Baby boy names Ruairidh

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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

Ruairi (Irish) and Ruairidh (Scottish) are not just different spellings of the same name (obviously the names are related but pronunciations are different). I'm not Irish, but the Irish Ruairis I have met pronounce it close to Rory (at least that's what it sounds like to my ears). It doesn't have the strong distinctive Roo sound of Ruairidh. And Ruairi seems to have 2 syllables compared to Ruairidh's 3.

And just to add, having a name where the pronunciation isn't immediately obvious to people unfamiliar with the name really isn't unusual. I teach at a university - out of a tutorial group of 10, there will usually be at least 2 names that I have to check how to pronounce when I meet the student for the first time and then I make a note to myself on the register. No big deal. This affects even simple names like Mia (have had a mee-a and a my-a).

Ruaidhri and Ruairi are Irish. Ruairidh is Scottish.

Rhodri is not related in any way.

He spells it Ruairidh and I think that's the most common but you could look up the Scottish official name lists to check.

It's the more common of the two correct spellings (Ruaraidh is the other) but sadly neither is the most commonly used in Scotland. There have been so many misspellings over the years due, I would suggest, to people liking the name but having no understanding of how the Gaelic languages work. Add in the desire to be unique (they never are) and people deciding to spell it in a way that works for them, the result is 54 different spellings on my current list. I also have seventeen different spellings of Rory.

The most common spelling on Scotland nowadays is Ruaridh, although this is incorrect in Gaelic orthography, but there may be an argument for the idea that if everyone does the same thing the wrong way, it becomes the right way.

The pronunciations of the Irish and Scottish versions of the name are exactly the same - it’s just that Irish and Scottish accents are different.

I’d go with the Ruairi spelling. Less confusion

I’m Irish. Ruairi is firmly roo-ree, Rory is roary

If you want to give your son a name that he will need to spell out EVERY SINGLE TIME he says it, go ahead.

I'd be interested to know the whether the English people saying they wouldn't have a clue how to pronounce it are from.

I'm from NW and, while not a common name, isn't one that people would struggle with I don't think

You are exaggerating @Duparsisoverrated , but it will get mispronounced and misspelt a lot.

@MaJoady , Ruairi comes up on The Archers threads in Radio/Podcast addicts often. Ruairi is by now nearly 22 and posters still get his name wrong.

I agree. The 14 year old Ruairi in my extended family is pronounced Roo-ree. He was born and lives in Scotland with his Irish mum and Scottish dad. I’ve been in his company in Ireland, Scotland and England over the years and never heard it mispronounced. Always Roo-ree.

I have an uncle Rory. An Irishman living in England for 40 years. Always pronounced Roary.

Only if the person he is speaking to needs to write it down, surely?

And there are loads of common names in English where you’d need to do that anyway due to variant spellings anyway - Stephen/Steven, John/Jon, Catherine/Katherine/Kathryn (etc) to name just a few.

@JumpinJellyfish , but your examples are common names where the other person won't need to listen as carefully to the spelling. 'Jon no h' vs 'Roo-uh-ree, R-U-A-I-R-I-D-H'.

I know a Ruairidh. He's English and his family pronounced it Rory.
He absolutely hated this spelling, no one knew how to either pronounce it or spell it. He changed it to Rory by deed pole once he was 18.

The difference between saying “Jon with no h” and spelling out “ruaridh” is a matter of about 2 seconds - hardly a big deal.

Unless you’re in Ireland nobody will know how to pronounce it.

@JumpinJellyfish , check your post. I carefully spelt the name then you wrote it with a different spelling.

@Berlinlover , it's a Scottish spelling. Might be an Irish spelling too, but Ruairi is used there.

It's just one of those names that once you know it, you know it. I wouldn't let pronunciation problems put you off

My little girl has a Rory and a Ruairidh in her class and she says them differently (and corrects me if I get them mixed up) 😂

Call him Rory.

I used the spelling of my friend’s child - I wasn’t aware I was meant to have copied yours. There are different spellings of the name as is clear on this thread. And my point stands - it’s not a big deal to spell it aloud where necessary.

But @JumpinJellyfish , OP isn't asking about your friend's DS's name, she's asking about Ruairidh. It's in the thread title.

It's a great name! Go for it! People all over the world have had to learn how to pronounce names like 'Elizabeth' and 'Marlborough'. If they can do that, Gaelic names chosen for musicality and meaning really are not hard for humans to learn.

I know one, he says it Rury to rhyme with Fury. I only had to be told once and I've never got it wrong in terms of pronouncing it. I don't love it but I don't get all the "ooh it's too hard" comments.

@Mikunia , I'm not saying 'it's too hard', I'm saying 'it will be misspelt and mispronounced'.

My name is a classical English name with four letters and two syllables. It's been mispronounced and misspelled. I don't think you can avoid it whichever name you have so it's not really a reason to avoid a name you like.