Popularity of Síofra...

[Naberes]

... and does anyone have a link to a reliable list of Irish name rankings? Thanks in advance!

How is it pronounced?

I’m in N.Ireland and work in an area where the majority of children have Irish names. So far I have only ever come across one Síofra and she is in her thirties. Beautiful name.

Shee-fra

It's beautiful.

I don't know any in Glasgow or NI

I haven't come across any in a long time - here's a link to an Irish Times article - according to the last year listed, 2015, there were 47 babies named Siofra in 2015. www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/is-your-name-going-out-of-fashion-1.2089357

Do you know what it means? That would put me off.

Soupy, do you? Tried to look it up but nothing came up

It means changeling - in Irish folk lore, a baby/child would be stolen by the fairies and a changeling (usually crotchety and cranky) would be left in its place. You’d have to get some kind of a spell to get your “real” baby back and get rid of the síofra.

I love this name and I think it's quite rare at the moment.

I know of three. ONe my own age who is Siobhradh and two little ones, Siofra.

I like it. It is also an INdian name well, sheefra, I think

I'm in Ireland, I know one, she's 4.

Gorgeous name. I teach in Ireland, I know about 3 under 10.

Mind you tbf that's from teaching and outside work. In teaching I think we've had two come through the school.

My daughter is 8 and there are two Síofras in her class and a few more in the school. It is a gaelscoil though so perhaps there are more Irish names than there would be in a non Irish speaking school.

I'm Irish and my friend lives in New York. She named her daughter Siofra. It's a beautiful name.

It really is so lovely. But the meaning (which I didn’t know until reading this thread) is a bit offputting.

I thought Siofra just meant a little sprite/pixie? I think it's a lovely name. I'm Irish and a friend's 3 year old is Siofra, she's the only one I know.

Definitely not overly popular - I know one of primary school age.

The Central Statistics Office publishes the Irish baby name statistics each year.

But like others on this thread, the meaning and its place in folklore would give me serious pause. The fairies in Irish stories are not pretty little forest elves like the word means in most English language folklore. They are powerful often dark spirits, probably somewhere closer to the "evil eye" in Greek folklore than pretty winged creatures casting spells and getting up to harmless mischief. Even as a child, I found the concept of changeling babies disturbing and horrifying.

The name itself sounds and looks lovely though.

Hi, I hope you all don't mind a dad posting on mumsnet.

We named our daughter Síofra, both because we loved the name, but also because my wife grew up in West Mayo, in view of Cnoic Shíofra - 'Hills of the Sí" (I'll use Sí instead of "fairies" or "elves" because those words produce entirely the wrong impression, as sycamore54321 already noted), so it has a family connection. It suits her perfectly.

So, about the "changeling" connection. Cultures with a "Hidden Folk" like the Sí or the Icelandic Huldufólk, usually have the concept that the hidden folk are attracted to what mortals find precious. So if you call your child, say Alannah, from A leanbh - "precious one", you're going to make it more likely the Sí are going to take her. But if you call her Síofra ("of the Sí"), you're basically saying, "Hey, we don't care, she's like you. Take her if you want" and the Sí will look elsewhere.

Incidentally, we called our other daughter Alannah. Neither appear to be changelings.