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 the Munster and Connacht pronunciation Roo-awn, but á is pronounced differently in Ulster. It sounds more like Roo-an there, so more like ruin to my ear and I don’t really that pronunciation of the name.
It may be like that in Scotland too? I’m not sure.

So it depends where you are to an extent OP.

Ruadhan is redhaired one, ruadh means red ☺️

I have a very Welsh name and from age 2 I was raised in England.

A life time of having to spell my name.

If you're in Ireland - then go for it.

In England - please don't it becomes so tiresome.

@Lifeasitis91 , ... my friends son is called Tadgh and no one could prounce his name ...
Not surprised nobody knew how to say it with that spelling.
Tadhg is a different matter.

This. I think one of the worst ones I had was my name misspelt on a document that was distributed to a whole department and it was a misspelling that sort of made sense but looked like a place name (something similar might be Marton if your name was Martine) .

Ruadán mac Fergusa Birn, also known as Rowan, Ruadon, Roadan, Ruadhán, Rodon and Rodan

An Naomh Ruadhán sin? 😂
Ní maith liom an t-ainm leis an litriú sin. Is fearr liom Ródan.

I like it but you sound like a right treat.

I know two children called Ruan and they were both named after Ruan Pienaar, the South African rugby player.It's a beautiful name and I'm hearing it mentioned locally as a GAA players name.
There seems to be a variety of pronunciations but I suppose it's a matter of deciding which you prefer.

Haven’t rtft and this might have been mentioned, but an Irish writer called Seamas O’Reilly wrote a parenting column in the guardian and his son is called either Ruadh or Ruadhan - first I’d heard of the names and I’m Irish - but his kid is 7 or 8 now (similar age to mine is only reason I remember!) and I’ve heard of a few since, so I think popularity is increasing. Rowan, Roman and Rory are all really popular where I am in London so that tracks.

Ignore the people saying it will cause issues - so what if someone thinks it’s Rua-dan first time - it will take one correction or won’t matter.

The advice to be mindful about how “difficult” it will be for people to spell and/or pronounce a name is only ever issued on here when it’s an Irish/Welsh/Scottish name being suggested.

I’ve noticed it time and time again over the years I’ve been on Mumsnet.