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

The Saoirse I teach (Irish mum, English Dad) is quite firmly also a Seer- Sha.

There are plenty of names that are pronounced legitimately in different ways. Think Evelyn, Amelia, Xavier and the like.

They were rude regardless.

Yeah, we're usually a few posts in before the xenophobia kicks in.

It's Sair-sha, with a longish a in the first syllable where I'm from. But yeah, Seer-sha is a very common pronunciation. Saoirse Ronan's pronunciation is more unusual. In fact, I've never heard anyone else pronouncing it that way.

Can't help with the pronunciation but I love that name

It can be pronounced both ways. I teach a girl called Saoirse and she pronounces it Seer-sha, but I know a Sur-Sha too. Beautiful name.

Just to go back over this, I have only heard Saoirse Ronan pronounce it as Sairsher or Seersher but I too have gotten Sursher from people who have watched a video of her talking and said they learnt it from an interview of hers….

I respond to all to be honest 🤷🏻‍♀️

The audacity of them! Your pronunciation is perfect. You'll get it with tons of names though, it's no different than the different pronunciations you get in the UK whether you're in the North, South, Wales, Scotland, midlands whatever. It's the same name just with different accents or dialects and people will let you know their preference. But for someone else to foist it on you is cheeky.

What are the pronunciations of Amelia? I only know one.

But I agree - lots of names have more than one pronunciation. Eg Naomi, Tania, Nadia, Gerard, Bernard.

I saw Saoirse Ronan interviewed on tv in America and she basically said she pronounced her own name wrongly. 😆

My Irish surname is pronounced differently in different bits of Ireland.

To anyone horrified at a child with a non-British or unusual name: get a grip.

PS "Get a grip" can also be pronounced "fuck off."

Also if you want a laugh on name pronunciations google Ncuti Gtwata - the poor lad only learned how to say it at 26 😂

It's because of the "rhymes with inertia" thing she says I think. Most people in the UK would say in-urr-sha, but she says in-air-sha so they end up rhyming Saoirse with the wrong sound.

If that makes any sense.

Yes this is exactly it - she actually says it more Sare-sha, which I think is used in Ireland, though im Irish and imo Seersha is correct!

Ive had exactly the same though - an English friend of mine told me her niece was called Sursha like Ms Ronan and when I corrected her pronunciation she told me I was wrong.

It’s a beautiful name.

How rude. Would you say that to someone with a name from any other cultural background? It's a lovely name. Seersha is a perfectly normal way to pronounce it.

I’m a Saoirse with Irish parents that grew up in England. She’s in for a life of mispronunciation 😂
She’ll have to brace for a lifetime of “say-or-see” most people who don’t know the name go for I find!
I’m SUR-Sha as in Freedom fighter pronunciation

I’m Irish, living in Ireland (the North) we say Seer-sha. Beautiful name. And meaning 💕

Yes, I also state mine to be Sair-sher/Sare-sher. But I equally respond to Seersher and I notice depending on where someone is Ireland is from is when I will usually get one of the two! Although some northern Irish family or in laws default to Sursher.

i can only put this down to dialect.

OP its a lovely name and you're pronouncing it correctly. I have an Irish first name too (and heritage) but a longer one and no one my entire life has pronounced it correctly except my parents and actual Irish people. It has been the bane of my existence, but Saoirse is much more manageable and known.

well i don't think you can blame Saoirse Ronan for the alternative pronunciation - I'm in my 70's and grew up in an Irish catholic community where I knew Saoirse, Aoife and Siobhan's.

Saoirse was always pronounced Sorsha, in the 60's, in the bit of the North of the UK I was from, I've never heard another pronunciation so whenever I see the name written I always assume "Sorsha" (in a broad Yorkshire accent 😆)

The Saoirse that I knew in Ireland pronounced it

Sare -sha.

It's a nice name but we all know that it's one of those names that you are going to have to correct the pronunciation on

People can be pillocks when it comes to names. My name is a Scottish regional variation of a common name and have had issues my whole life to the point where I’d only bother trying to correct people if I thought I’d see them again.

I feel like it has gotten better over recent years as U.K. culture as because more diverse and people are more willing to treat other peoples names respectfully.

I’ve never been annoyed with my parents or wishes they had called me something else.

But the stupidest time was when one of my ex work bosses tried telling me that, because they had some distant Scottish cousins, they knew better than me and my whole family was pronouncing my name wrong. 😑

Is it a lovely name?

I'm irish and I always thought it was a bit of a strange name.

Like, why call your child "freedom!"

It wasn't originally a girls name, it was a word In Irish

It would be like calling an English child "freedom"

Lol, why would an Irish family want to name their child freedom? I'd say it might be to do with Irish history!

You don't hear the name Freedom in English, but you do get Liberty which is the same idea maybe?

Liberty has been used as a girls name in England. It’s not really that ‘weird’.

Not every irish family wants to name their child "freedom".

I've only ever met one Saoirse in Ireland myself.

I don't think it's a lovely name personally.

But each to their own.

As you’re no doubt aware Saoirse and Sorcha are two different names in Irish.

I knew a little girl called Sorcha when I worked in a nursery whose parents were very keen on proper as gaeilge pronunciation so her name was pronounced “Sor-a-ha”.

It makes sense in Irish but if you look at it only from an English language perspective you can’t see the middle ‘a’ sound.

That said there are Irish people called Sorcha who use an anglicised pronunciation and say ‘Sor-cha’ or ‘Sor-sha’

Best to just copy the pronunciation of the person whose name it is! 🤷🏼‍♀️

It’s beautiful