pronounces hers as Sair-sher, and this is how I pronounce mine.

however, different dialect in Ireland means for different versions.

Sersha, Sorsha, Saysher, Seersher, Sairsher, Sarsher.

My scottish/Irish grandad says Sorsha.

my auntie who is Irish but married in to the family says Sersha.

irish friends have said Seersha.

it’s however you want it to be! These are all correct ways of pronounciation. And I respond to all.