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?

Sorry, somehow posted twice. Have reported my own incompetence...

Shaan.

To rhyme with naan bread.

I always thought it was naam bread

People who say “sharn”: is it rhyming with yarn? I find this all strangely interesting

Yes, but presumably they are people with non-rhotic accents, meaning they don't pronounce the r before a consonant.

In other words, what they really mean is shAHn. It's to demonstrate the long -a- sound. In non-rhotic accents, far and fah sound the same.

People who say “sharn”: is it rhyming with yarn?

Yes. But I don't pronounce the R in yarn at all because I'm not a farmer or a pirate.

If you aren't happy that the pronunciation of Dylan has changed, blame Dylan Thomas' mother. She liked the name but not that it was Dull-un. I'm afraid I use the same pronunciation as her

That's my name - everyone pronounces it wrong, everyone thinks I'm Welsh... get her to name her child something else.
It's pronounced Sian and often has a circumflex above the a.

I meant "Sharn"

I always thought it was naam bread

Never read a menu in your local curry house?

Sharn

I know 3 Sians:
One says Sharn, one says See Ann and one says Sigh Ann.

@JamieVardysHavingAParty I'm Scottish, can and van are quite short vowels and that's how I'd say Sian. Putting and R in a word to explain length of a vowel makes no sense to me. If I was elongating the vowel I would describe the sound as sha-an or shaan. Sharn is like sharon when it's not a silent r and to me, maybe other Scots I don't know, sticking an R in makes no sense at all. It's all about accents (pardon the pun) I'd imagine.

Another vote for Shan

I’m Scottish but the girl I knew from school was Welsh and this is how they pronounced Sian

This thread has been an eye-opener to how people read things differently. Never heard of rhotic, but I am obviously non-rhotic being from the SE of England originally

I had the same trouble many years ago as a young teacher when taking a new class register and facing my 1st encounter with the name "Siobhan". After creating much hilarity with my 1st attempt - "See-ub-ann" - the pupils eventually put me right but I still don't see how anyone could get "Shiv-orn" from this spelling though

Teachers see some wonderful sights, I once had three different spellings of Siobhan in one year group, Shivorn, Chervorn and something else.
A friend once had a new child called Gooey by Mother, when she filled in the admission forms it was Guy!
Jesus was a problem when I taught abroad, for a girl, pronounced Her-sus as they told me.

I would pronounce it, Shan.

@BluebellsareBlue

I wondered why people were putting an "r" in there. I was thinking it's not "Sharon" 😂

That didn't look right.
Actually, thinking about it, the girl at school was pronounced more like Seeyan than See-Anne

@Thatstheendofmytether I know!!! I was like.....

I don’t think it’s daft not knowing. There’s loads of names that are pronounced nothing like they’re written. I have 2 friends whose children are both called neve. One is spelt neve & the other is Niamh.

Sh Ann or Shaan The focus is on the a(why can't I think of the real word I want to use?)

Emphasis?

Shaan

JamieVardys, I would just like to mention that you are my favourite poster on this thread and possibly on all of mumsnet.