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?

I'm Irish so I know it well. I hated it when I was younger as it sounded so try-hard to be Irish. It's basically Sarah. I'd go with Sarah. As an adult now I think it sounds nice as a word but wouldn't want the hassle.

I've lived internationally and Irish names are a total noose around people's necks if you live and work abroad, even England they can never get them right. I lived in Japan with a Saoirse and an Aoife and I swore I wouldn't name my child either after that experience.

Rainbow - you are right. People who want to be idiotic will always find a reason to be so.

OP, if you like the name then use it. I think it's beautiful.

Also in Scotland. I know a couple of Saoirses and think most are familiar with it in my area, both for spelling and pronunciation. It's a beautiful name!

Some English people are a pain with Irish names.
They either think they are hilarious or mispronounce them on purpose, or pretend they cannot understand what you are saying.
I had this experience with trying to explain that someone's name was 'Roisin'.....
FFS.

Jesus, Saoirse is not ever pronounced 'Sorsha' - that is the entirely different, male name Seoirse, which is the Irish equivalent of 'George'! Or alternatively the female name Sorcha which is pronounced 'Surruka', roughly. The 'aoi' vowel cluster is always 'ee'. Can people not see the difference?

And I completely disagree about Irish names being a noose if you live abroad. We move around the world a lot and my son has both an unusual Irish name and two Irish surnames (he uses both of ours), and people manage. I also have an Irish name, and have never had issues with work abroad. People probably won't know how to pronounce it until you tell them, but then they do. (In fact, I visited a Caoilfhionn in Tokyo a while ago, and her workmates seemed to manage.) Unless you are the kind of person who is utterly crushed by a dental receptionist mispronouncing your name, I don't see the issue.

Well they called me 'Potato' in my English workplace sometimes.

It was actually quite funny but I'm not easily offended or put down. Totally racist the though!

I'm sorry Dolly.. That just really made me laugh!

I think it's more than the 'dental receptionist' mispronuncing the name. We were in college so it was every teacher (they read names off lists rather than hear it in conversation as their first introduction to a person) and every person announcing them at events and every prize giving etc. their names were wrong. In work now all the Ciaras and Aoifes get called wrong names as their introduction is usually first by email. So conference calls etc can be frustrating.

A lot of English people are very racist about the Irish, well other than the 25 per cent that have Irish heritage. Honestly some of the comments that I heard when I was a kid from having an Irish dad!
Even last year some silly English girl tried to tell me a really unfunny and offensive Irish joke. I just gave her the deathstare.

I've posted on Mn before about a trickle of unpleasant deliberately anti-Irish comments and incidents in England down the years, but won't rehash them because they're frankly depressing to remember.

Though, interestingly, I ended up getting in touch with HR at work the other day about some blatantly discriminatory training materials, which would have been funny if they hadn't displayed such total ignorance of Ireland and Anglo-Irish relations.

And I was flying out of Birmingham airport recently, with DH and DS, and trying to use the self-check-in option because the online check-in at home hadn't worked. The self-check in at the airport didn't work either, and one of the airport staff strolled up and had a go, then looked at the three Irish passports, and said 'Oh, Irish, they often put a block on self check in for Irish passports and anyone who has a Muslim name.'

The guy himself was Muslim, but no idea whether this is generally true - it did feel like the old days where we regularly got pulled out of the line at airports and ferry ports....

End of derail.

As someone born in England, brought up in Ireland and now living again in england with a thick Irish accent and Irish name and surname I say go for it. Arseholes who take the piss out of my name (many many) are generally just arseholes anyway. Yes spelling my name everyday on the phone is a pain but to be fair my colleagues with names from anywhere further east then France seem to have the same problem so not a solely Irish thing.

The unexpected benefit is I am the only one in my multinational company with my first name so when calling IT to sort a problem they can pull up my account by first name only- colleagues with v traditional U.K. names have to get down to their date of birth to get problems fixed!

I also get called Potato the whole time (which I hate and generally shut down immediately) and more upsettingly get slagged off if I order a jacket potato at the staff canteen... but that's another thread entirely

test

'Oh, Irish, they often put a block on self check in for Irish passports and anyone who has a Muslim name.'

Whao.. I live in a Middle eastern country and I named my baby an Irish name with a fada and everything! Yes I have to pronounce it but here they are use to everyone spelling their names so it doesn't make any difference.

Tbh I think it would be harder if I lived in the UK - seems from this thread that she'd probably get slagged off more

" I also get called Potato the whole time "

really Cloey? I would be straight off to HR in that case.

Getting called Potato? Fuck that!

I find anti-Irish "banter" is much more prevalent outside London. Went to a wedding out in Bucks recently and inevitably it started at our table. My friend lost it with a few of the silly young (well 30 year olds) at our table.

I have an equivalently unusual name to Saoirse, it is a complete pain.

This thread has taken an odd turn!

I do not blame her PalaceResident, at all.

Agreed, Palace.

Why is it 'odd', Watcher? The OP was concerned about the name's connotations up the thread, pronunciation came up, and certainly anti-Irish prejudice feeds the 'can't be bothered to pronounce your funny name' attitude some people experience.

I only know because around the time of the last Oscars, Saoirse Ronan said in an interview that she pronounces it to rhyme with "inertia".

I don't think it's particularly helpful to give your children names that will definitely be difficult for most people around them to pronounce or spell.

I asked my teens and they decided it's pronounced something like 'seahorse', however it's a lovely name and many Irish names are unpronounceable by the British. The ones I can say and spell are Niamh and Siobhan but beyond those I'm lost.

no they are not 'unpronouncable by the British', it is just that an awful lot of English people simply do not listen. for some reason, Welsh and Scottish people manage fine.