Is Saoirse too unusual, and are we allowed to `adapt` the pronunciation??!!

[Bex22]

Expecting DD3 end of June. We all like Saoirse but have been saying it Ser-shuh rather than Seer-shuh which I understand is the more authentic Irish pronunciation. Firstly, is it going to present numerous spelling difficulties from all sides, and secondly, does it matter that we are saying it in our own way so to speak??? The trouble is that my 4 year old DS and 2 year old DD are now big fans of this name, as said the wrong way, and I do think it is really pretty and would go well with Elizabeth which I want to use as a middle name after a favourite aunt. We are no stranger to slightly unusual names as DS is Seth and DD is Elwyn, so what do you all think?? Too weird or what??!!

My DD is called Orlaith redvelvet !

I'm sorry you don't like having an unusual Irish name. I've never experienced any racism and don't mind at all that people thinks it's weird. I like it! And I like Roisin, I would've thought that was "normal" enough to not have the same issues with spelling and mispronunciation.

My IL's weren't happy with Orlaith for our DD but they've got used to it very quickly and I think it suits her.

I'm not in Ireland but have taught
Caitlín
Niamh
Roisin
Shánna
Teagan
Ciarán
Malachi
Micheál
Niall
Tiernan

Orla is always the default Irish name suggested on here. My parents weren't happy with it either but I stuck to my guns.

My parents thought Orla was a lovely and unusual name when they christened me. They had been living in the US when I was born. Only to bring me home and find every other body who'd had a dd had called her Orla!

if you cannot pronounce it properly dont use it.

like the lewis pronounced as louis thing- say it properly or dont bother

Ah saiorse86 good taste in names must run in your family! It's not my name that's the problem (it's pretty), it's the reactions to it. Maybe it's just where I live! Never had a problem in London or Glasgow.

redvelvet I'm in Birmingham so lots of Irish people here, maybe that's why I don't have so many problems!

scottishmummy I was doing work expereince years ago at a children's centre. They were doing a clinic and we kept calling for a little girl called siobhan. We assumed she must've gone. At the end of the clinic there was still one mum and daughter sitting in the waiting room. It turned out this girl was siobhan except they pronounced it si-ob-han so didn't know they'd been called! I was amazed that in the 9 months of being pregnant and few years of having the little girl, the mum hadn't checked how it was pronounced!

I never heard of Saoirse before so you could pronounce it any way you liked, I reckon very few people would be in a position to think it wrong. I can't see that it's spelling is any worse to English eyes than Blaithnait/Niamh/Siobhan.

Blimey- really didn't mean to be controversial! Clearly, as an English gal don't mean to make a political statement, and really hope that this choice of name wouldn't be that offensive to anyone- come on, all names have a meaning...Really interesting to hear that many think that the Ser-sha pronunication is acceptable. Bit worried by statement someone said about it being very much of the times re. Miss Ronan, whereas I had hoped that it would still be a bit unusual as surely she is more of a Zooey Deschanel than a Keira Knightley- if you know what I mean! I feel quite keen again on Saoirse again now- children still love it, and really pleased that some real Saoirses love their names!!! However, Cleo and Clover were mentioned tonight tentatively by the grandparents to be! Any thoughts on these??

If you are in England you will probably not come across many political comments. But like it or not the name still does have connotations and will do for a few years to come.
Cleo (I like Cliodhna) and Clover are lovely names.
But whatever anyone else thinks, your baby and your choice! And I do love Saoirse!

Jumping in a bit late here, but we're considering this name for our first child, and I wanted to offer my perspective.

I'm an American with Irish heritage, and I did not first hear of the name from Saoirse Ronan. I discovered her after scouring baby-name boards and coming across the name Saoirse. I love the sound, and I adore the meaning. I agree that anyone who uses this name should do it with their eyes wide open, because it does indeed have ties with not just a freedom movement, but one that has committed violence in support of its cause. However, it need not be limited to that meaning. I like the name simply because it means "freedom," I'm a great lover of freedom and liberty, and I'd like to bestow that ideal on my child.

On the downside (and the reason we haven't committed to it yet), we're worried that the child will grow weary of having to spell and pronounce her name for everybody. I once worked with a Siobhan, and no one in our workplace ever seemed to have trouble with her name, although I'm sure she must have had her share of struggles through the years.

As for pronunciation, it's true that there's an "er"-type syllable in there that gets rather glossed over, so that if you were speaking it slowly, it would be something See-ur-sha. But in normal speech, the first two parts get blended together into Seer-sha.

I believe Seer-sha, Sir-sha, and Sair-sha are all legitimate pronunciations. Much of it simply depends on where you live -- just as a person from Boston might pronounce things differently from a person in Atlanta.

For authentic pronunciation of Irish names, simply go to this site and listen to the audio www.babynamesofireland.com/pages/girl-names-n-z.html. Also saoirse means freedom in Irish. It is a word strongly associated with the Irish republicanism. It is the name of the Sinn Fein monthly newsletter for instance en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saoirse_Irish_Freedom.

I think it's been reclaimed a bit though in the past few years. Lots and lots of baby Saoirses springing up all over the place, no connection to the North of Ireland. It was certainly the case that it was linked to Republican-thinking families, less so now I think.

I was going to call my little girl Celeste but when I met her she was a Saoirse. It is pronounced Seer-shuh you are right; although the actress Saoirse Ronan pronounces it Sair-shuh. The name means Freedom. Sorcha means princess or brightness and can be pronounced Sorka or Sorsha - actually the latter pronunciation is more like the Sersha sound your other two have been saying? Celeste means divine or heavenly - so the name we opted for in the end, Saoirse Celeste means Heavenly Freedom and it really suits her. She's four now and teaching her to spell her name is tricky, but she understands it's another language and that Gaelic has different sounds to the ones she's learning in her English alphabet. She would naturally have been an introvert, but her unusual name gives her an excellent ice-breaker and conversation point - it also sounds so feminine, like a breeze swaying pines on a beach (I've just been to Holkham). Wishing you all best wishes and luck for the happy welcoming in June.