Ruari/Ruairi?

[Lllll12]

We are due our son in November and will be calling him Ruari/Ruairi (pronounced Roo-ree) but we are in two minds about how to spell it! We know the Irish spelling is Ruairi, however, living in England we think spelling it Ruari may make it easier as it looks more phonetically correct. Any opinions? Does anyone have a Ruari? Thanks 😊

Don't know- sorry- Ruairidh is how I know it.
But it's my favourite boys name! Love it.
Rhodri is great too.

I always thought it was Ruaridh tbh.

I think it’s nearly always better to use the most authentic spelling for a name if you can. I don’t think dropping to extra I makes it any easier pronunciation wise to be honest. Nice name though, good luck.

Ruairidh is the Scottish spelling I believe! Thank you for the replies and very good point @DotDotDotDotDot. I think we will go with Ruairi 😊

Its pronounced Rur-ree, don’t know anyone who pronounces it Roo-ree.

@NoddyMcdoddy

Its pronounced Rur-ree, don’t know anyone who pronounces it Roo-ree.

Agree!

Never seen or heard the name. Is it pronounced similar to Rory?

Rhuairidh rhymes with brewery.

I only know the Scottish spelling but it's a lovely name (but yes, as PPs have said it's Ru-ree not Roo-ree, but it maybe that is what you meant)

I can't hear a difference between roo-ri and ru-ri, I'm assuming that it's the same roo as kangaroo, not the same oo as look or book.

Ruairi, dropping the i isn't possible in Irish so stick with the correct spelling.

I have never heard it with a roo not a ru sound so imagine most people will call him thay, worth thinking about if it annoys you!

With the spelling, I think it'll probably have to be spelled out a lot anyway so you might as well go for the correct spelling.

In my northern accent roo and ru are pretty much the same sound! Pronounced like brewery without the b☺️

Stick to the Irish spelling. It’s not that tricky for English people to pronounce once they know how to say it, and without the two ‘i’s’ it doesn’t make sense in Irish.

Love Ruairi. I have a boy in my class who uses this spelling and I love it. Lots of people spell it wrong and he will have a lifetime of correcting people but I spend my life spelling my name for people. It's not that big a deal. Scotland and pronounce it Roo-ray just to add to the mix

I’m Scottish and Ru and Roo sound the same to me! And yes I would pronounce it Ru-ree and have known many (though spelt the Scottish way). I think the Irish spelling looks a bit easier though! Lovely name.

@Roseability18

I’m Scottish and Ru and Roo sound the same to me! And yes I would pronounce it Ru-ree and have known many (though spelt the Scottish way). I think the Irish spelling looks a bit easier though! Lovely name.

Agree but roo and rur don't!

Thanks for all the polite comments! Suppose the pronunciation will change slightly depending on accents but rur-ree and roo-ree are pronounced very similarly from where I’m from. We will go with the Irish spelling, thanks for the help! 🙂

@NoddyMcdoddy

Its pronounced Rur-ree, don’t know anyone who pronounces it Roo-ree.

Most people I know pronounce it Roo-ree or Roo-ah-ree - I'm in Ireland. I guess it depends on accents. Link to the Irish (language) pronunciation below. There's a fada on the last i too, but not everyone uses it. forvo.com/word/ruairí

{shock] DS has a great friend called Rory - never thought about the spelling ( not scottish ) But I think a nice name

Some other spellings are:

Ruaraidh

Ruaidhrí (Dinneen's 1927 dictionary. He says also Raidhrí and Reidhrí which I've never seen)

Ruiri from Old Irish, (the language written up to 10th century) meaning overking, in one text it is glossed "ró-rí". You can read about it here:

dil.ie/35747

The second r in "Ruairí" is "slender", so a native speaker would produce it like tr, dr, thr, zr, z, or, in Donegal, y. Or maybe like the g in French "rouge".
In practice many people use a "broad" r and consequently some spell the name "Ruaraidh".

I've known 2. One was spelt Ruaiaidh the other a different way. I had to look up the spelling each time I had to write it down but thats not an issue.
The first time the parents said it's pronounced Ru (as in Ruby) ree.

Ruiri from Old Irish, (the language written up to 10th century) meaning overking, in one text it is glossed "ró-rí". You can read about it here: dil.ie/35747

I wonder if this is really the same as the modern Ruairí (older versions Ruaidhrí, Ruaidríg etc) @SeanChailleach?
The meaning given for Ruairí is usually red (haired) king, not overking, rua always meaning red in the sense of russet or rust-coloured as opposed to bright red.

Rua also has a secondary meaning of fierce/strong/wild/valiant, though I'm not sure how old this meaning is.

I don't know. I'm trying to write and stop getting distracted by fascinating names. There is a book coming out next month about Irish surnames might have some answers.