Baby boy names Ruairidh

[Louisaa2020]

Hello, we have found out we are having a baby boy. I love the name Ruairidh but my husband is not so sure due to the spelling. What do you all think? Is it going to be spelled wrongly all the time? Any other name suggestions? We wanted something not too common. We thought about Rory instead but unsure?

Thank you for reading

I know a Rauri

Rauri??

Much prefer Ruairidh over Rory, much nicer sounding and I wouldn’t worry about having to spell it.

There are many free websites and apps that will help you pronounce names correctly.

www.nameshouts.com/

Me neither, because most of the time it won't make a scrap of difference. They'll still get it wrong.

Are you ay eye arr eye dee aitch

Pronounce Ruairidh | NameShouts.com

Thanks for that useful link. My name wasn't on it.

Gorgeous name, one of my grandsons is called Rory. But I think you would get that spelling as a default and it might get annoying correcting everyone?

No idea even where to begin to pronounce it!

@abracadabra1980 , see my post.

It’s a lovely name. I know one in Scotland, Ruairi . Irish mum and Scottish dad. Pronunciation isn’t a problem. If you like it then you should go for it. My heart sinks when I see threads asking for advice on baby name choices. It’s never going to end well.

Is it that big a deal if people sometimes don't know how to say or spell it though?

People often don't know how to pronounce or spell my name, so I just tell them 🙂. I really like having an unusual name.

I love Rory, which if you are in England is how people will say it anyway, so I’d go for that.

@VictoryOrDeath , yes. This:
No idea even where to begin to pronounce it!.
I know a Rauri
Ruairi
Rory is popular (about #38), so many will assume he's a Rory.

Will it matter to OP's son? It might.

I'm Scottish living in England. This was my favourite name but couldn't get my (English) partner on board with it. And I agreed it might prove difficult in England - both spelling and pronunciation (in Scotland it's roo-uh-ray, 3 quick syllables). And then discovered a couple years later that there is a boy in my son's nursery with this name! And everyone pronounces it fine. So I do have a pang of regret we didn't use it. His sister also has a Scottish Gaelic name. He spells it Ruairidh and I think that's the most common but you could look up the Scottish official name lists to check. I'm not a Gaelic speaker so I might be wrong but I think Ruairidh and Ruaraidh are both 'correct' spellings but Ruairaidh is not? Lots of names have alternative spellings, even simple names likes Jane/Jayne, Anne/Ann - so I don't think that's an issue.

I think people will usually write Rory anyway.

It's pronounced very differently - Ruairidh begins with a strong 'Roo' whereas Rory behind 'Row' (as in row a boat). Ruaraidh has 3 syllables (short middle syllable), Rory only 2.

I say Rory as Raw-ry/Roary not Row-ry

I know, but I think people will "translate" to the closest name that's familiar to them.

I met a child with this spelling through work. If I hadn't seen it written and heard other people call him by his name, I'd have had no idea! People will get used to it quickly enough, it's just when people who have never met him have to address him by name, like if he wins a sports event and has his name called out or something.

I know the name from the Archers (though his is spelled without the dh at the end). I think it’s nice but difficult if you live in England - we seem to be embarrassingly hopeless at Irish names!

Go for it.

If every difficult-to-spell name was reduced to a simple phonetic version, human names would become bland indeed.

Beautiful name and a story behind it which will make a nice ice breaker for your Ds.

We don’t name children in terms of what makes future admin processes easier!

I love this name but he will face a lifetime of misspellings, even if the pronunciation is correct. The Irish version is pronounced exactly the same as the Scottish as far as I know but is spelled differently - Ruaidhri.

I think a simplified Ruairi might be a bit easier (and I don’t think is offensive in Gaelic but more knowledgeable people may correct me).

Or Rory is great but obviously pronounced differently.

Will people around you know it? (If you're in Surrey, then possibly not). If so then go for it. If not, Rory is a lovely name. There's a Cornish name Ruan which I've always loved.

Doesn’t it mean red-haired? I’m Scottish and all the Roos I’ve known have been ginger. Including my major freshers crush at uni 😍 A cross between Damian Lewis and Michael Hutchence if you can imagine such a thing.

The ones I know pronounce it Rory ( I know of 2 little ones)

The further into the digital age we go the less we deal with mispellings.

Eg we fill our own details in forms and click submit rather than verbally over a phone and someone else writing them in. Other admin processes (eg schools) copy paste or use autocomplete. Teachers don’t even need to handwrite kids names very much anymore. AI will make this even easier.

So misspellings become less of an issue every year.