Scottish boys name but live in England

[Monkeyandthebear]

We have found out we are expecting a boy. We already have a girl (Sophie) and we love the name Ruaridh for a boy. It would have been Sophie’s name if she was a boy.

My question is can we get away with it even though we live in England or will we end up explaining how to spell and say it for forever? We may not be here forever but definitely for a long time yet. He will have Charles as a middle name so could use Charlie in the future but I do love the name
Ruaridh.

Anyone who listens to The Archers would know how to say it! It's a lovely name OP

@BadlydoneHelen

Anyone who listens to The Archers would know how to say it! It's a lovely name OP

Ah, but he’s Ruairi - with an Irish spelling - to complicate things more.

I'm in England and worked with a Ruaridh, a lot of people knew how to pronounce it already, some didn't but got it quickly when he explained! I think it's a beautiful name

Use it, it's a great name and if people don't know how to pronounce or spell it, or get it wrong, you (and later he) can tell them.
Agree with PP it worked for Siobhan and Sean and Niamh etc.

Ruaridh is ok but it's not the correct Gaelic spelling as there are grammatic rules about vowels so you can't have an "a" before the R and an "I" after it so it's needs to be Ruaridh. If you particularly want it to reflect Scottish Gaelic roots it needs to be spelt following Gaelic language rules. However if it is just a name you like and you are not connected to Gaelic speaking community it matters less. It's a bit like English when q is always followed by u. There are q words without u but they are not of English origin but borrowed like qadi

Should be ruaraidh

I actually thought the correct Gaelic spelling is Ruairidh - with an i either side of the r.

I think it's a be a nightmare fir your son tbh. No one will know how to say or spell it.

It's not ignorant not to know how to pronounce or spell something you are not familiar with. I'm Scottish and would struggle to pronounce or spell many Welsh or Irish names.

There are lots of other lovely Scottish boys names that would go well with Sophie.

Alexander
Alastair
Callum
Cameron
Clark
Finlay
James
Keir
Lewis
Murdo
Moray / Murray
Robert
Struan

Are a few

Well he’ll have to spell it a lot, but if it really bothers him he can use his middle name or adopt the Rory spelling when he’s older.

I like Rory personally so I’d happily go for that (I think the slightly different pronunciation will get lost in England TBH)

@Monkeyandthebear
Congratulations. Fwiw I think Ruaridh is a lovely name. I think if you love it, then go for it. The Uk is such a multicultural society that there are lots of names that I wouldn't have a clue how to pronounce. I myself have a name that when I was a child was not particularly mainstream. It was never a problem. If someone asked me how to say jt I just told them as did my parents. I think children especially learn to pronounce names very quickly. In my grandsons nursery thre are children from Japan, China, Brazil, Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Ethiopa, Ghana, and Greece. No problems with children or adults saying their names. Ok maybe we had to ask how to pronounce a couple of them originally but I think it is normal nowadays.

I’m Scottish but live in England with English kids. I love Ruaridh and considered it for my son. In the end I thought he would spend a lot of time correcting people or telling people how to pronounce it. I thought that might become annoying for him. I went with Cameron in the end. I also liked Fraser.

It's a gorgeous name, high on my list for DSs but DH was less keen. I prefer your spelling to Rory.

I’m Welsh/English and think it’s a lovely name

I have met one (in Scotland) so know how to pronounce it but I’ve never come across one in England or Wales (even in my job where I come across dozens of names a day). I think most people outside of Scotland will need to have the spelling/pronunciation explained, but should pick it up quickly. You just need to decide if that’s a deal breaker for you.

In my experience kids do much better with unfamiliar names than adults, kids just accept them.

The good thing is it's an easy pronunciation!

We have a Euan (living in England) and he is often called Owen or Evan!

It's a lovely name, and not that unusual in Scotland. The English will soon learn how to pronounce it, we know how to say "Leicester" and "Southwark", don't we? If it really bothers you, you could anglicise it a bit - I've seen it spelled Ruari.

It would have been Sophie’s name if she was a boy.

I don't understand why the question is even being asked. What's changed since?

I love the name. Go for it OP!
As a native Scottish Gaelic speaker, the spelling rule is technically to do with vowels either side of a consonant. “Broad to Broad, Slender to Slender”, with a, o and u being broad and i and e being slender. It means Ruairidh (i to i), Ruaraidh (a to a) or Ruiridh (i to i, but unusual) are acceptable spellings, though, of course, others are accepted widely in Scotland at least with non native speakers.
The more people use these lovely names the better in my opinion. I know some native speakers who still anglify their name to make it easier for English speakers and due to inferiority issues of the past to do with speaking Gaelic. For example, using Roddy instead of Ruairidh is common when on the introducing yourself to non-native speakers. Though I know some native speakers cringe at Mhairi ( grammatically should be Mairi except in the evocative case) in the same way as my Irish mother complains about the modern UK accepted pronunciation of Caitlin.

Go for it. It’ll be fine.

@BadlydoneHelen

Anyone who listens to The Archers would know how to say it! It's a lovely name OP

Ruairi in The Archers is half irish and was named by his irish mother. The misspellings of his name on the TA thread is something else.

The name Rory is popular, as are other boy's names starting with R, so I'd use it as a middle name and use your preferred spelling.

@BadlyDoneHelen, your username suggests that you are a TA listener. If so you will have heard Jennydarling call Roary Roory, and the others call him Roary. IIRG, Siobhan called him Roorry. (short oo sound)

@LizzieBet14

I saw that name on an application form where I work and we had to pass it round and have a guess at what it could be..... no-one was even close. I couldn't do that to my child - a life time of correcting people and spelling it out.

i agree with this. i think MNetters are not representative of people at large. only about 5-10 % of people i know would have any idea how to say it. let alone spell it. that's quite a burden to put on your child. guess he could drop it for charles though.

I’m sure the majority of English people will be able to say it after hearing it once or twice.

It’s a lovely name. Go for it, you don’t have to adapt your life or choices to accommodate idiots.

@Laghach

I love the name. Go for it OP! As a native Scottish Gaelic speaker, the spelling rule is technically to do with vowels either side of a consonant. “Broad to Broad, Slender to Slender”, with a, o and u being broad and i and e being slender. It means Ruairidh (i to i), Ruaraidh (a to a) or Ruiridh (i to i, but unusual) are acceptable spellings, though, of course, others are accepted widely in Scotland at least with non native speakers. The more people use these lovely names the better in my opinion. I know some native speakers who still anglify their name to make it easier for English speakers and due to inferiority issues of the past to do with speaking Gaelic. For example, using Roddy instead of Ruairidh is common when on the introducing yourself to non-native speakers. Though I know some native speakers cringe at Mhairi ( grammatically should be Mairi except in the evocative case) in the same way as my Irish mother complains about the modern UK accepted pronunciation of Caitlin.

This is so interesting! I'd definitely go for one of these correct spellings then if I were you, OP

God I know a Sadhbh.

Honestly she told us her name at uni before we ever saw it written down. Is that how it works usually. Hi I'm...and then you learn how to spell.

I'm torn about the name. It's a contender if we have another child so I do like the sound and the look of the name. It's my partner's first choice. I wish Rory wasn't so popular as I think when he tells people his name many people might think of this.

I also think lots of Scottish people are ignorant of Gaelic names and culture (myself included to a certain extent) so we can't really blame others in the UK for not knowing.