How would you pronounce Fionn?

[Rosiiiiie]

We live in the Munster region of Ireland and are pregnant with a second boy woo!

I love the name Fionn.
I’m just a bit confused by prononciation.

I always thought it was Fee-on (two syllables).
But we were in Dublin during the week and someone mentioned it was pronounced Fy-un (one syllable).

And Google says it’s pronounced Fin??

How would you personally pronounce it?

I'm still none the wiser as to how it's pronounced.

@user1493494961 I think fyun is the verdict 😂

I’m in Scotland, and here it would be pronounced fy-un (one syllable) by Gaelic speakers, often anglicised to fin by non-Gaelic speakers. It’s the same name as Finn - e.g., Finlay would be spelt Fionnlagh in Gaelic and pronounced Fy-un-lag (v light consonant at end) but non-Gaelic speakers usually use the anglicised spelling and pronunciation. But Fee-on is a misunderstanding- this is using English pronunciation rules for a Gaelic name, which doesn’t work. I’ve never heard anyone doing that. Sounds like it’s pretty much the same in Ireland.

From Dublin living in Cork and it’s only ever been pronounced fyun any time I have heard it - lovely name!

I have always understood Fionn to be an Irish boys name pronounced Fyun.

Whereas Ffion is a Welsh girls name pronounced Fee-on (on as in the word on, not 'un').

My family are Welsh speakers and we have a Ffion in the family.

As this thread demonstrates, some people get confused between the two names!

I'm in Munster too OP - not a Gaeltacht area - and any Fionn's I know here are Fyun too. That said, the pronunciation does vary quite a bit among native speakers, and depends on location, as you can see from the link below (the last 3 Irish speakers are fluent/native speakers afaik). It's the same for the word cionn, which is usually 'cune' in the Kerry Gaeltacht and often said as 'cee-on' in parts of Connacht.
forvo.com/word/fionn/

Another link here
www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/fionn

Back in the mists of time when I was in primary school it was pronounced Finn. Now everyone says F-Yun.

• sorry, should have said 'qune' for cionn in Kerry...

Fyun for me too although I have noticed a few more recent Fionns pronouncing it Finn, so using Irish spelling but anglicised pronunciation.

Fee-on sounds very weird to me.

I know someone who has recently named their child Fionn.

I am even more confused now, I was going for fee-on but now I am not so sure.

I haven’t actually heard how they pronounce the name yet .

I'm also in Scotland and it's pronounced Fyoon in Scots Gaelic rather than Fyun. I always thought Fee-un (two syllables) was the Anglicised pronunciation though. I named my son Fionn and this is how we pronounce it. A lot of Gaelic names are pronounced slightly differently in English here... Catriona, Sine, Niall, Iain etc. Maybe it's different in Ireland because Gaelic culture is a bit more prevalent.

It’s Fyun.

People mispronounce names like this in some areas in the Midwest of Ireland. Other examples are Ci- an and Ni-uv instead of Cian and Niamh (both one syllable).

Niamh like Nyuv to rhyme with dove? Had no idea.

I have family in Wales and Ireland and yes, Ffion is Feeon. I thought Finn was just the anglicised form of Fionn? Fionn was always Fyun at school and for any I've met?

Oh well! That's how I'd always heard it, and I grew up in the Highlands. As far as I'm concerned it's no different from saying Ca-trina instead of Ca-tri-oh-na. He can say Fyoon when he speaks Gaelic and Fee-un in English. Are you sure Ni-uv is always wrong? In Scottish Gaelic it sounds a bit like Nyi-uv, two syllables.

Where I am Fionn would be pronounced F-inn, like Fionnuala or Fionnan or Fionntan (sorry can't work out how to do dada's. I have never heard Fionnuala said like Fy-un-uala and I went to school with a few.

@Dancingonmoonlight

It’s Fyun.

People mispronounce names like this in some areas in the Midwest of Ireland. Other examples are Ci- an and Ni-uv instead of Cian and Niamh (both one syllable).

I'm afraid this is just completely wrong. Niamh and Cian most certainly have more than one syllable when said correctly in Irish. The pronunciation of Fionn varies by dialect though, so there is more than one correct Irish language pronunciation. There are some links given upthread. Also - forvo.com/word/niamh

The pronunciation of Cian is here (also a Spanish version but ignore that )

forvo.com/word/cian

If I read Fionn, I'd think it was a misspelling of Fiona! I assumed it was a female name too, and pronounced Fee-Onn.

I'm from an English speaking country (not UK), lived/worked in 2 other countries and now lived in the England 19yrs. I've never seen or heard this name before nor would I know how to pronounce it properly by the replies.

Fyunn. It may not be correct, but it has been pronounced that way by the majority for at least 40 years (probably longer), so I think any other pronunciation is doomed.

I’m English and would pronounce it as Fyun or Finn at first guess. I would know for sure it would not be Fee-on.

Just wondering could you elaborate on the difference in the English and Scottish Gaelic pronunciations of Sine, Niall and Iain @080Prospect?
Niall is usually said something like Nile /Nyall in Ireland but that's an anglicised version really (it's Neil in Irish). Is it the same in Scotland? The Caitríona/ Katrina variants I know. Not too sure about Sine and Iain though.

Is your way of saying Fionn (Fyoon) similar to the Munster speaker in the teanglann link upthread?

Most people I know do pronounce the name Fyun, it seems to be the most widespread version in the south at least, though Finn may be more prevalent in the north (I'm in the south so not completely sure).

@Dancingonmoonlight

It’s Fyun.

People mispronounce names like this in some areas in the Midwest of Ireland. Other examples are Ci- an and Ni-uv instead of Cian and Niamh (both one syllable).

I agree with you that it's pronounced Fyun.

However, Cian and Niamh are correctly pronounced with two syllables in the Midwest. @LizzieAnt is quite right.

Fee-un
Rhymes with bun!

@user1493494961

I'm still none the wiser as to how it's pronounced.

Say ‘Fun’ , now add a ‘y’ immediately after the ‘F’ and put them together quickly.