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?

I'm Irish and I don't see any reason why you shouldn't use the name. However you mentioned up thread that one common Irish pronunciation is "sar-sha" which is news to me I'm afraid.

It's a hard one to spell phonetically but I'd say the most common pronunciation is somewhere between "seer-sha" and "ser-sha". But it's not just a simple 'e' or 'ee' sound, there's an 'ao' which lifts the sound of it, which might be difficult if you're not used to hearing Irish people say it.

Sorry if I'm not explaining that very well!

I’m a Sorcha and I’ve never once heard anyone pronounce it Sor Sha

I'm Irish and it wouldn't bother me at all. I pronounce it "Seersha" (and have no idea why Saoirse Ronan pronounces it differently but maybe it is a regional thing).

As long as you're happy to deal with the spelling and re-spelling then go for it. I think it is a lovely name.

I think when OP wrote sar-sha she maybe meant SARE-sha. Which is a variant.
I'm Irish and I'm fine with people using Irish names, as long as they can pronounce them. I can't bear hearing things like Sorcha as sor-sha.

I'm Irish and would also pronounce the name' Seersha ' .I also didn't know that it had Republican connotations. I think its fine for non Irish to use Irish names. I have a French name .Cultural Appropriation is latest load of bollocks being shoved down our necks from God knows where.

Cultural appropriation
So we ( Irish )can't use French names or English names or Greek names or Hebrew names.

Boll*cks

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.

Went to school with a Neeve. Parents were going to go with Niamh, but worried about everybody else asking for spellings and pronunciation etc so went phonetic. Niamh is so much nicer, written. Neve is a name in its own right though, meaning "snow", I always think of that and get a suprise when they say it's pronounced like Niamh.

@runningintotime she's wrong though.

I saw an interview where Saoirse Ronan said that she pronounces it 'Ser-sha' but she has been told be people back home in Ireland that it's meant to be 'Seer-sha'

I'm Irish and I think Irish names are lovely and should be used all the time (not biased..... ). I have never thought badly of someone who isn't Irish using an Irish name, far from it, I think it is lovely especially when they go to the effort to pronounce it right as you are. I would also pronounce it Seer-sha and while I am not a fluent speaker, I live near the Gaeltacht (Irish speaking regions) and would hear Irish names v regularly in work. While I understand the Sinn Fein connection, it is not something that would immediately spring to mind for me and I imagine most Irish people. Saoirse is a reasonably common name here afterall!

I have a wee Saoirse! I still absolutely love the name and I'm so glad I had the courage to go for it. DH has irish connections. His grandparents were irish. Be prepared to spell it all the time and for people to mispronounce it all the time. We pronounce it Seer-sha. I've been told ser-sha is also correct.

When people ask me to spell my name they are just wondering if I'm a Sara or Sarah I think. Nothing to do with how I pronounce the 'H'.

I think when OP wrote sar-sha she maybe meant SARE-sha

^ Yep. This. With 'sare' sounding like the first syllable of Sarah. I've been told it's an alternative regional variation.

Not rhyming with 'bar' though. Then it's getting close to sounding like 'Sasha' in a posh English accent which is not correct...

What about Síofra?

Ps I agree that cultural appropriation is a stick to beat westerners with. You have a dream catcher that you and your daughter spent a very happy hour making?! "Cultural appropriation!!".

But even if people occasionally misspell Sarah as Sara, pretty much everyone will pronounce it correctly on first glance. Saoirse is a different kettle of fish. Most people won't know how to pronounce it and most won't be able to spell it without looking it up.
Everyone she meets throughout her life will say 'oh, are you Irish?' which will become tiresome when she has such loose connections.
My DS is half Irish and I toyed with a very Irish name (difficult spelling) I'm so glad I didn't now. It would have just made life that bit harder for him.

Please clarify for me - if you spell Sarah as Sara in Northern Ireland it's presumed you are which Christian religion ?

I don't see any problem with using it in England, if you are comfortable with the pronunciation and spelling problems you might have.

DH is Irish and we'd have used it for DD if we lived in Ireland. But where we do live, it would rarely be pronounced correctly. There's certain names that people just don't seem able to say properly, which we've ruled out because it would drive DH mad! Like Conall and Oisin.

I agree with Clownfish. We seem to be in the minority on this thread. But without living in Ireland, and with such distant Irish heritage, I wouldn't use an Irish name that is so difficult to pronounce and spell (for most people in the UK, that is - I realise some will be familiar with it, but not many). I don't think there's any harm in choosing an Irish name but I'd go for one that's better known here and easier to pronounce and spell. Especially with a double-barrelled surname too. (DS has two surnames and we gave him a short first name - unfortunately we do have to spell it sometimes but at least it's only 4 letters!)

I have a Fiadh it's gaelic for deer used by the Irish and Scots! I'm Scottish so never saw an issue with using the name

OMG re the haitch and aitch for Sarahs in NI.
I'll check that out on the Protestant traybake thread on Mumsnet.

I don't know about the Sarah / Sara thing!?
I' m church of Ireland but I live in Dublin not NI. Not aware of this, please explain.

I'm a Sorcha and it warms my heart to see it defended on Mumsnet

Saoirse is honestly probably neutral enough to give to an English baby - especially with Saoirse Ronan's fame now. I think the pronunciation problem she has with her name is just because she has an odd accent, too. Her dad pronounces her name as "seersha" but he speaks differently from her. She says "say-er-sha like in-ay-er-sha" which makes us think she's rhyming it with inertia as in "in-UR-sha" if you see what I mean. To me it just sounds like she's saying something between seersha and sairsha, and because of how she warps the vowels a bit it comes out as say-er-sha which sounds to us like sursha but I don't think that's the sound she's trying to make. (I don't think I'm making any sense here am I?)

Anyway it's fine as a name I think, it's probably better-known in the UK than Aoife or Clodagh or other common Irish names yet those are always suggested as easy options - go for it.

Will you pronounce the "r" in the middle? That's one thing that might be difficult - getting English people to pronounce the R

I didn't know that the H thing was a thing. Here it's really just regional, like bald as bold or salt as sawlt. Interesting.