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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ask how you would pronounce this name?

647 replies

Notss · 18/09/2018 15:45

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?

OP posts:
Guardsman18 · 20/09/2018 15:51

@ Ethel. Your pp actually made me laugh out loud!

People have explained (I thought I'd done a fair job!) Yes, you are orrect.

The printing information is fascinating.

Guardsman18 · 20/09/2018 15:51
  • correct even
Trinity66 · 20/09/2018 15:52

Shan

BluebellsareBlue · 20/09/2018 16:09

@EthelThePiratesDaughter
That's exactly right. Bath and castle have very short A sounds in my accent. Dundonian scottish. That totally has explained the confusion. The R being added was giving me serious anxiety 😂 I now completely understand why the r was added. But in any case it's pronounced Shan as in The first bit of shandy 😜

Fresta · 20/09/2018 16:16

I pronounce bath and castle with a short 'a' but Sian with a long a sound as in 'Sharn'.

The problem isn't that different accents pronounce Sian differently, it's that some people are unaware of the correct pronunciation. It's a welsh name and therefore pronounced everywhere as it is in Wales. Anyone pronouncing it differently is pronouncing it wrongly.

Fresta · 20/09/2018 16:18
Fresta · 20/09/2018 16:20
apparently like this in China!
marilyntaylor · 20/09/2018 16:20

@EthelThePiratesDaughter
Sorry to be awkward, but I am from Lancashire, and words like bath and castle have a short a for me. Exactly the same sound as van or man. However, I would pronounce the name Sian with a long a, ie Shaan/Sharn/ Shahn (all of which sound the same to me). I have known several people with this name, who also live in the NW, and they have all said it this way.

kenandbarbie · 20/09/2018 16:52

I'm from Lancashire too and pronounce everything like Marilyn said!

SenecaFalls · 20/09/2018 17:32

I am also someone who pronounces bath and castle with a short "a", but Sian with a long one. (As a rhotic speaker, I would render it Shahn).

EthelThePiratesDaughter · 20/09/2018 17:55

Damn. I thought that after 20 pages I'd cracked it, but apparently not!

FinnegansWhiskers · 20/09/2018 17:58

Fresta.....
Exactly!! 👌

Maybe now we can put this to bed 😴

ShowOfHands · 20/09/2018 18:47

@FinnegansWhisker, I'm afraid that clip posted by fresta IS pronouncing it "sharn".

FinnegansWhiskers · 20/09/2018 19:37

Shaan! No R...

kenandbarbie · 20/09/2018 19:43

Finnegans - in my accent that clip is saying sharn!!!!

tinytemper66 · 20/09/2018 20:09

This should now be called 'names which have now been ruined'
You have killed me and my name -Siân with an emphasis on the â not Sharn! 😂😂😂

PurplePenguins · 20/09/2018 21:32

Just thought I'd add my 2p worth 🤣

To ask how you would pronounce this name?
Sneezeandooops · 20/09/2018 22:19

A friend at school had this name but had a ^ over the a. Pronounced Sharn

ShowOfHands · 20/09/2018 22:29

Shaan. And. Sharn. Are. Pronounced. The. Same. Way. Which. Is. The. Entire. Point

FinnegansWhiskers · 20/09/2018 22:56

ShowOfHands

Shaan. And. Sharn. Are. Pronounced. The. Same. Way. Which. Is. The. Entire. Point

Arse has a completely different sound to Ass....Simply because of the R sound ...regardless of what posters are at pains to deny.

Sian has and always will be produced as Shaan. No R! Ever!!

LydiaLunch7 · 20/09/2018 22:57

Shaan. And. Sharn. Are. Pronounced. The. Same. Way. Which. Is. The. Entire. Point

In a few specific accents, yes. In most, no. If you'd read any of the thread you'd have known that already!

TooManyPaws · 20/09/2018 22:58

As someone from the North-East, Sharn is Doric Scots for Shit so I wouldn't be pronouncing Sîan as Sharn. As a non-Welsh speaker, I would try to do the best I could be pronouncing it Shaan. I wouldn't be sticking an R in somewhere it wasn't pronounced when trying to explain the pronunciation - and I'm an RP speaker!

It's hardly unknown as a name. I first came across it as a child sent to school in England in the 1970s, as the actress Sîan Phillips in I, Claudius; it was explained to me then that it was pronounced Shaan, with no bloody R in it.

Singingitoverandoverandover · 20/09/2018 23:04

In my part of Scotland “sharn” would basically be Sharon 😂

The names been murdered now anyway. Ive said it so many times reading this thread I never want to hear it again 🤷🏻‍♀️

OhtheHillsareAlive · 20/09/2018 23:09

I replied “What - like See-Ann?” And she told me I was being daft

Well, if not daft, pretty ignorant.

It's pronounced "Sharn" - it's basically the Welsh version of Jane (one of those names with lots of variants in several languages: Jean, Jane, Joanne, Jeanne, Jan, Jennifer, Siobhan, and so on)

Seeingadistance · 20/09/2018 23:11

I'm Scottish, so when I see the letter "r" in a word, I pronounce it.

Problem seems to be that those who use "ar" to mean a long a, don't actually pronounce the "r". So we are divided along the lines of those who understand the letter "r" in Sharn as silent, and those who don't!

Please, for the love of all things - if the letter "r" is silent, keep your fingers off that letter on the keyboard - make it as invisible as it is silent!