To tell parents about pronunciation?

[HelpaSILout]

My SIL shared their favourite name with family for their soon due DS.
It’s a beautiful name, Fionn. We live in England (no strong Irish heritage on our side of the family, not sure about hers) but being an obviously Celtic name I wondered about its meaning and put it into google.
Now the problem arises, they are pronouncing it Fi-on and I’ve found it’s pronounced Finn. Do I say something or just keep my beak out!?

Ffion

I’m Irish and I’d pronounce it Fyun but I have heard it can be pronounced Fi-on or Finn however they would sound wrong to me.

Gordon Bennett: because it's spelled like Fiona but with a second n instead of a at the end. If you're not familiar with Irish pronunciation, how would you know? There will also be people with the name who mispronounce it, that kind of thing happens all the time.

"These Celtic names are very confusing ". Would you say that about a Nigerian name? A Gurjurati name?

I thought it was Fyun - didn't know it was Finn. Every day's a school day.

I've never heard of Fionn being pronounced as Finn in Ireland. Always F-yun. Fionn and Finn are 2 separate names.

I think they're seeing it as the Welsh name Ffion, which is fee-on, but that's a girls' name.

(I would be wary of using a name that I didn't myself know automatically how to pronounce)

It's 100% not pronounced finn.

I'm English I've always assumed that name was Fi-on.

This absolutely never (never!) happens, but my
son’s name is Fionn, and I can confirm that every single English person (except for our families, some of whom are Irish) who has ever said his name has said ‘fee-on’. That’s not how we pronounce it - we say ‘ff-yon’ so sort of almost two syllables but mashed together - but if they’re in England and they’re going to say ‘fee-on’, no-one will notice. People will probably think they mean Ffion, which is what we also get, but what can you do. In all honesty I do and have always rolled my eyes a bit (internally!) when we say the name one way and have it immediately ‘repeated’ entirely differently, but really I don’t think I could expect anything else. It’s an unfamiliar name to most people, and if nothing else it gives us an opportunity to share the story behind it.

I'm also Irish and would pronounce it Fyun, although wouldn't raise too much of an eyebrow if someone said it's "Fionn pronounced Finn". It's definitely not Fee-on though.

I'm Irish, it's not Finn. And, it's not fi-on either

Fionn and Finn are pronounced completely differently in Ireland.

Fionn would sound more like more like few(but very short w sound rolling into)-uhn(long emphasis on n). Finn is like fin with a long n.

Google can't be trusted!

If there's no cultural link it's hardly surprising there's going to be a lot of mis pronunciation. That said, Finn is the English translation. My Irish manager has called her child Fionn and tells me that it changes depending on where you're from in Ireland.

People do it all the time these days. People take names and pronounce or spell them as they like. There's no rules really.

I once taught a child with this name and it was pronounced sort of like Fee-un /Fee-yon. You sort of have to imagine it being said with a Belfast accent. He had 3 siblings all with Irish names. Mum and dad both from Ireland but moved to England pre-children. No idea if that’s the correct way to pronounce it or not, but that’s how the family said it.

Fionn (fyun as pronounced in Ireland) means blond or fair.

To be honest, these days, spelling and pronunciation often have absolutely nothing to do with each other anyway. I work in an environment (not education) where I meet a lot of kids and the spelling of some of their names is a complete mystery to me.

There is a kid in my son’s class called Fee-on. I presumed a girl with a Welsh name but nope, boy named Fionn but pronounced Fee-on.

I'm English and would pronounce it Fee-on.

I am dyslexic though and really, really struggle with celtic names. I need things spelt phonetically!!

Hopefully @HelpaSILout has not corrected her SIL!! Good grief.

Glad other Irish folk have saved me the bother.

@YourNameGoesHere

You can't just decide to change the way the name is pronounced. Fionn for a boy is pronounced Finn and the poor lad will have an eternity of having to correct people who are actually pronouncing it correctly.

But multiple Irish people on this thread have said that it isn't pronounced Finn for a boy and is closer to fee-yun!

We’re NI and I’ve known a few lads pronounce it as Finn.

DH is from Dublin and would say Fyun.

If I heard it being said as Fee-on by an English family I’d assume it was a girl called Ffion.

And this is why it is mad to share your name before baby is here safe and well. Honestly blows my mind.

Thank you so much for the insightful responses. It seems Google absolutely cannot be trusted for this sort of information and I suppose varies a little according to accent and area? I will absolutely not be saying anything!!

Id just message and say “just checking are you pronouncing it fi-on or Finn as it’s says Finn on here? I want to make sure we get it right!”

and then you’re done