Conor or Connor

[SquirrelBlue]

I love this name (I know others won't!) but am trying to decide on a spelling. I'm in the UK and want my baby to have the easiest spelling possible so he's not having to correct people all the time. I've grown up with a similar issue and found it very tedious. I think Connor would be the most well known spelling but just wondering what others think. How would you spell it?

If anyone has any other Irish boys' names that are easy for Brits to say and spell, I'm open to suggestions. Cillian and Cormac are both ruled out unfortunately.

@Liv999 , the Quay was named after someone called Connah.

I really don’t think this is a “thing” - you must just happen to know some (unusual) Protestant families who are unfamiliar with the proper spelling.

I have never come across a single Protestant called either Connor or Conor from NI and I attended both Catholic and Protestant schools.

Edited to say it’s not a “mostly Irish” name, it is an Irish name and for very obvious reasons Protestants in NI do not tend to give their kids Irish names.

I'm a bit confused by the suggestion that Caolan would not be misspelled or mispronounced in the UK. It's pronounced Kwee-lawn. Well, at least it is when it's spelled correctly as Caolán.

I know those with Leinster Irish will pronounce the Cao as Key, but that is still not obvious to non- Irish people.

OP - I'm with the other Irish posters. Conor for a first name and Connor for a surname. Although you could go mad and use the Irish spelling and prononciation. Conchobar, which is pronounced cruh-hur, with a short u in the hurt.

Does Caolan not need an i to make a kee or quee sound?

I'd pronounce Caolan as Kay-lun and Caolán as kay-lawn or qway-lawn.

ETA - regardless, I wouldn't choose it in GB if I wanted something easy to spell and pronounce.

Nope. It can't have an i in it anyway (I assume you mean caoilan?) as it would break the "caol le caol ague leathan le leathan" rule where you have to have either a slender vowel (i, e) or a broad vowel (a, o, u) either side of the consonant.

Dialects are different in various parts of the country so, as with most Irish names, the pronunciation is location dependent, which means neither of us is wrong😁

With the Irish majority that the correct spelling is Conor . Don't worry pretty soon some hot Irish actor named Conor will come along (as it is very common here ) and everyone will know how to spell it . And of course there is the lovable Conor McGregor . 😁

Yeah I know you'd have to alter the second syllable, just never pronounce ao as "ee", only aoi. Not a native speaker by any means though!

I know Caoileann as the girl's name but the male version has always confused me.

Yes it's a surname, nothing to do with the name Conor or Connor though

Ryan is an Irish name which js easy for the English to spell & pronounce. Apparently it means "little king" 👶🏻 👑

I knew one! now in 40s. His dad was even in the RUC. Maybe a decoy lol

Middle class Alliance voters do 😜

@Liv999 , I didn't say it was.

Caoilfhionn is how I would spell the girl's name. I've never come across the spelling Caoileann but I know a few called Caoilfhionn.

I'm not a native speaker either but am friends with a few who pronounce it the same as me. It's really interesting how different some sounds can be in different dialects.

Mind you, I've been saying it out loud to myself just now and realised that it's not really a kwee in the same way caoimhe or caoilfhionn is kwee. It's more a kweh sound. So a very short, abruptly ended kwee maybe. I'm rubbish at writing things phonetically though so I really shouldn't try😀.

can’t think who you mean!

Still maintain there is no such thing as a Protestant spelling of the name mind you.

oh there probably isn't but lots of well to do prods use irish names!

Feck, can't believe I misspelled Caoilfheann, I've known one forever. Might need to double check my work today

I thought Conor was pronounced 'Coe-ner' and Connor 'Connor', but I may be thinking wrong.

What about Conal/Connell. That one is surely well known in the UK now after people's lockdown obsession with Normal People/Connell and his chain.

Conor is fine but it's a bit dull.

😂 I hadn't even connected it with Conor McGregor. Oops!

Interesting to see the different pronunciations of Caolan. I've only heard it pronounced as Kay-len. I did wonder how Cao can be pronounced Kay or Kwee as in Caoimhe. They feel like quite different pronunciations to me.

It's interesting to see so many suggestions for Sean. It's a family name so it's ruled out anyway but my understanding is that Sean actually means old like in seanmháthair, and Seán is the name. And the fada or lack of a fada will obviously affect the pronunciation.

Thank you everyone for your input. It's really interesting to hear everyone's views.

Quite a few of my school friends have done it actually - a lot of Malone road types with baby Aoifes.

But these are all under 5yo - it wasn’t at all a thing when I was growing up.

The exception was names that were also Scottish Gaelic - several Rorys/ruaidhris.

One Is a first name one is a surname for me.

Unless you pronounce the letter R you won’t be pronouncing it correctly.

Yes I was going to say popular with the BT9ers and in Royal Hillsborough.

very interesting thread.

I would have spelt it with the double ' n ' not thinking or realising it is a surname too,

but then the name Malcolm is both a 1st and surname.

Choose the name and spelling you like.

My cousin is Connor