Rían or Riain

[FreakingOutRightNow]

Need your thoughts on the above! We are an Irish couple living in London and love this name but appreciate that if we are to raise our son here, the name needs to click also with British people and not sound too odd for a name for a boy.

Do you have a preferred variation in terms of the spelling? I love the accent/fada and think london is such an international city now things like accents in names are not such an issue. Also, he has the option of dropping it if not keen. Would you agree?

Both are pronounced REE-an.

Rían definitely

Bring on the fada. Go for it

I know a Rian in London (no accent) I think it’s a great name. I think Riain might cause pronunciation confusion so prefer the former (I would probably have pronounced that ree-Ayn) I don’t think the accent would be an issue here at all although I have to admit I didn’t notice it at first and just thought it was an I so you may get that.

Just to warn you Rhian is a welsh girls name. I have heard it pronounced REE-an and Ree-ANN. I initially thought that Rian / Riain would therefore be a girl’s name.

Hmm, @Mumoftwoyoungkids makes a very valid point and if you spell it Rian people will probably pronounce it like Ryan.

I have taught some Rians pronounced Ryan in London so I'm afraid even with a fada you will get this pronunciation. Most people also don't know how to use the accents on their keyboards so it will frequently be dropped.

I think Riain is more likely to garner the correct pn.

I think Riain is more likely to be pronounced wrongly - it looks like it could be ree-ayn.

I'm with @Mumoftwoyoungkids, I thought you meant the welsh girls name Rhian. I would look at it and think it's pronounced Ryan, which I love

I would say Ree-an for the 1st one and be confused by the 2nd.

Ryan didn't enter my head but Rhian welsh girls name did.

If i heard it pronounced Ree an i would also assume it was a girls name. Is a popularish ( well my era anyway) name in wales - rhian ( One of my

Hi OP, the correct spelling of the first name is Rian as far as I know. I've never seen a fada used. Riain is incorrect as a first name. The surname is spelt Ó Riain, but it would be like using Williams as a first name in English instead of William, if you see what I mean.

Riain is the vocative case "A Riain", so it looks wrong to me.

The tradition of using the vocative case as an anglicisdd name seems more Scottish (Hamish, Mhairi etc.) than Irish.

I'd usr the fada, but it doesn't change the pronunciation, so you'd be grand without it.

I'd also be vary of using it, if it's pronounced the same as a Welsh girls name.

I would pronounce it Ryan as I know a Rian and its pronounced like that. Ree-An pronunciation is a girl's name to me

Rhian is a welsh girls name. I have heard it pronounced REE-an and Ree-ANN

Neither pronunciation is correct.

The Rh in Rhian is one letter in Welsh, and not pronounced the same as the letter R, so Rhian isn't pronounced Ree-Ann, it's Rhee-Ann.

So Rían didn't make me think of Rhian at all. Riain looked like 'ree-ayn' to me, and I think that spelling would cause more issues then it will solve.

I would spell the name the Irish way and fully honour your heritage.

I don't think there's a fada though.

The fada will annoy you as it'll get dropped all the time. Lots of web forms don't allow for it, people will not know how to type it etc. Riain is too vowelly for me, and my brain jumbles it and sees raisin.

I don't think there's actually supposed to be a fada in Rian.....though I know it sounds as if there should be one?

I don't think there's a fada either. Nor on Cian.
Although there is on Rí, so I'm confused.

Someone more knowledgeable will be along to clarify.

I think the origin of Rian is so old that the meaning has been lost. The same is true for some other Irish names. Though it has been suggested that the name may be related to rí (king), others have disagreed with this analysis. The surname, which is derived from the first name, has no fada on the i.

I'm not knowledgeable at all by the way, but my granny was a Ryan

My name is a variation of the female name. It is always pronounced incorrectly and I've been called everything from Ryan to Rain..

I'm English, in England. I went to school with a Rhianne, a Rhianna, and a Rhiannon- all girls. I would see Rian and assume girl.

Riain is an incorrect spelling. It's like naming a kid William and spelling it Willyum. Go for Rían, lovely name.