Is it unfair to call my baby Saoirse?

[Myname15]

Hi everyone
I'm 21 weeks pregnant with my first child. Recently found out that we're having a girl. My favourite girls name is Saoirse (pronounced sir-sha). I love the meaning (liberty) and have loved the name since i was a kid. The name's Gaelic, dp is Irish as is half my family, but I am really struggling with whether or not it's unfair to land my daughter to be with that spelling :s.
What does everyone think?

If you love it, use it and give her an easy to spell/pronounce middle name that she can use if she wants.

We live in a multicultural world and I often get lists of students names at the beginning of the year and think how on earth do you pronounce that but you soon get used to it. And some keep their original names and some, particularly Asian students seem to choose a traditional English name instead.

Also you could have a traditional name such as Isabelle but with about 10 other variations your unlikely to spell it right every time.

DH said no for both our DDs, but I love that name. Go for it!

Would you ask somebody of any other heritage to anglicise their name, Hannahouse?

Go for it, op. Our names are so much about our identity and that of our family. With Irish heritage on both sides, you should go for it. The rest of the world will just have to learn it. It's called a diverse Britain. I think everyone knows that there are names out there that are not spelt phonetically.

I'm Irish. I've never heard it pronounced sor-sha and I've lived in the south, Midlands and further north. To my mind, it's Seer-sha. I wonder if it's being confused with Sorcha which is pronounced Sur-aka or Sur-ka?

I wouldn't worry about people not being able to pronounce it or spell it correctly. They'll just have to ask as they would if it were a name from any other country with a different language/unusual spelling/different phonics or indeed one of the more outlandish, made up names that seem to be rising in popularity.

Don't worry about it being republican ffs! Unless, we want to forever live pre 1922 and never appreciate a beautiful name for just that, a beautiful name with a family connection and a meaning that you hope she will carry through her life. Freedom of mind, body, choice

I'm English with no Irish connections and I knew how to say it ,it was DH ex's name !

I actually quite like it , but for me it's one of those names that looks prettier written down than said ...

Still a nice chose though !

I'm English and I can pronounce (and sometimes even spell) everything from Aibhlinn to Mhari to Granuaile. Saoirse (I understood seersha) is easy to spell as the vowels are in the same order as Aoife. And the best part is I have absolutely no idea about republican connotations. It's just a pretty name to me!

Nice name. I'm not up on Irish names but there's no reason not to learn them. Go for it.

Cool, nice one folks. Think we'll probably go for it but change my mind constantly so you never know. I know someone who chose a really unusual, and to my and several others mind, ugly, name because the father wanted it and she's now at school and has not complained so far, and the second name as back up is definitely the plan if we do go for it

I love the dance with that name from Lotd therefore u have always loved the name.

I would really struggle to say it or spell it, I've scrolled back up three times to re read it. But I struggle with all the Irish names listed. I can't see past the spelling to the pronunciation. I never have been able to. No idea why, I am dyslexic though so that might have something to do with it.
My name is an uncommon spelling of a commonish name. If I'm being honest I hate it and wish my parents had just used the more common spelling.

its probably our local accent mangling it, altho it is how the parents pronounce it.

www.saoirseronan.info/saoirse-pronunciation/

kind of more like this

Ohhh this was my second choice name. Its beautiful. My dd would have been Saiorse Rose Myren (my french last name)

those are beautiful names

Gorgeous name. As long as her loved ones know how to spell / pronounce it, that's what's important.

Congratulations btw!

I think it's a gorgeous name. Totally use it. People learn unfamiliar spellings and pronunciations with even the most common names. I'm always for the original spelling (except in a couple of totally inexplicable random cases; I just prefer Maeve to Maebh, and Orla to orfhlaith, the latter at least isn't a full anglicisation). I certainly would not let other people's ability to spell/pronounce it be a factor, as BitOfFun points out rightly - only Celtic names are treated this way, and it's not necessary.

*meabh even, damnit

Go for it- pretty name, looks and sounds beautiful. Most Irish people don't see it as a sectarian name these days. I have an Irish name, living in London, and I don't really mind telling people how to pronounce it or if its misspelt.

I think it's fine for you to use it. Irish names (and it's Irish as opposed to "Gaelic") are becoming more popular in England in any case. Yes some people won't know how to pronounce it at first but that's true of many names, particularly in a multiculturl society. I don't honestly think most people would think you were a raving nationalist because of the meaning. Highly unlikely that someone will meet her and jump to the conclusion that you or she has strong republican tendencies because of her name.

I dont normally think difficult to pronounce celtic names are a hood idea outside of the celtic countries. But we have a friend with that name and she doesnt seem to have many probs.

I know a girl with that name and she finds it a bit of pain. She appreciates the fact that it's unusual and that her parents wanted to give her a name that reflected her heritage, but the practicalities of having a name that most people she meets can't pronounce or spell, and having to have the same conversation about it fifty million times, was really just a nuisance. Just from a practical point of view.

I am in Scotland. I know a little girl called that and think it is lovely. No one struggles to pronounce it although I think if you saw it eritten you would need to be told how to say it. Only trouble is spelling it, but my name is unusual and I have to spell it to people and it doesn't bother me. I say go for it.