Scottish/Gaelic names - how important is the accent?

[Mamma283828]

We're considering a few Scottish/Gaelic names like Catrìona, but without the accent for simplicity (we have a double barrelled surname too). For Catrìona I've definitely seen it used without the accent, but I was wondering how acceptable it would be for less well-known Scottish/Gaelic names.

I'm not Scottish, DH is half Scottish/English.

Go for it, your child, your choice of name.

How would you pronounce? I've seen Catriona as both Ca-TREEN-a and as Ca-tree-oh-na - it's pretty straightforward to say in any accent but you'd need to be clear which you were wanting as the name!

Do you mean the fada (as we call it in Irish) rather than how it's pronounced? (Fada being the little line over some vowels to change the sound)

Pronounciation is Cat REE uh nuh with the emphasis on the second syllable but the most English speakers ignore the third syllable.

If you're not a Gaelic speaker then I don't think the fada matters and the name just becomes slighty anglicised in spelling.

Ca-tree-oh-na 🙂

Actually I think this pronunciation is closer to what we like. 😁

Yes the fada. What is the equivalent in Gaelic?

I should have also said that we are using it as a middle name so the pronunciation will be almost irrelevant to anyone else. But I wanted to make sure we weren't making some kind of faux-pas, especially with less well-known names.

It's fada as well but it doesn't work exactly the same.

Stràc is the Scots Gaelic equivalent. I agree that it's perfectly acceptable. It just changes how the name is pronounced, as you're no longer lengthening that vowel.

Catriona is well known and loved.
Most people know how to say it.

Correct Scottish pronunciation is cah-tree-na

Accent doesn't matter though.

Yes, they'll say one of KatREEna, Kat-ree-O-na or Kat-REE-uh-na.

Check in dictionaries what it means without the accent / fada. For example.... Òrla has lost the fada over the years and is seen spelled Orla. Òrla = golden girl, Orla = vomit

Well I think the majority of people outside of Scotland / Ireland wouldn’t use one for Catriona, any more than they would Zoe.. and mostly people don’t mind. Even if you put one on the birth cert, it mostly wouldn’t get used.

I'm in Scotland and have only ever known Catriona pronounced Cat ree na

Please don't give your child a Scots name like Catriona and then say it like you come from Kent.

I am fairly pragmatic about name pronunciations but Cat tree owner makes my ears bleed.

What's wrong with Cat tree owner? Am I one or does the cat own the tree?

Always the cat.

Anyone who is picky about the stràc is probably going to pull you up on caol le caol.
So Caitrìona is the pedantic option.
ie with an i before the t.

It's a huge hassle to put a fada on a passport so i didn't bother with my son Seán. Just left it off official things, but when he writes his name it's always with a fada

Thanks, this is really helpful to know. I was wondering about official documents and filling out forms and what happens if officially you have a fada/strac but you can't add it to an online form or something.

@Mamma283828 , DD has a non-standard character in her name (e.g. Anaïs). The BC and passport list the name using the standard character (e.g.Anais). It's not caused any problems.

Thanks. So say if you are buying flights, you use the standard character so it matches with the passport? But at school or the GP you might use the non standard character?

My worry is that if a fada is used in some places and not in others, will a search for one pick up both versions?

@Mamma283828 , passport and plane tickets need to match.
Do a search on Bjorn Borg, oisin o'malley, anais nin or something.