Please help me with the spelling of Kieran!

[KatieLouiseW]

So, I love Noah! It's 100% being my bump's name, if it's a boy! DP prefers Kieran, but is happy with it being a middle name I like it, so me too - my question is, should we go with Kieran, or the original spelling - Ciaran? (We have no Irish connections) x

I teach a Kieran, kieron, Kieren and a kirran. All pronounced the same!

Yep! Ciaran is the Irish spelling

I would definitely go with Ciaran or Ciarán. But then I'm Irish.

Ciaran.

Ciaran was on our list and I only really like this spelling. I wouldn't say it's that unusual where we are in Scotland, probably more popular than Kieran.

Kieran is the most usual afaik. Pronounced KEER-an.
The correct Irish spelling is actually Ciarán with a fada which lengthens the a. Pronounced KEER-awn. If I saw Ciaran written, that's how I'd pronounce it as I'd assume the fada had just been omitted, as sadly happens with lots of Irish names (like Sean, should be Seán).

I prefer it with a C. I think it's just because a lot of 'K' names make me think of the Kardashians now!

I'm in the South East and Ciaran is SO rare!

Just to add another couple of options, I know a Kieran, a Kieron and a Kieren.

KatieLouise I'm not sure if it's most commonly pronounced like that, the Keiran I know is pronounced like Kieran but that's another possibility!

I have always loved 'Ciaran' personally, it's normal enough to not stick out but different enough to still be unusual

My son is Ciaran hated the English version of it when I had him. Ciaran still gets annoyed when people automatically go to try and spell it with a K

I would definitely go with Ciaran.

Ciaran (with fada on second a - my phone refuses to do it). Far, far nicer.

Ciaran, it was on my baby name list (DH Irish). In the end, went with something similar.

Ciaran if you have Irish history.

Kieran if you have English.

I know one spelt keeran. which I think looks awful, but I don't think his parents are the most literate people

Ciaran. Kieran at a pinch. The other variants are illiterate.

Ciaran looks much nicer to me but I'm Irish.

DS is Kieran, friends GS is Keiron.

You should know that mn has an irrational hatred of K names op.

Ciaran definitely. It's an Irish name and the Irish language doesn't have a letter K.

Katie, exactly - 'ei' is pronounced 'eye', not 'ee', which makes me think that the parents of the little Keiras and Keirons are not terribly literate. Yes, looking at you, parents of Keira Knightley.

Not that Kyra isn't a nice name, actually, but why would you mis-spell an actual name and then insist on the original pronunciation, which doesn't match your spelling?

I would expect that the "ei" spellings come from the totally different strain of the name which comes from the Scottish name Keir (pronounced Keer) rather than the English bastardisation of the Irish name Ciar or it's diminutive Ciaran. So, it's not wrong to spell it that way or pronounce it that way either.

Casta, in German 'ei' is pronounced like 'eye', but not so much in English where it is not really standardised - receive, eight.

I didn't know mumsnet had an irrational hatred of k names. It has an irrational dislike of Irish names also often.