Sine?

[toucanem]

Husband is half Scottish/ half Irish so we're looking for a traditional Gaelic name. Thoughts on Sine? How would you pronounce it?

We have a 4 syllable surname so want a one-two syllable first name.

Middle name will be a traditional Welsh name (my side), we're thinking Ffion, Alys or Elin.

I would avoid giving a child a name that has to be forever spelled out and is often mispronounced

Especially by her parents!

Doesn't Sine mean No in Latin?

Old Andrew Threw All His Cares Over His Shoulder?

I think your daughter will have a lifetime of asking her how to pronounce her name. I wouldn’t

Doesn't Sine mean No in Latin?

It means "without"

I have a stupid first name that you have to spell out Every. Bloody. Time. It gets mispronounced, queried, and school registers were hilarious for everybody except me.

Please not Seona, you get called Seeowna all the time.

Shona or Sheen is fine.

I thought maybe this was a thread about a "sign" and you'd spelt it wrong

Also thought the Latin 'Without'. In most surviving Latin phrases that I can think of, it has a bit of a sense of lacking something (or a characteristic) that should be positive if you were to possess it.

It's annoying when people post misleading information.

There are very few 'native' Scottish Gaelic names still around. Aiffric/Effric, perhaps, and modern versions of Fionnghuala and Forbhlaith. But not names like Gruoch (=Lady Macbeth).

Sine is NOT an original Gaelic name. (Sorry, can't do fadas).

For hundreds of years, literally from the Middle Ages onwards, Gaelic- speaking Scots have used non-Gaelic names 'translated' into Gaelic. For a great resource on pre 1600 Gaelic names with numerous examples of this custom, please see here www.s-gabriel.org/names/scottish.shtml or, more specifically, medievalscotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven/women.shtml

That is the convention followed by the website I posted the link from. And that source really is as authoritative as you can get. It is, in their own words, "a partnership between Bòrd na Gàidhlig, MG ALBA, BBC ALBA, Bòrd na Ceiltis (Alba) and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig". That's all the leading Gaelic-language bodies in Scotland learngaelic.scot/about.jsp

Jean and Jane (and Joan and Jeanne etc etc) are different forms of the same name, anyway. They are the feminine of John, which is in origin a Hebrew name.

@gokartdillydilly, I have one of those too. People will read my name and try to fashion something out of it and get it a little bit wrong or quite a bit wrong, or they will tell me I'm wrong and that my first name is actually something else.

If it is a fair attempt, I let it go, but often they are quite rude and it can be upsetting.

I live in Scotland and worked with a sine she pronounced hers seena

Not too keen tbh but my judgement may be clouded as she wasn't very nice lol

Serena/Selena seena for short? Or spell in seena?

Whatever individuals do, standard Gaelic pronounciation of names beginning 'Si' is almost always 'Sh' .
Just think. How would you say 'Siobhan'. or 'Sinead'?

Honestly? IMO Sine just doesn’t look pretty written down and nobody, and I mean nobody, will be able to pronounce it. You (and later on your poor DC) will be constantly telling people how to say it which is no fun.

Elin is absolutely gorgeous - could you go with that? Was on my name list but silly DP vetoed it.

Alternatives to Sine: Eilidh, Sinead, Orlaith, Shonagh?

@ReggieKrait

Honestly? IMO Sine just doesn’t look pretty written down and nobody, and I mean nobody, will be able to pronounce it. You (and later on your poor DC) will be constantly telling people how to say it which is no fun.

Elin is absolutely gorgeous - could you go with that? Was on my name list but silly DP vetoed it.

Alternatives to Sine: Eilidh, Sinead, Orlaith, Shonagh?

I absolutely love the name Orlaith! This may be the new favourite. I'd maybe go with Orla spelling though?

Look, I know I live in a Gaelic heritage area of Scotland, but if people can learn how to say Sinead (which is Irish) they can surely learn how to say Sine. It's much simpler!

Up here, it's not an uncommon name. I know of three, locally.

@florascotia2 I’m an expat Scot living in the West Midlands. Knowing my friends and neighbours down here,I think their brains would implode trying to process Sine 😂 I think a lot of it depends on locality and where the name is used more.

I wasn’t “allowed” Alistair because it’s not common down here and DP wanted something more average. Went with a traditional name for DS which is a bit Scottish but more common.

@toucanem Orla is absolutely lovely. Classic.

but if people can learn how to say Sinead (which is Irish) they can surely learn how to say Sine. It's much simpler!

Yes, but do you want your child to have to educate every single person they ever meet about how to say it, and where its from and why do you say it like that, and say it again for me, and on and on and on.
Because I can tell you, it gets old fast. I'm nearly 50 and sometimes I think the next English person I have to educate will be the absolute last straw.

Reggie That may very well be true, I believe you, but it's rather sad.
It seems that it takes a celebrity - eg Sinead O'Connor or Cillian Murphy - to make Gaelic names 'possible'. But Gaelic is a language belonging to the same 'family' as Latin and French - words are surprisingly close, in some cases. Its spelling has rules, which are not that difficult to learn.
Perhaps it's all the silly 'mystic twilight Celtic' stuff that gets in the way.

It seems that it takes a celebrity - eg Sinead O'Connor or Cillian Murphy - to make Gaelic names 'possible'. But Gaelic is a language belonging to the same 'family' as Latin and French

They're Irish, and Irish isn't called Gaelic. It's called Irish. Scots Gaelic seems to be known frequently as Gaelic, but Irish is not, and it's annoying when non Irish speakers/people call it that.
Sinead and Cillian make Irish names "possible". Although they don't, they were long before either of them found fame.

I thought sign - for a boy

I love the welsh name seren for a girl

For me Sine is associated with trigonometry, and pronounced sign.

@CamVegOut

I am Irish and have taught many hundreds of students in Ireland and have never heard of the name Sine, but maybe it is Scottish.

If it is like the start of Sinéad it would be pronounced Shin.

I wouldnt give a baby a name I couldn't pronounce (but that's me 😅)

I'm Scottish, and have met hundreds of students, and have never heard of the name Sine.

Sheena, Shona, Sinead. But not Sine.

Sine would be pronounced sign for me too. Son or daughter of a mathematician.