Ruadhán as a name

[GladHazelPoster]

What do you think of the name Ruadhán?

Ruadhán - Roo-awn - meaning 'red' or 'red-haired'
Saint Ruadhán of Lorrha was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, a group of early Christian saints who studied under Saint Finian of Clonard. Wiki to Saint Ruadhán

Well-known people with the name now include Ruadhán Mac Cormaic is an Irish journalist and author who became Editor of The Irish Times in 2022, following a career that included various roles as a Foreign Affairs, Migration, Legal Affairs, and Paris Correspondent.

To all those who are going to say it's hard to spell please save your breath. If you had your way everyone would be called James Smith and if they weren't they would be forced to change their name to it. Have some confidence with names that aren't in the Top 5 each year please. By the way clearly the parents of this learned Saint weren't worrying about spelling when they named their son it.

I like it but prefer Ruan for its simple spelling and obvious pronunciation.

Will you live in Ireland?

It's a nice name. If you don't live in Ireland or have Irish connections I might simplify the spelling. I also like Rowan for either boys or girls.

Are they Irish and will they have red hair?

I don't like it much, but I don't like Rowan either - I think it's insipid. I like the spelling, it's better than Rowan but there are much more exciting names out there.

Don’t like it at all- spelling or name.

Yawn...

The OP warned about opinions like this in her original post.

Believe it or not, many British people are well able to wrap their heads around unfamiliar names, and if they're not, then they're not worth bothering about.

No.

She rightly suspects that posters wanging on about unfamiliar spellings are living in little bubbles, and is completely justified in her irritation at the Little England tone of many responses.

She gave the meaning and pronunciation of the name and asks if people like it as a collection of sounds.

If you’re not living in Ireland, it just sounds pretentious.

Not dissimilar to those Americans whose great, great, great grandfather was Irish so they also claim to be 100% Irish. 🤔😂😂

I know of one but they pronounce it rowan (row as in argument, not row as in boat) - they are in Scotland not Ireland though.

It's a really handsome name

To be fair, that wasn't actually in her original post. It was a later addition.

Isn’t the point that in her post, she felt it necessary to give the pronunciation? I’m not “little England” and am generally well educated on non English name pronunciations, I’m not sure I would get this one right.

I have a standard name with an unusual spelling, at 52 years old, it still pisses me off when people spell it incorrectly. Not sure why someone would deliberately do that to their child.

Pronunciation was given to aid the formation of an opinion on the sound of the name.

She wanted opinions on how the name sounded, not whether people used to the English language and its wacky orthography would be able to read a name from another culture.

The question of whether British people would be able to pronounce it if they encountered it only in writing is another matter entirely.

As I've said upthread, most British people are perfectly capable of committing the pronunciation of a name to memory after they've heard it a couple of times.

(People who can't remember names in general are a separate matter).

Fab name.. in Ireland where it would be pronounced properly. But not for UK ears and to have to be continually spelling it, so annoying.

Now I know how to pronounce it (I'd have said Roo-ahn) I don't like it. There are nicer names out there imo.

I like it and considered it as a name, but British people tend to pronounce Rs differently to Irish people and that changed my mind - it sounded differently to me so might be worth checking out what it’s like it local accent.

actually went with an Irish name in the end and while some people get it right, some people still struggle so depends on whether that bothers you or not! In fairly liberal part of UK though, not too many of those “I’m in my sixties and have never met a person with a non-English name except saxe-coburg and gotha” type of people. If you’re in Ireland, obviously not an issue.

To all those who are going to say it's hard to spell please save your breath. If you had your way everyone would be called James Smith and if they weren't they would be forced to change their name to it. Have some confidence with names that aren't in the Top 5 each year please.

You can think it hard to spell and also not have 'a way' and want everyone to be called James Smith, or forced to a version thereof. One does not follow the other.

You can think it hard to spell and also have confidence with names that aren't in the Top 5 each year. Adding 'please' to the end of that sentence does not mitigate the rather snippy tone your OP conveys.

It sounds like you have made up your mind on the name - fantastic. It also sounds like you have formulated a robust (and rather previous) defence for its usage. So. Um. Well done.

To be fair, it can get tedious! There was a thread a little while ago where the person lived in a Gaeltacht (Irish speaking area) and spoke Irish as a native language and she asked for second names to go with the name Ruairí that she had already chosen. She got responses to change the name because Diana in England found it tricky to spell….😂 just somewhat oblivious to other languages. Of course the vast majority of people are fully cognisant, but it does pop up at least one on most of these non- English name threads!

I have a 5 year old Ruan, I love it as a name, we live in Ireland. Sometimes even his uncles get mixed up and call him Rían...

It’s a nice name, OP. Don’t listen to the Little Englanders. Anti-Irish prejudice raises its head fairly regularly on Mn.

why are you asking when you clearly don’t want any negatives ?

@ArtfullyDistressed anti irish because you might not like a name ? do grow up

But do you know your baby will be red haired, OP? I get antsy at dark-haired Fionns, but I think Ruadhán would be definitely strange on a non redhead.

Aaand there we go. I suggest you have a flick through threads about Irish names. They drip with prejudice.