Hi! I'm looking to match pronounciation with spelling... My mission is to have a slightly unusual name - ideally reviving an old celtic/scottish/gaelic name - but still be easy for people to say and fit in a local accent (coz our accent can fairly trash the loveliest of names 😆)
I recently came across the name Ossian through researching irish/celtic folklore for a project and wondered can it be pronounced 'Oshan'??
I'm in the Hebrides where a nickname 'Oshan' has strong associations with a local character (who I think is no longer) but I like the sound of it. It fits with our accent nicely. It was a nickname afterall which means it's definitely easy to say - the reason for a lot of nicknames!
Annoyingly, so far, my husband is against it for the association with said character:(
I've found a couple of interesting threads on the names Osian/Ossian/Oisin.
So far I've learned that the Welsh spelling Osian is 'Oshan' and although I think it's lovely, I gather it's popular there so I would be a little worried they'd get fed up being asked if they are Welsh throughout their life! (Hebrideans do occasionally get asked if they are Welsh or Irish- but hey we when the seas were highways I guess we were much more closely linked;)
I also learned that in Irish I think mostly spelled Oisin and pronounced 'O-sheen' which is lovely but doesn't fit our accent.
It's the spelling/pronunciation of Ossian I'm confused about, can it be 'Oshan'? (We say O as Aw) Or is it mostly OSS-Ian? (As in 'moss') and is Ossian more Scottish?? More research needed!
Any thoughts welcome! I probably won't get my way but this might help me strengthen my case. Thanks :) x