Ciorstaidh

[Gerrof]

I have just seen this on another thread, apparently this is the Irish version of Kirsty.

Not disputing this but have only ever seem Kirsty as a version of Christian. So it would be nice to think it has a Gaelic route.

I suppose I could google it but there are always name geniuseses on mumsnet baby names.

(My name is Kirsty btw, hence the interest)

Yes, when you address people in Gaelic you (sometimes, but not always) change the way the name is spelt - by putting an 'h' after the first letter and an 'i' before the last, which often changes - sometimes quite radically, the way it is pronounced.

So Mairi (pr. Mar-ree) becomes Mhairi (pr. Var-ree), Seumas (Gaelic for James, pr. Shay-mus) becomes Sheumais (pr. Hamish - which is where this Anglo-Gaelic name comes from - you'll hear it a lot amongst Gaelic speakers, but it's not used as an actual name), and I think Coistaidh would become Choirstaidh, with the first syllable pr. as in 'loch'. But my daughter's name - Eilidh - doesn't change because it begins with a vowel.

Gaelic names are v hard to read if you're trying to use English pronunciation, but the spelling system is a lot more consistent than English once you know it.

Thanks iismum - very interesting :) as I said further up the thread, my younger son is Ciar - I wanted Keir and my OH liked Ciaran. So I got the name and he got the spelling. As Ciaran means the little dark one and we knew he wouldn't be little (he then turned blond too!!) we went with Ciar. When I came back to work after Mat leave, there was a new woman who was native to the western isles and she told me that it does mean dark but would never be used as a name - can you shed any light?

"Though I will admit that whoever came up with it knows their Irish, as the spelling is spot on for how you would pronounce it like 'Kirsty', if it was an actual Irish word."

In Irish it would be pronounced Kyursthuy.

Fuckin' 'orrible.

I'm sure the Gaelic pronunciation must be nicer.

Soontobe - yes, I think Ciar does mean dark (I'm a Gaelic learner, not a Gaelic speaker). I've not personally heard it used as a name but it's an obvious shortening for Ciaran. Actually, adding 'an' to a word in Gaelic makes it a diminuitive, so Ciaran really means little Ciar. Also, the feminising of Ciaran to Ciara is increasingly common for girls - I guess in parallel to the increasing popularisation of the Anglicised version of the name - Keira. The are lots of names with Gaelic roots that are not used by Gaelic speakers - e.g., Hamish, Fiona, etc. - and aren't proper Gaelic - I don't think that means they aren't 'proper' names. I like Ciar!

And I can confirm that Ciorstaidh is not that unusual in Scotland - it's becoming increasingly common for non-Gaelic speakers to use Gaelic spellings.

Hi OP, sorry I wondered off! Yes, it's a Scottish Gaelic spelling for Kirsty.

I am a Gaelic speaker. As others say, the gaelic spelling is traditionally a Cailleachs name (old lady, he he) but it's become a fashion again. Personally , I really like the pronunciation. Common to be called Chrissie too

Thanks very much for explaining everyone, this is really fascinating (especially the pronunciation of the different words depending how you are addreessed)

Oh, I'm sorry. It looks like it was produced by a random password generator. But who am I? Maybe I'm just unfamiliar with it. :-)

Gerrof, what a beautiful and lovely name you have. I wish it was mine...