To ask how you would pronounce this name?

[Notss]

Hi all,

Sorry if this is the wrong place:

My little sister is expecting her first child and if it is a girl wants to call her “Sian”.

She sent it to me in a text and I replied “What - like See-Ann?” And she told me I was being daft.

So how would you pronounce such a name?

Finnegan Not a single person is saying there is an R sound. They just transcribe the sound that way to distinguish it from pan and cat. You know that.

(But I’m obviously wrong!)

This reminds me of a thread a few years ago where the OP came in to rant about people pronouncing her name incorrectly.

She was called Siân but insisted it was pronounced Cyan.

Despite many, many posts explaining she was not correct she insisted she was right because this was the pronunciation her parents had intended and the one she preferred.

Personally I think if you want to appropriate a Welsh/Celtic name then FFS do your homework and understood how it's properly pronounced.

Then if you don't like it choose another bloody name (like Cyan for example) rather than insist that an entire language is "wrong".

My dad did once meet a "Yervonny", spelled Yvonne.

Poor things. I've got a Phebe pronounced Phoebe kind of name myself, because my mother was a pretentious dipstick. I didn't gwt why no-one could pronounce it until I was 9 or so. Swore I would change it when I was older, but never did in the end.

Well I like the name. I have never heard it before and would have pronounced it Sigh Anne.

People pronounce my name wrong and spell it wrong all the time, I don’t care ir ever correct them. Who even cares, the name is given with love and the whole world prononces things differently. Who am I to argue.

@JamieVardysHavingAParty like can and van as I have posted. Cheers

NC - but I think it's understandable why .

My mother is Welsh - hence the choice of name.

Yes I have a circumflex above the a (can't seem to do it on my phone though) and I'm a bit of a pedant about using it as it changes the sound of the "a".

It's pronounced Shaahn. I get why people are saying Sharn, but it's actually leads to mispronunciation as it's often thought of a as hard "r" and "name.

It's actually a very "soft" name - think of a slightly elongated "ahh" sound so Sh-aah-n again with a "soft" n.

Sharn is to hard and short iyswim.

I love my name - especially when it's used by the Welsh. The accent perfectly matches the softness of the name. That said I still like it in an English accent when people pronounce it properly .

HTH

Bleedin nora, people actually go by sigh-ann?

If you’re going to use a name, make sure you can bloody pronounce it!

like can and van as I have posted

Not according to the poster above who is called Sian.

bluebells so your pronunciation of can is like this contributor Artists contribute.dict.cc/?action=audio-history&f=id-135004 rather than Windfalls' contribute.dict.cc/?action=audio-history&f=id-844 ?

MyNameIsSiân Download the French keyboard on your phone for â.

My friend has this name, and people regularly mispronounce it or misspell it. She gets called Shaun/Sean a lot.

We considered calling ds Laughlin or Lockie (DP is aussie of scottish heritage. It's a popular name there, as the Aussie soaps prove!). We didn't because I was scared I was pronouncing it incorrectly (in my midlands accent) and would be offending countless people as well as being unsure of the spelling too. We stuck with a bog standard English name in the end!

I bloody hate traditional names mispronounced. I know it's a first world problem. It just sounds ridiculous. Snobby I know. There are better ways to be original.

This is so funny! @Ethelthepirates - Knew of someone called that. Not South Wales by any chance?!

Si in Welsh is a sh sound eg siop. Then there's a 'roof', accent on the a to elongate it. Not trying to be a smart Alec but it's just how it is.

Jamie Thanks for that tip!

I can now properly circumflex my name Siân

I do get a few people who don't know how to pronounce it or do so incorrectly - but I simply politely explain it to them. It's never been a huge issue in the U.K./Europe.

The only thing I would say is that American work colleagues often find it the most difficult to pronounce properly, even when I've explained it to them. Most get it right after a few tries but there are some who just can't past it sounding like Sean in a US accent and wonder why the hell my parents gave me a male name. Hey ho

I have never wanted to change it though. It links me to the Welsh side of my family and frankly (as indicated on this thread) most people do know how to say the name properly.

@JamieVardysHavingAParty the first one was German words I think... not sure how I got there the windfalls one is exactly how I say can

Guardsman18

No it wasn't in Wales, which means there are potentially at least two Yervonnys out there!

Sharn

I can’t believe you’re still talking about this.

It’s like flipping Groundhog Day. No one is saying there is an R sound. I’m in Wales and would describe it as Sharn....sounding exactly the same as Shaan or Shahn. WE KNOW that some people’s accents mean they wouldn’t describe it as Sharn, we don’t need reminding on every single thread like this!

Bluebells first user is an American and he says can in a way I would write as kay-en. Second one is UK and that's a short-a sound. That's the way I pronounce can myself, but it's not the way any of the Siâns I know say their names.

She might have moved Ethel!

Shan as in man

Sharn.

Yes you’re daft. It’s a very common way of spelling Sharn