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.

Rhiannon is welsh, Rhianne and Rhianna are not, and as pp said, Rh is not the same as R.
Rhian and Rian don't sound the same. Rhian is RHEE-ann, Rian is Ree-un.

R and RH do not sound the same.

R and RH do not sound the same

If you say so. I don't know if any of them had any Welsh connection at all.

In any case, it's the 'an' part of the name that I'm cautioning against, Ann/Anne being a ubiquitous girls' name. Unless it ends in a schwa, like Ciaran?

Rhiann or Rhian is a popular welsh girls name and pronounced exactly the same way. Outside of Ireland your child will not thank you. In Wales it would be like a boy named Sue!

@Ontheblackhill, Rhiann isn't a welsh name. Rhian is.
It's like saying Susann is an English girl's name.
Rhian isn't pronounced Ree-un or Ree-Anne.

People might mispronounce it that way, but it's as insulting to a welsh ear as saying that Susan is pronounced Sussun or Suzanne would be to somebody English.

In any case, it's the 'an' part of the name that I'm cautioning against, Ann/Anne being a ubiquitous girls' name. Unless it ends in a schwa, like Ciaran?

Nope - Ciarán is spelt with a fada. Do you have the same problem with Sebastian, Roman, Rowan, Adrian, Ian or Julian?

@MikeUniformMike I am Welsh and there were three variations of Rhian in my class at school. They were all Welsh too. Some non speaking Welsh parents got creative and then it got popular. Not everyone is a purist and REE-ANN is a girls name regardless.

😂 A Welsh girls name does not overrule the existence of an Irish boys name, they are just homophones. OP does not live in Wales - if they did, you might have a point!

Are the names Gene and Jean acceptable? Or can only one name have that sound? Does it matter that those names are used for different sexes?

All the ones I know say it the welsh way, but I have worked with a Rhian in England. Some said Reeun, some said Ree-anne and 3 of us said Rhian. Why use a pretty name and say it in an ugly way?

The thread is about Rian and sadly people will say it's a girl's name or say Ryan.

Nope - Ciarán is spelt with a fada. Do you have the same problem with Sebastian, Roman, Rowan, Adrian, Ian or Julian?

I deliberately missed out the fada as that can give the pronunciation 'Keir-awn' when I intended to make a point about an unstressed schwa.

All other names you mention have an unstressed schwa for their final syllable, e.g. seh-BASS-tee-un, RO-mun, etc.
Hence my question, is it REE-un or ree-ANNE.

Presumably, the OP has posted to determine how the name she is considering for her son might be received in England. I hope it was helpful to her for me to reply that, in my personal experience, it sounds the same as a popular girls' name. Personally, that would put me off, but ultimately, it is for her to decide if this is problematic, immaterial, or even desirable.

@AllRainbowsAndUnicorns
To answer your question, Rian does end in a schwa.

I know a couple of Rians. Neither of the uses the fada. In Ireland, btw.