Sinead

[ParentsTrapped]

What do people think?

Im Irish, DH is English and we live in London.

I feel like most English people will recognise/be able to pronounce this name thanks to Sinead O’Connor (RIP!), but it’s quite unusual these days.

I love the name Sinead! I also really like Siobhan, Roisin and Áine.

Róisín?
Siún?
Síofra?

I don't think 'most English people' will have heard of Sinead O'Connor.
Nice name but I would think it was a 50 yr old. It did get used a bit more in GB in the 1990s.

Really?! She was world famous.

She was, but not everyone will have heard of her. You can be 'English' and not be interested in the things SO'C was famous for.

I can think of a lot of people mentioned on MN who are world famous but I have either not heard of them or have only seen their name.

I'd strongly disagree with this, unless you are specifically thinking of people under the age of about 20.

I know an Irish Romy - she’s a lovely person 🫶🏻💚

Probably totally outing so using my related but throwaway username. We live in London - DH has 4 x irish grandparents so we wanted a link to his family history. Names on our list included lots of the ones you have listed - Aoife, Orla, Maeve, Roisin, Bridget, Bronagh but in the end our two girls are Erin and Imogen.

I really like Sinead and it would have gone on our list except for the fact that i work with a Sinead and i prefer names that aren't connected to a person i know.

DD2 was actually called Maeve for a while until i met three other baby Maeves in the first two weeks after she was born! Put me right off!

Maeve being seen as a fashionable name is funny to me.

@ZoyaTheDestroyer , you'd be surprised. I'm not specifically thinking of any specific age group but I think if I nipped out to the local high street and asked a number of 'English' people, most of them wouldn't know.

I know of her because I remember 'Nothing Compares 2 U' being in the charts.

'English' because many people in GB aren't English.

I’m a 51 year old Sinéad (use the fada if you’re going to use the name) and loathed it growing up because it was sooo common. There were four of us in a class of 32 all through primary, and would usually be more than one other in any sports team, club, social group, so you could feel very generic. Plus it gets confused with Siobhán all the time to this day. A colleague I’ve worked with for two years recently introduced me as Siobhán in a very formal situation.

Im assuming it will be a less beige/generic name now, and in London. Lived in the UK for years and never encountered many pronunciation problems.

I was going to be called Sinead (b. 1970 - Irish parents) but they went with Susan instead.

What about Gobnait OP 😉?

I think Susan's a lovely name @HughsMermaid .

Thanks Duchess. My father thought our surname was too English sounding to 'work' with Sinead but he is rather set in his ways and I don't think that would be the view of many.

I Iike Síofra, Ita and Derval too

Agree with PPs that Roisin and Siobhan are lovely names and reasonably well known in England.

How about Saoirse? I think it’s a beautiful name - possibly not as well known but getting more common because of the actress.

I’m from NI so Saoirse is a bit loaded. Also annoying that so many people here (London) think it is pronounced sersha! I’ve actually had English people correct me on that…

I love Sadhbh but it’s too tricky! Ide/Ita is a cute option though.

I have 2 kids already and one has a name mentioned here as being suddenly madly popular…which is annoying as I named her before that happened!

Sinéad with the fada.

Ordhnaith is gorgeous but impossible to use outside Ireland.

Eh??

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhninL_G3Fg

😀

Eh what?
When SO'C became suddenly famous, the name had a bit of a moment, but other than that I'd put the same in the same sort of age group as Siobhan and Niamh in that they weren't unheard of in my age group (I grew up in a part of the UK where many have an Irish heritage).

I know of Sinead O'C because of the hit song. If I had only ever seen the name and not heard it, I wouldn't know how to say it.

I can think of many celebs whose names I've only read not heard.

Apologies for the missing fadas.

But you HAVE heard of her, and you DO know how to pronounce the name, so why do you assume that most others wouldn’t?

Her death was front pages news last year.

Naughty!

I love it. Lots of Irish heritage in our part of Scotland, my kids have classmates called Maeve, Aine, Niamh, Orlaith, Caoimhe, Aoife and Seamus but no Sinead!
(apologies for missing fada's, can't figure out how to add on my phone).

@ParentsTrapped , I'm not assuming that most others wouldn't, I'm saying don't assume that most would.

Some people don't read/listen/watch the news. If you only listen or watch the news , or if you only read it, you might not match the name with how it sounds.

Una
Orna (there's that non rhotic R problem though)
Roisin
Dervla
Fionnuala
Clodagh
Fia
Nora