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?

Definitely not See-Ann or Sigh-Ann

Unless you’re Welsh, where the name originated from .

@tinytemper66 sorry, just found your first post.

Of COURSE it's pronounced SHARN.

No-one is saying there is a random R in there, people are saying how it's pronounced FGS! It's pronounced SHARN with very little emphasis on the R.

I hate this, when people give their kids slightly unusual names, and don't pronounce them properly!

Like Alicia and Chantelle, should be pronounced Alees-eeya and Shontelle, but the people who DO give their kids these names pronounce them Aleeesha and Shann-tell. shudder!

Shan with emphasis on the a - a long a but no r!!

I am from Wales, and SIAN is NOT pronounced bloody SY-ANN or SEE-ANN.

Trust me!

It is SHARN, or SHAAN...

That was aimed at @Padparadscha

Yep Shan, means Jane in welsh. Have only come across one English woman with this name, she pronounces it the welsh way. Trouble is are you always going to be correcting people? Wanted to give DD the name Angharad, but knew I was onto a loser when DH couldn't pronounce it, he's English poor dab

I have never been called Sharn in my life! I have been called See-Ann or Si-an rhyming with Siam but never Sharn!

"No-one is saying there is a random R in there, people are saying how it's pronounced FGS! It's pronounced SHARN with very little emphasis on the R."

The problem is that some accents will pronounce a strong R if you try to describe it as "sharn". The "a" with a circumflex in Welsh is a long "a" sound like in "father" rather than a short "a" as in "cat".

I know a 30 something Sian who pronounces it See Ann. I can only think her parents liked the spelling and had not a clue how to pronounce it.

I hate this, when people give their kids slightly unusual names, and don't pronounce them properly!

Sian is originally a Welsh girls name, and I can assure you there is no ‘r’ (however soft) in it. Just like Rhys isn’t Reece, Dylan isn’t Dillan, Rhian isn’t Rian and Seren isn’t Serun. I find your rant rather ironic in this case.

lindalee3 well we must be from very different areas, because I’m also born and raised Welsh and speak it fluently. I have never until this day heard anyone put an R in Sian, since Welsh is a phonetic language and you pronounce words as you read them.

Have you not heard of Sian Phillips, Sian Lloyd and Sian Williams? They all pronounce their names Shahn.

It's pronounced as Sharn in my accent.

How are Rhys and Dylan pronounced then?

Unless you’re Welsh, where the name originated from

I am, thank you, and it's the name of one of my closest friends who is a fluent Welsh speaker, so I'm pretty sure she's pronouncing it correctly.

I guess I would pronounce them Riss and Dilll'n

sharn

It is deffo pronounced Sharn. Surely it would be Cyan (like the ink cartridge blue colour) if it was Sigh-ann?

Shan

my neice its pronounced shan
girl at my dd school sighann

Rhys

isn't that closest to "Rees" ? (vague memories of Merlin Rees ? Although It was probably "Myrddin Rhys" ?

Every Sian I have ever met - Welsh or otherwise is a Sharn.

I suspect anyone calling themselves See-Ann is doing so because their parents didn't know how to pronounce the name.

Shahn

How are Rhys and Dylan pronounced then?

Reece and Dillun. How else would you pronounce them?

@tinytemper66 I bet you've been called Sharn thousands of times. As has been explained on this thread and a billion times on other threads, most English people don't pronounce the r in certain words. When they type "ar", they're describing the sound "aah". Because to most English people, that's normal. Car is pronounced caaah. Far is pronounced faaah. Harder is pronounced haaa duh. No vocalised r.

Sharn = Shaaaan.