Oisín - am I overthinking it?

[Meeko505]

We are due a boy later this year. We live in England, I'm 100% English, my partner is Irish (+ all family are Irish and live in Ireland) but he has an English accent because he grew up here. We do plan to take the baby to Ireland to visit GPs at least once or twice a year.

We like the Irish name Oisín (Ush-een) quite a lot, but I have some concerns that I'd like to check with others:

1. Is it wanky to use a very Irish name like this if only one parent is Irish etc.?
2. I have two older children with a different dad. However, they aren't very close to their Dad and feel more attached to my Irish partner. If we have one or two kids with Irish names, does it create a feeling of two 'separate' sets of kids/could it make my older kids feel less a part of his family as they get older? (Am I just being really paranoid here?)
3. If we go with an Irish name for this baby, I feel quite strongly that a future baby should follow suit. I'm not sure why, tbh. I suppose it might feel like one kid has a more concrete tie to their Irish heritage while the other doesn't?
4. Maybe most obviously, is this name going to be OK in England? Spelling + pronounciation-wise?

The other name I really like is Wilfred, which doesn't have any of these issues but my partner seems to really prefer Oisín.

1. No
2. I’d say yes you’re being paranoid :)
3. Don’t think it matters
4. no. Without a doubt! People will likely have no idea how to pronounce it or spell it. I don’t think that means it’s not ok to use though - but yes people will be constantly asking how to do both!

Your child will be spelling that out/ correcting others. What about Ossian?

It’s far better than Wilfred.

Love it. Wilfred is awful.
Unelss your df is Boris... His dc are very cute strangely!!

This is a Welsh name that I think is just as hard to pronounce, so I am not sure it solves any of the concerns above!

Edit: Sorry, I didn't realise it's actually an anglicisation rather than an alternative spelling of the Welsh Osian. But we'd rather avoid anglicisations I think.

I wouldn't use it in England, too difficult to pronounce and spell and not fair on him in many contexts. If you want Irish, could you find a more phonetically spelled name such as Ronan, Sean, Even Tadgh ( also a few variations of spelling) or Dara. Love Dara, also many spellings but it sounds good, I think.

It’s fine. I know lots of people with what will be your child’s heritage (including me) and plenty of us grew up in families with a mixture of English and Irish names. There were plenty of Niamhs, Siobhans and Clodaghs with sisters called Jackie, Lisa and Karen when I was growing up. My name is English but I am very proud of my heritage. It’s not the only thing that connects me to Ireland and it will be the same for your children too.

It's lovely, much nicer than Wilfred.

It's not too difficult to spell or pronounce, I don't think.

Ossian just looks as though someone couldn't spell Oisín and is the name of a Scottish author. Also reminds me of an ossuary - not an association you would want!

We have Irish family, although hardly anyone has an Irish name - I know how Oisín is pronounced.

We were in an identical situation, different name. It's been fine. Glad we went with it. Spelling has been no different to my simple name (think similar to Sarah) that gets misspelled on a daily basis anyway!

Im irish and DP is english.

I have an older DSS who has an English name, a 4 yo with an English name and a toddler with an irish name. I think it's fine and I don't think any of them feel less related because of different origins of names.

Although we did give our toddler a English middle name as a kind of get out of jail free card if he got sick of telling people how to pronounce it. 🤣

Did someone really just suggest Tadgh as easier to pronounce than Oisin?? I'd go for it. Yes, they'll have to spell it and correct a few people but I think the English are becoming increasing familiar with an Irish 's' as in Siobhan. My name is Welsh (Dad's side of the family only and lived in England all my life) and the only time it has ever annoyed me is the sixteenth time of trying to spell it to a foreign call centre! But I think that can happen to anyone :D

I live in NI. Much as I like Irish names I personally wouldn’t ever use one as people here still make assumptions based on them. So I would always choose neutral.

What assumptions - catholic? Sorry if this sounds ignorant!

The political implications of having an Irish name in NI are completely different to having the same name in Britain (or, indeed, in Ireland). And there's no such thing as a 'neutral' name - I think you mean English.

What’s the assumption?

I’m English and 50. I wouldn’t have had a clue how to pronounce it.

Some people are going to struggle with the í. That's their problem.

I think you're overthinking all of this tbh.

It's a nice name. Many many times nicer than Wilfred. And if people can't pronounce it, they'll only need to be told once then it'll be fine.

I think I am hoping that it's the kind of name that even if people don't know how to pronounce or spell it immediately, once told it's 'ush-een', how hard can it be? Like it's quite a short, simple name that doesn't use any sounds or combinations that we don't commonly use in English. So I don't mind correcting people once or explaining how it's pronounced, but I just don't want a situation where the same people repeatedly get it wrong.

My son is Ciaran (in Scotland) and some people can’t pronounce that but I think Oisin is lovely and much nicer that Wilfred

I'm not Irish but know how to pronounce it. Those that don't can learn, it's not intrinsically difficult to say. Lovely name.

1 & 2 - it's absolutely fine, don't think it. I much prefer Oisín to Wilfred!

3 - I gave one of my children an Irish name, I think it's fine.

4 - I'm in NI and from ROI so can't help, but I'd give him a middle name that works in English to use in Starbucks and the like when he's older if it bothers him.

Go with Oisín and save the poor mite from being called Wilfred!