Rioghán

[Babyboyno2]

Got this into my top 3. Just curious of how people would pronounce it, is it “REE-ON”

I'd have no idea how to pronounce that

I'm Irish and I've never come across it before. I'd take a stab at Ree-awn.

It's a lovely name but unless you live in Ireland you're setting them up for a lifetime of correcting pronunciation and being asked how to say their name.... I wouldn't do it tbh

It's a girls name though. It means queen.

I've never met anyone with the name, but I think the fada should be on the i and not on the a, so spelling is Ríoghan or Ríoghain, equivalent to Ríon. 'An' at the end of a name does usually have a fada, but the derivation seems to be different in this case.

The Morrigan, goddess of war and fate, foreteller of death, is Mór-Ríogain in Irish. Usually translated as great queen though the etymology is controversial. (Mór may not be great/big, but instead be derived from a word equivalent to mare, meaning terror, as in nightmare. Scary in any case.)

As others have said the similar sounding Rian might be better for a boy. Rian doesn't need a fada on the i though many use it. Many associate it with king (rí) but in fact it is so old the meaning has been lost.

Ríoghan is Ree-an btw.

Oops, just noticed a typo.
Morrigan is Mór-Ríoghain or Mór-Ríoghan.
I forgot to include the h in the previous post.

@Coffeeatthelocalmarket , it's nice. For a girl, obviously . Thanks.

@KirstenBlest
I've never come across anyone called it, though I do know a Ríonach or two (meaning queenly, older spelling Ríoghnach). I also know a Ríona, which could be considered a short form of Ríonach or Caitríona.

One issue with Ríoghan for a girl is that it'll get confused with Rian/Rían from a sound pov.

And get spelled like the boy's name too, I'd imagine.
How do you say Ríona? Caitriona?

Caitríona is Ca-tree-uh-na for me (the uh bit is not really emphasised though).
Ríona is Ree-uh-na, again the uh is slight. I'm not a native speaker but the person in this link is, I think.

https://forvo.com/word/r%C3%ADona/

What happens IRL is that you say Caitriona and the other person hears Katreena or Cat-ree-O-na.

Wouldn't happen where people know the name and how it sounds.
Cat-ree-(uh)-na seems easy enough once you know.

I suspect that Ríona would get Ree-O-na (to rhyme with Fiona) a lot.

I would pronounce it Ree-awn.

As you say, I think it depends on where you are. Tríona (Tree-uh-na) is a common short form of Caitríona. It was quite popular when I was growing up, probably not now though. So I think Ríona would mostly follow that pronunciation here in Ireland.

I do know of one Tríona who went by Tree-Oh-na, emphasis on the Oh. She had the opposite problem really. People kept saying Tree-uh-na to her. But elsewhere it would be different of course.

Lots of Irish Caitríonas do say Ca-tree-na and skip the uh bit actually, but I'd say that's less likely among fluent Irish speakers - there'll be the small uh that people mightn't always hear.

I would literally have no idea how to pronounce this even rhougb I went to a school full of of Irish kids (in England)

does anyone find “Dáithí” hard to pronounce also?
liking Dáithí and Dáire/Darragh

Couldn’t tell you as no idea how it’s pronounced tbh

Wouldn't even attempt to pronounce it.

Daithí is lovely, but doesn't need the fada on the A. That would make it doy-hee, like Máire.

Also, no fada in Daire I don't think, although I'm more familiar with Dara. Dara or Darragh would be by far the easiest to pronounce of the names you've listed.

@BarbaraHoward oh really! Anyone I know has the fada on the a so I just assumed it was correct

There's a lot of incorrect fadas in NI. 🙈 It's because people don't learn the language formally. I think fadas are seen as a matter of identity, rather than spelling. If that makes any sense at all.

@BarbaraHoward yeah makes sense. That’s crazy. Seen one on dáire too? I would hate to register a child with wrong fada placement etc so thanks for letting me know!

Don't quote me on Daire, I'm very far from a native speaker. Start a thread with the names in the title and someone more knowledgeable will come along.

does anyone find “Dáithí” hard to pronounce also?
liking Dáithí and Dáire/Darragh

^
They're very easy to say, and more common.

I slightly prefer Rian.
Ríán is legit spelling but hassly.

Yes, no fada on either A there.