Seánna? - correct spelling

[suzettenoisette]

This is just for a middle name, the second middle name to be exact. We want to honor a Seán. I do like Seán and I do like shaw-na, the way it sounds. I do, however, dislike the way Shauna and Shawna look.

I don't mind Seána, but I think it would get see-ann-a, but as a middle name it won't matter much. I do like Seánna a lot.

Now my questions is, would this be spelt Seánna or Seanna correctly? I know that Seán is the Irish spelling, but does the fada stay, when it is feminised?

Does Seánna work? First name is still not decided on, but we like Samantha, Sabrina, Poppy, Holly, Selena and Haley.

I think it needs the fada, as without it the pronunciation would be 'shanna' rhyming with Hannah. You need the fada to give the long 'aw' sound that Seán has.

That said, I've never seen that spelling of Seánna used in Ireland.

I suppose Seánna or Seána could both be correct. I'd veer towards Seána personally. The second n seems extraneous.

The fada definitely stays. Nothing to do with male name and feminine names. It's what gives the a the aw sound.

Tbh I've only ever met Shaunas in Ireland and have just assumed it's from the Colleen/Shannon stable of Irish-American names

I'm Irish and that spelling doesn't work for me, it just seems odd somehow.

I knew quite a few girls with this name growing up and it was always spelled Shauna or Shawna.

None of those spellings is Irish - Shauna/Shawna/Seánna/Seána are not really Irish names either. I agree they're all from the Shannon/Colleen stable.

I'd go with Seána if you want it to look more Irish. Seánna is the least authentic spelling you've included.

I'd spell it Shona. If I saw Seana without the fada, I'd think it was See-a(r)na. Seanna without a fada, See-anna.

The fada would be omitted by a lot of computers.

This is interesting as I went to primary school with a girl called Shauna who was actually Irish. I always assumed it was an actual Irish name.

Why not honor Sean by using his name ..
Samantha Sean
Holly Sean
Sabrina Seanie - is sweet.
Poppy Sean

Thanks so far. Anyone else have any information?

I don't want to use Seán as it's strictly masculine to me.

Has Sean got a middle name?

But Shona and Shauna don't sound the same?

There was a well known actress called Sean Young who was in the original Blade Runner. So how about just using Sean?

Why not use Sinead or Siobhan?

There is an Irish actress Séana Kerslake (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se%C3%A1na_Kerslake) but I think she pronounces her name Shane-ah.

Isn't Séan the Irish for John? You could go with Joan, Johanna, or similar.

or the welsh versions Sioned and Siwan? (SHONN-ed and SHOO-ann)

How about Seáneen? It’s an actual name, and is the female diminutive of Seán?

It may be an actual name but it's not an Irish name. It's looks like some form of bastardisation of Seáinín, which means little Seán and would be used for a boy in this instance.

op - adding the extra n changed the pronunciation. If you want it pronounced Shawna, the spelling is Seána.

I know 4 girls with this name 3 out of four are fluent Irish speakers from families that speak Irish as first language
2 Seána (the Fada should be included )
2 Shauna

Thank you. Out of curiosity, how would Seánna be pronounced?

Thanks, everyone, but I don't want a form of John such as Joanna, because I feeld the connection is not so much there anymore. Same with the middle name. Seán is strictly masculine to me so I don't want to use it.

I don't like Sinéad and Siobhan, but thank you for the suggestions!

Seánín is cute, but masculine as well.

I'm a bit hopeless on phonetics but the double n is pronounced differently to a single n. It's stretched out a bit and, depending on the dialect, can have a kind of a g sound but not as strong as ng in english. It also changes the pronunciation of the preceding vowels slightly. It's kind of elongated a bit.

Sorry. Completely useless explanation.

Seánin is incorrect as, unless it's a compound word, a and i can't be on either side of a consonant. A, o, and u are broad vowels and i and e are slender vowels. You can only have broad with broad and slender with slender. You would add in an i before the n if you're adding the "ín" so it would be spelt Seáinín.

Seánna would be a plural of a word “seá”, so I would pronounce it Shaunee. That’s the only way -ánna is used in Irish.

Sorry @suzettenoisette I think you can't square this circle. You can't invent a name in a different language and want it to be feminine, obey the same pronunciation as a different word, and have the same meaning as a particular name. I'd suggest getting over the fact that it's masculine and just use Seán. Or as surnames are often used as first names maybe you could honour them by their surname? Or just go with Shauna as it's a real name, even if you don't like the look of it. Seánna is a made up name and I'm not sure how it would be pronounced (I think Shay anna but I'm not sure). Or if you really love that one just say it's a made up name and pronounce it the way you want.

I do think Seánna would be pronounced Shauna/Shawna.
That spelling is often used for plurals as pp said - trá (beach) becomes tránna (beaches) for example - but sometimes it's just part of a word (gránna/ugly).
They're pronounced traw-na and graw-na respectively.

That said I've never seen that spelling used before. I've seen Seána written, but the couple of women I know with the name spell it Shauna.
I agree with others that it's not exactly an Irish name (though Seán is of course) as 'a' (or 'na') is not usually added to names to feminise them in Irish.

You could always just use Sean as a female OP. I know of a few and many male names are used as unisex names. You may also put something like Mary in front of it and make it Mary-Sean so Hyphenated.