Ruairidh spelling variations

[Scottishgirl85]

Just discovered our 3rd child is a boy after 2 girls!

Always loved Ruairidh (pronounced roo-ray). I'm Scottish, hubby English, we live in SE England.

Will Ruairidh just cause endless issues or should we be brave and go for it?

There are alternative slightly simpler spellings, such as:

• Ruaridh (Scottish, but not technically correct spelling without the extra i)
• Ruairi (Irish, but we're not Irish).

Please help!

(Note, Rory is a completely different name, not as keen)

I know several Rory’s in SE England but never met one with a Gaelic spelling and I do think people will struggle - more so with the spelling than the pronunciation. Ruairi probably easier than a spelling with dh which I think scares people!

Rory is a different version of the same name I think?

Putting aside other people's pronunciation, does anyone actually think about the child learning to spell his name? He will be taught phonics at school, how will he equate what he is taught with how he spells his name? I often feel so sorry for children with names that are spelled completely differently to how they are pronounced. But then both my kids have biblical names...

Lots of children are exposed to two or more languages from birth @overitall1. It's thought to be beneficial.

I'd go for the Irish spelling

That’s true but there was no suggestion that OP is planning to teach her child Scottish Gaelic or the phonics that go with that language, which are obviously very different to English.

It’s a lovely name. Is it actually pronounced like Brewery without the “B”? If so, quite straightforward.

If there’s a subtlety in how it’s pronounced, how much will it annoy you if someone gets it slightly wrong (and keeps doing so)? I remember a lady telling me that she was going to call her new baby Genevieve. “Genevieve! How lovely!” I said. At which point she said no, Genevieve. “Yes, Genevieve”. No, GENEVIEVE she said.

I honestly wasn’t trying to be an arse, I just couldn’t hear the difference between the way she said it and I said it (she was half French and I am from Brighton so I can easily believe that I missed some of her pronunciation).

My nephew, born and still living in London, was going to be called Ruairidh, but due to a series of events ended up a Rory. Both my sister, and he, ended up a bit relieved with that outcome. I suspect there aren't that many Ruairidhs in Ladywell.

roo-ray? I've never known it to be pronounced like that

@Allmarbleslost my phonetic example in my OP wasn't the best. It's like brewery without the b, the only way I've ever heard it.

What about Roddy, since its a diminutive of Ruairidh but phonetic in English? Or Rodachan?

It will get misspelt all the time (voice of experience) and not just by people meeting him for the first time, but by people who know him. People in his extended family.

I'm not saying you shouldn't use it but it's something to keep in mind.

Rory is not a completely different name, it's just an anglicisation, it has the same meaning. But if you don't like it fair enough.

I had one at my old workplace, who was around 30 years old, so it's a name which has been around a while. My old colleague pronounced his name as Rory. I thought it was a lovely name, though I always made sure to look at the correct spelling before emailing him!

Is it pronounced the same as Ruary? Roo ah ree

The name that I never got to use- I love this name!!

I also know a Ruairaidh.

Just to add that into the mix...

People will learn how to say any name. Call your son what ever you want.

I still can't spell phoebe correctly !

I have a name I need to spell and pronounce with people first time. It's not a big deal. I don't mind and they get it if we're in touch much. I know lots of people in a similar position. I'm always surprised when people here think it's such a hardship
I'd give him the Scottish version - Irish won't look that much easier to people who aren't used to either, and the Scottish one is the one that's meaningful for you.

I’ve got a Ruairidh. I love it.
i live in central Scotland, everyone knows how to pronounce it but it does get misspelled sometimes. We call him Roo a lot.
It did take him longer to learn to write his name than my other kids but he got there by half way through P1!
I wouldn’t change it.

Roo-ray is very weird sounding. Like Hoo-ray.

Are we going to pretend that English is phonetic? It's a mad language that uses can't decide how gh should sound.

DS2 is called Matt and is actually really struggling to deal with “say my name”, name pronunciation email footers, which are now mandatory at his workplace. A non-phonetic name has its uses.

It's a gorgeous name, use it.

if people struggle I'd rather they called him Ro than Rory.

im in the SE, we're not all illiterate with an inability to manage anything outside Paul, John & Fred. However, I'd say he'll spend a lot of time saying 'just call me Ru' & I'd get in first with school that it's not Rory!

Honestly, are the people of SE England really that thick?

I would go with Ruairidh. This is your heritage.

Putting aside other people's pronunciation, does anyone actually think about the child learning to spell his name?

That is utterly ridiculous.

Children learn to spell their names before they learn anything about phonics. Their brains are not slow, plodding organs. There are hundreds of thousands of Irish people who speak English as their first language who manage to spell their Irish names perfectly easily well before they get to school and start learning Irish orthography. Ditto Welsh, Scottish, and people living all over the UK whose names don't follow English phonic patterns (such as they are - English is notoriously not phonetic).