I didn't think this name would be so unpopular

[spookybitches]

So all throughout my pregnancy, my husband and I kept our baby name choices to ourselves. My baby is now 2 months old, and nearly everyone we have met or spoken to, have mispronounced it. Granted, we haven't seen many people over the last few weeks, so now I'm starting to wonder if it's just my family or if it's really so unheard of?
My baby boy is called Cillian (DH Irish). My whole family pronounce it silly-an even when I've corrected them numerous times.
Can I ask if you would know how to pronounce Cillian? I'm worried I've set him up for a lifetime correcting people.

I've always loved this name although I'm Irish with an Irish name myself. My previous job meant dealing with English customers who just couldn't seem to get it right. I would get called duck and darling!

Teachers in England must have to get used to names from all around the world - Wiktor, Ismene, Oliwia, Aicha are amongst people my kids know in a small town in southern Ireland. (southern as in very far south, not just Republic of Ireland).

@eggandonion ooh Aicha is nice. Is that indonesian?

@Bignanny30, I don't think you can assume that about teachers just because of your issues.

Aicha's dad is Algerian. We are very cosmopolitan. We also have Cillian across the road who is fabulous, he's seven.

@eggandonion I used to know an Aicha when I lived in Indonesia. I always loved that name

I would have mispronounced it

It's a great name, sounds unusual and memorable. DS1 has a good friend called Cillian who is a great lad so I may be slightly biased towards it (!), but no matter. If someone mispronounces it, it's one correction. Fuck, I have to correct people's spelling of my name occasionally, and it's not even that unusual... should my parents be worried?!

Oh, and your family are doing that on purpose. They're twats. Sorry 💐

Families will do this on purpose, sad but true. Unless they are elderly/ SEN there is no excuse after being corrected once.
I have an Hermione - she is almost 19, but children never had an issue pronouncing it, which I guess is thanks to Master Potter and chums.
Total coincidence by the way, it was the name of an actress at work when I was pregnant, and it stuck!

@Bignanny30 - Eleri is El-erry to rhyme with Terry and Ceri (Kerry). My husband used to keep saying Ellery as in celery, but the Eleri Lingo character on Duo Lingo's Welsh course helped him crack the pronunciation.

Aicha was the third wife of the prophet Muhammed, I had to google. It is a lovely name.

@Bignanny30.
If you want to remember how to say Eleri, all you need to remember is Lerry. Rhymes with Terry, Kerry and Cherry.

If anyone tells you otherwise, they are not right. It is a popular name in my age group and you hardly sound the initial E.

Aicha has a diaeresis on the i, Alt+0239, and the spelling is French or Maghrebi. It is also written Aisha. (cf. Natacha/Natasha or Sacha/Sasha. Or, if I'm right, عائشة

I also think they're doing it on purpose. In the scheme of Irish names (I've one myself) it's not hard to pronounce at all once you know it's a hard c. I also think it's a lovely name!!

Killian from Once Upon A Time 😍

Sorry but that's first thing I thought of

I haven’t rtft but your family are being rude, imo, especially given you’ve told them how to pronounce it and they’re not.
FYI - My son would have been an Aoife had he been a girl. I recognise that living in England people would mispronounce it, but the name is significant to us as parents so we would just have to correct them. You gave your son a beautiful Irish name that has meaning and significance to you - so in answer to your title, it’s defo not unpopular and he’s got a lovely lovely name. Xx

I'd have pronounced it silly-an....
Family and friends can be put right....but pupils at school, supply teachers, NHS appointments.
You're going to be repeating it quite a lot.
If you were my family and told me beforehand I would have said great name but maybe use a K.

Reading the name I'd expect it to sound like Gillian.

It's really awful having a name you spend your whole life having to spell because 99.999% of people have no idea, or guess and get it wrong.

It's pronounced 'Kill-ian'.
On first glance it looks like, 'Gillian'.
I wonder what his nickname will be - surely not 'Kill'.

I love it and don't really understand why people keep mispronouncing it when you've corrected them.

Doing it once, fair enough, not everyone knows that name in the UK, but multiple times is just silly.

@mathanxiety
As far as I know, An Caighdeán Oifigiúil was intended as a standardisation of spelling and grammar, but not of pronunciation (though I agree all dialectal pronuciations aren't represented by some of the chosen spellings).

I love the name Cillian OP. Hope your in-laws get used to it in time.

Cillian was on our boys list (dh is Irish). Friend's called their ds Killian which is phonetically easier to pronounce.

We also liked Taedgh!

Dd1 has a fairly popular Irish name that can be spelt easily but we opted for the prettier, unusual spelling. MN would definitely disapprove 😂

Kill e an like Cillian Murphy from Peaky Blinders

Also my daughter is called Arya Rey Byrne pronounced Ar i a and her last name I still have to correct family after 10 years with her dad it’s Burn