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

Where do people say Meer-ree for Mary out of interest @HollyKnight?

The ones I know (all 2 of them) are from Donegal.

The couple you spoke to were very rude as well as wrong OP. I do think Saoirse Ronan has confused people. She was on the Ellen show years back wearing a sign saying Sur-sha and so on.
As pp said, in later interviews she has pronounced her name differently and has said that Sur-sha is the way Americans and English people pronounce it.

The names Saoirse and Sorcha (which is often mispronounced itself) do sometimes seem to get confused too, which doesn't help matters.

Thank you! I'd never heard it said like that. Accents are great 😊

I'm Scottish and have a Gaelic name that is fairly common in both Gaelic and Irish, but pronounced differently in each language.

I have occasionally had to correct people on the pronunciation - 'but it's this way!'.

No, it would be that way if I was Irish, but I'm not. Aren't languages fascinating?

(Ironically, I've only ever had it from English people)

Saoirse used to be a very nationalist name, with 'freedom' taken by most to refer to Northern Ireland, as i remember in the 80s and 90s. I think it still has these connotations for Irish people who are 45 plus.

Really odd to see English people say how lovely it is as a name without any histotical baggage, or possibly knowledge.

I know 2 and they both pronounce it Seersha.

I’m from Belfast and say meery for Mary as well 🙂

I wanted to call my DD Saoirse but to me it is pronounced Sair-sha and I know there are a number of variations depending on where you learnt your Irish so ended up with something equally unfathomable to the non-Irish but at least everyone agrees on the pronunciation 😂

I know a child with southern Irish parents who is pronounced "Seer-sha".

Isn't it funny how people think it's ok to tell people their own name is wrong, at the end of the day you can pronounce it how you decide!

I have a Caoimhe, a work colleague called Caoimhe, and another called Caoimh.

Pronunciation, I have a quee-va, I work with Kee-va and with Keev.

And I have an aunt called Máire and a colleague called Máura and another called Maura. My aunt and 2nd colleague are Maw-ra while my 1st colleague is Moy-ra.

And that's without the Marie/Marie thing (Maaa-ree and Ma-Ree), but lots of people mistake Máire for Marie as well.

People are very strange about Irish names. And telling you that you're not pronouncing your own or your family member's name correctly. When in fact all of them are right, just different regional variations.

I suspect you need to widen your definition of Irish! OP is being raised by Irish parents in England and so presumably is an Irish citizen with an English accent.

OP that older couple sound unbearable.
It's a beautiful name.
I taught that film a few years back (as well as the book A Stranger Came Ashore) and it's brought back some very happy memories xx

I work with a Saidhbhin. She just says 'call me Si' whenever she meets new people.

I know two people with this name and both pronounce it Sor-cha

unless I lived in Ireland I would never give my child a traditional Irish name. It’s the same as the name “Alba” being pronounced Al-ba when it should be “Ail-bah”

Are you sure you're not thinking of the name Sorcha?

Amazing how comfortable posters are on here telling Irish people not to use Irish names.

I think you’re a bit confused tbh, or they are.

Saoirse = seersha (or sairsha)
Sorcha = surraka (with many pronouncing it sorsha incorrectly)

Oh and if you’re thinking of Ailbhe, that is pronounced Alva.

The spell it Saoirse and it’s pronounced as it said. I had no idea of another pronunciation until I saw this thread.

And I’m thinking of Alba as I said.

They’re confused then.

And if you’re thinking of Alba then why have you put an “i” in it - there is no such name as Ail-ba.

Cool. I’ll tell them they have the wrong name for 40 years 😂

Re Alba, I suspect you're doing to @BearBuggy what we find infuriating on Irish name threads. There may not be a V in Caoimhe but there sure is a V sound. I'm too lazy to Google but presumably Ailba is the correct pronunciation in Scots Gaelic or Welsh.

There are some abominations of Irish names out there in fairness. Lots of "My name is John but I pronounce it Ben" type stuff. Saoirse pronounced Sorsha, or indeed Sorcha pronounced Sorsha, would be in that category. Still the person's name though.

And not what OP's done at all which is why the corrections are so frustrating.

They do though - not their fault but it’s incorrect.

It’s like being called Jane and telling people it’s pronounced Joan.

Traditionally Alba is pronounced Al-uh-bah in Scottish. But like a lot of names people pass on their interpretation of it over the years so you end up with variations.

My cousin Peadar gets called all sorts.

Peeder
Peddar
Padder
Peter