Saoirse

[lalaland1985]

Will I regret this name choice? Would you know how to pronounce it? Seer-sha.

We are in Scotland which I think does make a difference. DH has irish roots.

I'm just worried my child would spend her life correcting the pronunciation of her name. (And surname)

What are your thoughts mumsnetters?

Oh yeah, I came across a Saw Sha once.

Baffling!

It's one pronunciation that I struggle to retain, despite having seen it explained several times on here and hearing Saoirse Ronan talked about on tv.

But, I live in England. People may be more familiar with it in Scotland.

I love it. It's my fave Irish name. I wanted it but DH vetoed it as he thought unfair DD would spend her life explaining how to pronounce it. I have unusual spelling also and it does get annoying. I guess it depends on how much that bothers you.

I always say this as 'sore-arse' to myself in my head

I only know it thanks to the wonderful Irish animated film "Song of the Sea", the main character of which was named Saoirse. It is a nice name.

Impossible spelling for somebody from England though!

I know how to pronounce it but have Irish family

Gorgeous name with a lovely meaning

I'm chuckling away to myself imagining my American relatives trying to pronounce it!

I think the name is well enough known in Scotland for people to know how to pronounce it, but I've seen some really horrendous spellings of it. A lot of people seem to have no clue where the 'I' goes, so she may well find herself spelling it out even to those who think they already know.

Would you consider the Scottish Gaelic form perhaps? It's Saorsa, pronounced Soor-sa, and has started to appear here and there in recent years. Might have fewer issues with spelling and pronunciation then, and the meaning is the same if that's important to you.

You called?

I'm not Irish and I know how to pronounce it (probably because of song of the sea). It's lovely

PPs who say they've come across Saw-sha are probably getting confused with another beautiful Irish name: Sorcha. It is either pronounced Sawr-cha or Sawr-ka depending on which part of Ireland you're from (English people will have problems with rhotic rs as usual though!!)

Love it!

I would pronounce it Ser-sha and would assume the child came from a family of staunch Irish Republicans who probably hated the 'Brits'.

Really? Interesting. I doubt any of the Saoirses I know come from 'Brit hating Republican' families. It's very 'middle class Irish' to me.

I find it a bit dated to be honest - a bit like Sinead, Grainne, Bronagh. I knew a few in school and even then it was a bit old fashioned. But that's probably me, there was seemingly a plethora of them when I was growing up - a bit like Aoife now.

well as I said, it would be an assumption so therefore probably wrong .
I used to know some guys in the pub in London back in day who would come back from 'Saoirse' meetings all hyped up and aggressive. But that was then,,,,,
Doesnt it mean 'freedom'?

I'm Irish, husband isn't. We decided to name our DC Irish names.

He loved Saoirse from the start (and coincidentally sleepyhead Niamh.

Being from Northern Ireland I flat refused Saoirse even though I think it's a lovely name, because I felt like it could give the impressions were IRA sympathisers. Sorry to sound so harsh but it's Gaelic for freedom and as such is the name of a lot of republicans.

For the record I pronounce it Seer-shaw with the emphasis on the Seer*

Yeah it does mean freedom. I suspect maybe in NI it's used by more political types.

Beautiful name. Go for it

I think it's lovely. I knew a Saoirse (?) once so knew how to pronounce, but wouldn't have if I's just seen it written down. Gorgeous name though!

x post with Not!

Where I'm from Ada you'd be right

my dd1 is 16 and says Saoirse is top of her list for girls names(clearly I hope that despite the lovely serious boyfriend it might be a while longer!).

She's a native Gaelic speaker though and I think thats part of where it comes from. She (and her siblings) are in Gaelic school and loads of kids have gaelic names (Seonaidh, Murraidh etc) and get on ok in everyday life on Glasgow.

If you like it, go for it!

I would have pronounced it Sorsha but that's only because I've heard someone use it directly linked to seeing it written down, I wouldn't have linked the two names otherwise and would have pronounced it say o reece! 😂

We picked a proper Irish name, we're both Scottish, love the name go for it.