Sorcha... pronunciations?

[pinkytheshrinky]

I know that for the most part this name is pronounced Sor-kha but I met a nice older lady years ago who was a Sor-sha - I do really like this name and it is top of the list for my new dc. What do you think?

I do also have two other dds with Irish names who's spellings have been Anglicised so I do have form for this....

[IoraRua]

I'm with Mitzy, Sor-sha is not how the name is correctly pronounced.
And now I'll leave this poor zombie thread to die.

[Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost]

I would pronounce it as it's written down Sor-cha

[MitzyLeFrouf]

The sor-sha pronunciation is wrong though

[MitzyLeFrouf]

Goodness. You must feel really strongly about your name to dig up a two year old thread!

[sorchasorcha]

I am a Sorcha, Sor-sha, living in England with Irish grandparents. Yes, the name has many pronunciations but that's mine and I love it. A person's name is the most important word in the world to them, something they say or hear more than anybody else, so it has made me feel quite angry reading these very vitriolic dismissals of MY name!

Lots of cases of the Katie Hopkins here... I don't think Sorcha is an 'ugly', 'illiterate' name as somebody here put it. The person who knows best what my name is is me, and my parents. And my name is Sorcha, and I pronounce it Sor-sha, so people saying that it's wrong are in fact themselves wrong.

Whoever said that this pronunciation is like pronouncing a word wrong has made EXACTLY the critical point... Words change! Spellings change, pronunciations change as society changes. Clothes used to be spelt cloaths, public had a 'k' on the end and rhyme was spelt rime, and the way we speak and pronounce words is always in flux. Anyone who claims to be a linguist or interested in language changing surely must embrace this evolution as something great – if you don't, you're totally missing the point.

I love the fact that my name has a history – as all names do – and it's important that people know the history of their names. I think it's brilliant that this is a living name that's still in use, and has a new chapter of its history now with we Sorchas living in around the world, with our different pronunciations.

I hope that the lady who started this thread called her daughter Sorcha and that she'll grow to love the name. While I was at school I wished I could be called Lucy or something that teachers wouldn't pronounce wrong on the first day of term, but as an adult I love my name, and have met many people who say they do also.

[Beakford]

My name is Sorcha and it is pronounced close to So-ra-ka.I have never met another one but have been told about the occasional Sor-sha. I believe (as I was named by my Irish parents) that my pronunciation is closer to the original Irish and that Sor-sha is an English variation.

I love my name but I do have to have a conversation about it every time i meet someone for the first time - this seemed annoying when I was growing up but is much easier now as people are so much more used to unusual and uncommon names.

[inhibernation]

Sorry Mathanxiety for resurrecting this thread!

Sorcha is defo not Sor-sha. I should know as it's my name & my dad is an Irish speaker and tutor. You can pronounce it how you like but it's pretty annoying for those of us who have to endure "Sor-sha - that's a nice name" Thanks but it's Sorcha" "Oh but I know a girl called Sorcha and it's definitely pronounced Sorsha"

[HelloItsNatalie]

Sorry to through in yet another pronunciation but I knew a Sor-a-cha with the ch pronounced the Scottish way, as in loch. I love the sound of it but I imagine it's quite problematic as most people outside Scotland would say ck like in lock.

[mathanxiety]

Gasp -- it's the fabled Sorcha Thread again

[HiHowAreYou]

Yikes. Just thought I'd look up Sorcha as it's meaning is the same as DD1's name - I thought it might be nice to consider if I have a DD2.

[SlinkingOutsideInFrocks]

For the love of God - let sleeping dogs lie!!!

[VeryStressedMum]

I would say Sor-sha.

[westcoastliving]

My GOD I've just come across this thread. Our 5 1/2 month old daughter is called Sorcha Eilidh, pronounced SorSHA because of the Scottish Gaelic. We are Scottish and live on the west coast. There was never any question about the pronunciation and all the Scottish Gaelic speakers I know recognised it straight away. I know this is a very late addition to an old, dead thread, but I never realised the name caused such controversy. Eilidh is pronounced Ayli, btw.

[MistyB]

It would be lost on everyone here but I want that t-shirt!!

[lettinggo]

That's brilliant, sqweegie

[sqweegiebeckenheim]

How great is this t-shirt, Peig fans.

[lettinggo]

I'm going to my parents' house on Saturday - I'm going to go up the attic because I have book envy now . I must reread it - I feel mean now to have loathed her so much. Life certainly was bleak - my mother grew up in 1930s and 40s Kerry and that was very very poor. It must have been so much worse on the islands.

They're selling the Inter Cert short stories book this Christmas (English language) and I can't wait. I can't remember the name, was it Exploring English? The story about the fish being caught by the hook and escaping turned me off meat forever after. I bought Soundings last year and it was lovely to read all the poems again - and amazing that I remembered so many of them as soon as I read them once, the power of overlearning!

[CointreauVersial]

Awww....this thread is now one big Irish love-in.

[HardCheese]

lettinggo, I did come across my old copy in my parents' attic - complete with my moody teenage adjustments to the cover image, which now depicts Peig with horns, a Hitler moustache and fishnet stockings and garters...

Re-reading Peig as an adult is very interesting, especially if you look at other Blasket literature - life was just very, very tough at an absolute subsistence level well into the 20th century. And of course Peig's life before she married into the Great Blasket was pretty grim anyway - a more prosperous mainland girl would never have agreed to marry a Blasket islander. We all used to kill ourselves laughing at Peig's misfortunes as a 'cailín aimsire' and the even worse things that befell her family on the island, but re-reading as an adult, that scene where she has to lay out her dead son's body after he's fallen off the cliff, and has to get strength by putting a statue of the Virgin Mary by the bed is just chilling...

[lettinggo]

agus IS FÉIDIR LINN mar a dúirt an fear!

[Stoirin]

I bloody love how Hiberno-English is influenced by Irish, even in Irish English Speakers! I gave a lecture once on the differences in possesive sense on the thought processes of Irish people. In Irish you don't own things the way you do in English, you don't say "I am hungry", you say, "I have a hunger at me", you don't say "I have a car" you say "there is a car by me". Its a completely different language with a rich and diverse history that should be celebrated and used, not denigrated and thought extinct!
Éireannach go brách!

[SlinkingOutsideInSocks]

I have learnt loads from this thread - all sorts of things that I wad too afraid to ask IRL. Love Misty's evocative description re pedants...

Out of interest, how do you pronounce Fionnuala? My first gen. English friend has this name (Dublin Dad, Connemara Mum) and seems to pronounce it Fin-noola, as do her parents, but perhaps I've never properly listened for the subtle nuances/inflections when they say it.

[MistyB]

eloquently ....

[mamsnet]

Another can of worms there (or several), Almondfinger

I find the whole gaelscoil thing a bit up its own arse, tbh.