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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

Sorcha... pronunciations?

392 replies

pinkytheshrinky · 11/09/2011 06:45

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....

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messymammy · 16/09/2011 13:11

DD2 is Sorcha (sur ruck cha)As said before, cha is never an SH sound in Irish. Call her that if you like, but be prepared for faces from Irish.

Isn't Sor-sha how Ross O'Carroll-Kelly pronounces his girl friends name in true piss taking D4 style?

Original poster

pinkytheshrinky · 16/09/2011 17:09

I can live with faces from the Irish

Given the myriad of pronunciations and the fact the I am in England and not in Ireland I think I will get away with it

OP posts:

mathanxiety · 16/09/2011 18:51

You'd get the faces from the Irish language brigade and from the appreciators of piss-taking.

Original poster

pinkytheshrinky · 16/09/2011 19:23

Math - I am just going to wing it - Just tell people that is how it is said (as most old ladies asking in Tesco will not see the spelling anyway) - I reckon I will get away with it in 99% of cases - it is all a matter of being convincing in my delivery....

Honestly, as crass as it sounds not really bothered about the authenticity element (bad I know but there it is) and I think that naturally the English will tend towards saying with the sha when they see it.

OP posts:

CointreauVersial · 16/09/2011 21:06

You will be fine pronouncing it Sor-sha if you live in the UK. As I've said upthread I have a Sorcha, pronounced Sor-sha and an Irish DH (who, when choosing the name didn't have a clue what the "correct" pronounciation "should" be, nor did he care).

In the UK, it would have been so much more difficult trying to get people to use a very ungainly Irish pronounciation. In fact, neither DH nor I like it.

Original poster

pinkytheshrinky · 16/09/2011 21:48

No I don't like the other pronunciations either and agree trying to get people to pronounce it 'correctly' will be a pain in the bum - I think even in Ireland with all the variants it must be a bit of a drag getting the right one

OP posts:

mathanxiety · 17/09/2011 02:48

Ungainly? It's actually got a really soft sound.

There's not actually a whole lot of difference between the Irish pronunciations.

Stoirin · 17/09/2011 09:40

thats true, they are all obvuously the same name.

lettinggo · 17/09/2011 10:31

In the Irish language, 'ch' will never, ever, wherever you are, make the sound 'sh'. That's the point being made. There may be different pronunciations of the name depending on the accent of the person saying it, but it 'ch' will NEVER make the sound 'sh' in Irish.

That being said, I agree that you'll get away with it in the UK and hats off to you for doing your research about the name so when you do come across the catsbumfaces from the purists (and I count myself as one of them) at least you can hold your head up and say you know it's pronounced differently in the Irish language.

messymammy · 17/09/2011 10:59

Cointeau why would you use a name that you don't like the correct pronounciation of and think it "ungainly"? Am sure you could have found a name in another language that correctly suited your criteria? Or could you not have found another Irish name that you do like the sound of? Weird.

Original poster

pinkytheshrinky · 17/09/2011 18:33

Look the thing is if like me you first come across a name and it is not correct and you like it, then there it is. It matters not if it is correct if you like it does it? I first heard this name years ago with the sha - I am not alone in this (apparently a common mistake) and the woman who had this name was amazing and frankly I couldn't care less if it is not correct.

You can be as purist as you like but the sha sound makes sense when said in the UK.

You can be as purest as you like but it hurts no one and offends no one (and if you are offended by that sort of thing then you need to get out more) - I knew there were a lot of pronunciations and I do think it would be far easier for my child, brought up in the UK to have a name which is easily pronounced from the spelling. I don't think the other versions are ungainly but I don't like them as much - I am entitled not to like things, it is certainly not meant to offend anyone who is a purist: rather more that my opinion is much more important than any other on this as it would be a name for my child.

Catsbumface away as much as you like but you know it makes sense

OP posts:

Stoirin · 17/09/2011 18:35

Um, it does matter though. If everyone jsut makes up their own prnounciations it will get very confusing.

