Saorsa

[Mogwalla]

It’s the Scottish Gaelic equivalent of the Irish Saoirse (Seersha) meaning freedom. Pronounced Sa-orsha.

So you say it SAH-or-sha?

If so that sounds slightly clunky to me

Yes, technically Sah-or-sha in a strong Scottish accent but basically Sorsha otherwise.

Lovely

Well if you want your child’s name to be a political statement then go ahead. It’s pretty but people will probably mispronounce it slightly by not saying the sh sound - it’s certainly much easier to work out than say Eillidh for a non Gaelic speaker.

If you're in England your child will have a lifetime of having her name mis pronounced and mos spelled.

Otherwise go for it, I love it (personally)

I’m ok with anglicising it, I’m Scottish but live in England. My own name is anglicised and most people where I come from in the highlands don’t speak Gaelic anyway.

Sorsha I like

The 3 syllables is going to sound clunky in some accents, but if you’re happy with Sorcha then go for it

Oh - I’d missed you are in England.

I think people are used to names they don’t know these days.. but still she is going to have a lifetime of correcting people and dealing with misspellings, so it would be easier on her to use it as a middle name. But - if you feel really strongly then I think it’s fine.

I totally love it! I wish I'd called our daughter that (23 yrs ago)

Is it SAH-or-sha or Sah-OR-sha?

@KirstenBlest Sa OR sha

@Brightredtulips My mum wished she used it for me too!

Thanks. It's pretty.

Why is it pronounced as if the second s were slender?

?

Sorcha is an Irish name, pronounced like Surka.

There’s some well known (in Ireland) satirical books about posh Dubliners with a character who uses the Sore-sha pronunciation as a piss-take.

Pronouncing the Scots Gaelic spelling "Saorsa" as "Saor-sha" is exactly the equivalent of pronouncing the spelling "Sorcha" as "Sore-sha".

To get "Saor-sha" you have to spell it "Saoirse".

Wrt the "slender S" question:

A, O, U = broad vowels
I, E = slender vowels

When surrounded by slender vowels, S is pronounced SH.
When surrounded by broad vowels, S remains S.

I think it's very pretty, but if you live intend to stay in England I would use an anglicised spelling. It's really annoying to have a lifetime of your name being mispronounced and misspelled.
(From someone with a very Irish name who lived in England for most of my life).

Complicated. Will spend her life explaining how to say her name.
Don't really like it either

I like the name, most ppl will say pronounce it:
Sor sha

if you live intend to stay in England I would use an anglicised spelling.
It will be mispronounced even if you spell it Sorsha it will probably be said as Sawsha

Saoirse is a modern Irish nme with strong early 20th cent /political - Republican - connotations. The same exact political context did not exist here in Scotland at the time, though there were, of course, some Republican sympathisers.

Saoirse is not a Scottish name. It has no history of long-term use in Scotland before the beginning of the Irish Republican movement.

People can - and do - translate all kinds of words into Scottish Gaelic and then list them on rubbish websites or publish them in rubbish books. That dos not make them Scottish names.

There are very, very few names in Scottish Gaelic that have not been transformed by Church teachings. Scotland introduced widespread English-language primary education centuries before many other areas of the (geographical) Bristish Isles, and that education was strongly influenced by the Christian religion.

For really ancient genuinely Scottish names, you have to look back to pre-Christian times. So Devorgillla? Reagan? Ferelith? Goneril? And just perhaps - although very Christian - Amable?Annabel.?, which seems to have originated in medieval Scotland.

People can - and do - translate all kinds of words into Scottish Gaelic and then list them on rubbish websites or publish them in rubbish books. That dos not make them Scottish names.

The 'welsh names' on baby name web sites usually include ridiculous suggestions like misspellings, translated words that aren't and shouldn't be names. Irish names are often included. I'd imagine the 'scottish' ones will be the same.

I’m not understanding the suggested pronunciation of this name. Can anyone explain? I would pronounce it as Soor-sa.