Using Irish names if you're not Irish...Saoirse

[wheresmymojo]

I'm not pregnant (yet) but I have fallen in love with an Irish name...Saoirse (pronounced Seersha).

DH is as English as they come. I'm English...I do have Irish heritage but they came over to England four generations ago so it's a way back.

The pronunciation thing doesn't put me off - I strongly believe in keeping Celtic and Gaelic names alive.

But would it be weird / cultural appropriation?

I'm particularly interested in opinions from anyone Irish...would it be offensive?

Go for it if you like it. I know a few girls called Niamh and Ciara who have no Irish connections. Irish names seem to be becoming more mainstream, which is a good thing.

It was my Grandad's Grandma and Grandad that were Irish. They came over together after they were married from Kilkenny.

What about Caoimhe?

I don’t think it’s down to the English to “keep Celtic and Gaelic names alive”, to be brutally honest...

I don’t think it’s down to the English to “keep Celtic and Gaelic names alive”, to be brutally honest..

Agree. And Saoirse isn’t a Celtic or Gaelic name. It’s a word in the Irish language that people have relatively recently begun using as a name. Which is fine, it’s like calling your baby Summer or similar. But it’s not a traditional Gaelic name that needs to be “kept alive”.

Sorcha = surruka

I think Saoirse is lovely and I have know only one, and she pronounced it SeerSha. I certainly wouldn't think now days it has any political association.
However the girl I knew her second name was Erin. So her full name translated as something like Free Ireland- think her parents were making a statement, she said not they say they just thought Saoirse didn't match with say Jane.

OP this may interest you but I work with a Sarah who previously worked in Belfast for 5 years and was always asked how to spell her name as apparently there its a give away as to whether your Catholic or protestant, or so she tells us.

So your Granny's Granny immigrated from Ireland

I agree that is enough tie to use an Irish name. My great-great grandma was Welsh, my great-grandma and grandmother were both born and lived in Wales (grandmother spoke Welsh as a kid, but lost is when she moved to England).

I would happily use a Welsh name.

((I've never been to Wales)

I had a very English friend with that name and we all called her Sasha. Now I'm wondering if we were all getting it wrong . It seemed like a bit of an unusual name at the time but not weirdly so.

OP this may interest you but I work with a Sarah who previously worked in Belfast for 5 years and was always asked how to spell her name as apparently there its a give away as to whether your Catholic or protestant, or so she tells us.

I've lived in N Ireland my whole life and I've never heard of this. What spelling was meant to indicate what background?

Of course it's fine to use an Irish name. Cultural appropriation is a load of shite IMO. I'm Irish but I have a French name.

don’t think it’s down to the English to “keep Celtic and Gaelic names alive”, to be brutally honest...

I think honouring your family history is a good idea in naming personally.

I mean yes technically I'm English, but only through my grandmother leaving Wales! Had she stayed, I'd have been Welsh, because my my mum would have been born there and then me. Weird how your whole family history and conceptualisation of whee you "belong" are changed just like that.

Trust me, "it's Sarah with an aitch" is nothing compared to what you'll go through with Saoirse - but that's no reason not to go for it.

Isn't haitch/aitch a NI shibboleth to show which 'side' you're from. Aitch for the Ps and Haitch for the Cs. Maybe that's what's listened out for when Sarahs are spelling out their name!

Beautiful name. OP, use it if you love it! When I was growing up in Surrey, I knew 3 Siobhans. No Irish roots, just a popular name. My own daughter is called Eithne, simply because we love the name.

Yes Pinkie, that's what I was going to say - it's not the spelling of Sarah, it's the pronounciation of the letter H.

Isn't haitch/aitch a NI shibboleth to show which 'side' you're from. Aitch for the Ps and Haitch for the Cs. Maybe that's what's listened out for when Sarahs are spelling out their name!

That makes sense now. I thought the poster was specifically referring to the actual way it was spelt, rather than the pronunciation and I thought this was something that had passed me by!

I'm lrish and couldn't careless if others use lrish names. After all kids here have French/ Italian names and it's no big deal. And English names of course!!
But Sorcha is lrish for Sarah and be a lovely choice.

I’m watching this as I’m a Scot who can’t use Fergus for reasons too boring to go into but I absolutely adore the name Feargal.

DH is English too so are we just trying to be a bit too “Six Nations” here?

I think that Saoirse is becoming the new 'Niamh' and will get a more popular in England in the next few years, and therefore people will know how to pronounce it - most English people know how to pronounce Niamh now.

Next in line after that will be Caoimhe.

As long as it’s spelt and pronounced correctly, I don’t see a problem with an English person using an Irish name.

There’s nothing that makes my teeth itch more than a non-Irish person bastardising an Irish name’s spelling. If you like the name Niamh for example use Niamh not Neve.

Saoirse does have connotations in my neck of the woods though (Belfast), so it wouldn’t be on the list for me.