How would you pronounce Oisin?

[soapnuts]

I know all the books say Ush-een (which I don't like - sounds like a girls name to me) but I've known a couple of people with the name who pronounce it Osh-in - which I love!

DH is Irish and pronounces it the first way but agrees with me that he loves it the second way. All our family is in Ireland (though they will pronounce it the way we tell them!) but we live abroad (in a very international community) and our son is likely to not be living in Ireland as well. DS1 also has an Irish name that is pronounced slightly differently than it is spelt (though much closer and it wasn't intentional!) and it's never been a problem.

So how would you pronounce it? If you wanted it to be Osh-in, how would you spell it? Or are we just storing up problems for ourselves and DS?? We're really struggling with other names we agree on!

Ah, it's a beautiful name, go for it :) It just might have been the only one for me too

I don't reckon two "an"s matters. Loads of people have two girls with names ending with an "a" aound, or boys with names ending with an "er" sound.

I would say it means they go together!

Uh-sheen, anything else is wrong.

Oisín - it's a fairly iconic Irish name (he was the legendary son of Fionn mac Cumhaill wasn't he?) So I personally don't think you can "leave off the fada". What's the point of choosing a traditional Irish name if you're going to mess around with it?

Well just to complicate matters, DS1 is a version of Fionn (pronounced Finn ..... cos my DH doesn't know his Irish pronunciation well enough!! but I still love it!) so DS1 would be the father of DS2!!

Badgerina - We're an international family - it's got to work internationally (while still being Irish/Welsh/English) so fadas are just not going to work - I'm sorry if that's bad but I'm making it hard enough for the poor child without making it impossible to write on an iPhone!

I've just shown DH this thread and I think he might be convinced on the Welsh version!...... you have no idea how much of a miracle that is!!

I would have thought Fionn and Osian was OK?

I'd shy away from Osian and Nia / Oisin and Niamh, as they were actually a couple, but I just see the names Fionn and Osian as simply being from the same myths, rather than a pair.

But I'm not Irish so happy to be told if I'm massively missing the point here!

I'm pretty sure you can type a fada on an iPhone. Also, the number of people who don't use basic punctuation when they text will mean that it's fairly immaterial anyway. But anyway, it's your choice .

I'm typing on an iPhone. Press and hold the letter you want to add the fada to. It will give you different options, including fadas.

I'm in Ireland and know lots of them, always always always Uh-sheen, thats the sound the letters make, you can't just change them.

I once met a girl who said her same was Sierra. (See-air-a). Except she wrote it down and it was Ciara....the letters just don't make that sound!

I think if you want to name him ocean, then name him ocean, but Oisin is pronounced ush-sheen

It's Uh-Sheen. It would set my teeth on edge to meet one pronounced Ocean, tbh.
Like Caitlin. It's not supposed to be Kate-Lynn, it's supposed to be Kathleen.
But me being annoyed about that hasn't made any difference.

It's Uh - sheen. Although I do know Irish people who have pronounced it more like Osheen and I tend to say it "Usheen" - but then I'm not Irish. Our poor Oisín has had his name said in so many ways - Oshin, Oyzin, Wuzzin (someone thought it was French! and related to oiseau..!)

Mind you, it can't be Oshin, as others have said, because of the fada or accute accent on the second "i" which makes it long.

Whether you like the name depends on you. But the story behind the name is pretty stirring, I always think. Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the great Irish warrior, married Sadhbh (pronounced "Sive") who was transformed into a deer by a spell while pregnant with his child. She was lost to him for seven years but then one day Fionn heard there was a deer in the forest his hounds would not hunt.

He went out to see for himself and sitting by a doe in a clearing in the forest was a young boy. He immediately recognised the child as his own and gave him the name Oisín, which means "little deer".

It's not Ocean - I wouldn't call a child that personally. And it does seem to be officially it's ush-een but all the Oisin's I've known have pronounced it Oh-Shin/ Osh-in.... but hubby has always pronounced Ush-een too so it's not as clear cut as the books would have you think!

the fada is just never going to happen when we live - DS1 has a double barrelled surname and that causes enough problems and that's just hyphenated! If I were in Ireland I'd totally use it but where we live - well just no chance - to be honest I think we'd struggle to get it on the birth cert!

I think we might have to go towards the Welsh version.... lots and lots of Welsh names on my side so wouldn't be out of place.

Thanks for all your help - very useful!

It really is as clear as the books make out to be honest, it's pronounced Uh-sheen. I've met lots over the years and they've all pronounced it this way. Maybe the Oisíns you knew weren't Irish and their parents made a mistake re. pronunciation?

Going for the Welsh version sounds a good idea though as that's much closer to the sound that you like.

I know someone whose ds is called Ossian

Always sounds like "Ocean" when she calls him and I thought this was the spelling til I wrote his birthday card and got told off for it

There really isn't an Irish pronunciation of Oisín that doesn't have the EEN ending.

It's not a question of differing Irish regional pronunciations.
And it really is very clearcut -- all the people you have heard calling it Osh-in have been wrong.

The EEN ending doesn't connote a feminine name in Ireland as it does with names of French origin that are used in Britain (and France). It is used for both boys' and girls' names as a fond diminutive and means 'little' => 'sweet' => 'darling' (for instance Páidín/Paudeen = an affectionate way of addressing someone named Patrick/Pádraig).

With Oisín, the EEN ending doesn't have the 'little' meaning, however; it's an inbuilt part of the name, not a suffix.

I recommend going with the Welsh version too.

me too, please don't take a name and change the pronounciation to suit yourself, its really disrespectful to the culture you take it from. Use a name that is spelt like you want it to sound.

O' sheen

(the O' is like you're saying pot but without the p and t)

its an uh, not an o sound, because of the i that follows the o.

(i have a friend whose baby is Oisín and he's irish.
i would also insist on the accent.)

What - does that mean the pot O is wrong too?

it's how it sounds when my friend says it.

Maybe its an accent thing that everyone hears it a bit wrong in the UK? I don't know. I do know that the letters in Irish make certain sounds same as the englsih ones do, and you can't just change them just because you can't speak the language.

It's more an O than an Uh in northern Irish accents. They are close but there is a little difference. (But the EEN remains.)

yes, my friend is northern irish, i think.

That could be it alright. They are saying uh but it sounds more like an o?