CointreauVersial · 17/09/2011 21:22

Messymammy, we chose the name Sorcha, pronounced Sor-sha! Every Sorcha I had met up until then was pronounced that way, and that's the name we chose. Not sur-u-ka, or anything else.

It wasn't until she was a few days old that we even heard about the alternative way to pronounce it!

Actually, the name reflects her heritage really well, that she has Irish roots, but is essentially English.

Fwiw, my other DD is called Erin, a name which means Ireland but is pretty unknown over there. Same principal, really.

RitaMorgan · 17/09/2011 21:55

I saw a child at playgroup the other day whose name was pronounced "Ice-la", I assume it was an alternative pronounciation of Isla. Reminded me of this thread anyway!

mathanxiety · 17/09/2011 22:25

But Pinky, what is to stop people pronouncing Siobhan See-ob-han or Niamh Ny-am or 'Nee-am', or Sinead 'Sin-eed', or Mairead 'May-reed', or Aoife 'Aa-oh-ih-feh'? As Stoirin says, it gets confusing if everyone can just make up their own pronunciation or have a stab at it based on the conventions of a different language.

Could I pronounce George 'Ge-or-ge' with hard Gs (same for Georgia, Georgina, Georgette?)

The names are actual names with a way of pronouncing them that is correct and based on the spelling and pronunciation rules of the language they originate in (with regional distinctions obviously just as you would find different regional accents in Britain). It is disrespectful of that language to proceed on the basis that any convenient pronunciation will do.

There are Irish names that have Anglicised spellings, like Maeve for instance, that are acceptable. In Irish Maeve would be spelled Maedhbh, or Maebh for a more modern version. All are pronounced the same. If you want to pronounce the name Sorcha 'Sorsha' then I would spell it like that, S-o-r-s-h-a.

According to Irish spelling and pronunciation rules, Sorsha would be phonetically spelled Sóirsea. If you are going to keep the Irish spelling but pronounce it differently you might as well write her name as 'Evelyn'?

mathanxiety · 17/09/2011 22:27

'Sur-uh-kha' is not an 'alternative' way to pronounce Sorcha. It is the standard pronunciation.

working9while5 · 17/09/2011 22:29

Sor-sha is just wrong, regardless of what Irish person says it is right. It is just wrong. It is Sor-a-ka. Simple.

working9while5 · 17/09/2011 22:32

As for "it makes sense as I am in England to use the sha..", erm, WHY? Why would "cha" be "sha" in English?

Have any shange? No shance. Sit on your shair, no backshat.

RitaMorgan · 17/09/2011 22:34

Why not just name her Sorsha?

SlinkingOutsideInSocks · 17/09/2011 22:37

The OP will do what she wants and I sense this thread is just making her dig her heels in even more...

lettinggo · 17/09/2011 22:41

RitaMorgan at Ice-la, love it.

working9while5 · 17/09/2011 22:43

I meant the same as math, btw.. sor-uh-ka would be clearer I suppose.

To be honest, as someone Irish in England, I will not call my kids any Irish name that isn't straightforwardly decodable to an English reader (e.g. Brendan/Declan/Malachy) or else so well known that it would cause no controversy e.g. (Sinead, Siobhain, Niamh). It's a pain in the arse for the kid because people WILL continually mispronounce it. We had an Aislinn (ash ling) at university, London born and bred.. at graduation they called her Ayz leen and several of the lecturers continually called her random variations of her name. Why do it? I would love to call a little girl Aine (Awn ya) but I won't do it. She would have to live with the name, I won't.

lettinggo · 17/09/2011 23:05

Wouldn't that be Mal-a-shee though, working9while5???

Stoirin · 18/09/2011 01:22

Agreed its not an alternative, its just correct,

The fact of the matter is that in Irish, CHA does not and cannot sound like SHA. And if you think about it, it doesn't in English either. Its just wrong.

SlinkingOutsideInSocks · 18/09/2011 02:06

@ Mal-a-shee...!

Would be amusing if people in England ended up mispronouncing it as Sor-cha, as in cha cha cha. After all, that is how 'ch' is pronounced in English.... Isn't Sacha a Russian name?

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