Saoirse for a baby girl in USA

[gleen41]

I’m Irish and my husband is Irish-American, and we both love the name Saoirse.

We live in the US and have had a few “WTF is that name?” reactions, which has made me second guess it a little.

I have an Irish name myself that gets butchered all the time, so I know what that’s like.

Would you use Saoirse in the US? Is the pronunciation/spelling issue enough to put you off?

I really want an Irish name so that they know their heritage especially as I grew up in Ireland, but I don’t want them to constantly have their name butchered

Look at this way - she will always have something to talk about.

There is an Irish actor of that name, talking to one the American late night hosts about the trials nd tribulations of it. It sounds funny more than anything.

That’s an interesting POV. I wouldn’t have thought saoirse (the word) is that controversial anymore. It’s a very mainstream name in Ireland, it has long moved on from its Republican roots.

It isn't - if you are Irish you probably say the r clearly, Americans say it slightly, but in a lot of British accents it sounds like Awluh

Also, it's not the easiest name to spell/type. I know how to spell it but could easily get the vowels in the wrong order.
I have 'oi' in my name and it is very easy to tap the keys in the wrong order.

It probably isn't funny when you are explaining it for the thousandth time.

And it sounds godawful. Which is why so few Irish parents living in the UK give it to their children. A name that will be routinely mangled by a non-rhotic accent will never fly.

I agree. I wouldn't use a name from another culture or language because most of them don't sound nice anglicised. They usually look appealing but sound meh.

I would if I really wanted to use the name and was prepared to put up with the anglicisation. At least Orla wouldn't get misspelt (!) or mangled.

I haven’t heard of it and would go for a Sayoarss pronunciation. With my son one of the criteria was a name with only one spelling and common enough people don’t look baffled when you say it.

OP isn’t in the UK. She’s in the US where most people have a rhotic accent. It does depend on where she is there though, as sone areas do have a non-rhotic accent.

Agree. Irish name here, in the US. Americans are, if anything, charmed by Irish names. They are used to a variety of ethnicities and cultures. Teachers in particular are conscious of their role in helping create an equitable / welcoming atmosphere in schools.

I think Saoirse would be fine.

(But please pronounce it right).

You wouldn't have to 'explain' it much in the US.

I routinely type 'teh' for 'the'.

What implications does that have for my use of the word 'the'?

Maybe I should just improve my typing?

Only people who are a little stupid or hard of hearing can't pronounce it or spell it.

If someone can't repeat a simple, two syllable name after hearing it spoken, there is something wrong with them.

The problem isn't the name.

The problem will be people having to read it/call it out without having heard it before. They’ll probably get it wrong and that certainly doesn’t make them stupid!

Some people wouldn’t be at all bothered by the mistakes, but some people would be.
I remember a pp posting on MN who wanted to call her baby Eleanor but was ranting about some people pronouncing the r in the name.
I mean, that was definitely going to happen so she (and her child!!) needed to be okay with that 😅
It’s the same sort of situation here.

It is also a tricky name to spell unless a person is familiar with Irish language orthography. People will sometimes need to double check the spelling, but often they just won’t bother, so that’s something to consider too.

You’re a bit hard on those who have hearing difficulties @mathanxiety!

People with hearing difficulties are going to have a hard time with any name.

In the US, people are careful to get spellings of names right, including accents, hyphens, and apostrophes. There's a more respectful attitude toward difference than you would find in the UK. There's a far less homogenous naming culture here than in the UK. It is considered disrespectful to fail to try to get a name right. Someone named Saoirse would be asked about her name, its origin and pronunciation, but not in a judgmental or sneery way. Americans tend to find all things Irish very charming and interesting.

I love the name, but I do think it’ll be butchered on the regular. While Americans do find all things Irish charming, they still mispronounce the names. Case in point, Caitlín has become a whole new name!

The name is lovely however she may not enjoy having to correct everyone (she may not mind). My sister had a name who nobody could pronounce where we lived, when she went to secondary school she began going by a completely different name, when she turned 18 she officially changed her name. (It wasn’t a made up name or had any negative connotations, it was beautiful but she hated having to correct people and them still pronounce completely wrong)

Irish/British family living in the US right now and we have Irish names for our children. It is completely fine, as others have said, American's are respectful and use to names from other cultures. The only pushback we have received from American's comes from boomer grandmas who like to ask if we made our children's names up. It doesn't bother me and it doesn't bother our children.

I have lived in the US and travelled there regularly with an unusual name, it's no different from the UK. People try and get it right, sure, because most people are decent.

But this is a name with tons of vowels, pronounced quite counter intuitively and she will spend a lot of her life correcting mis spellings and mis pronunciations. It's not a nice enough name to make up for that in my opinion!

I definitely wouldn’t (even though it’s a lovely name!). I’d keep it as a middle name only. Please don’t do it to your kid!

Im irish , living in ireland and gave my children unusual irish names , Yes people get them wrong but thats life. If you love a name and its not completely tragic then use it.