Is Saoirse cruel?

[Anonymous]

My god I keep thinking this thread will die as I roll my eyes seeing it everyday.

Of course it is not CRUEL. That is a hyperbolic and silly word.

I went to high school with a Siobhan and Sinead. Yes when you were introduced to them it took a sec, but then they were Siobhan and Sinead! And that was that.

If you love it I think it is fine, especially in this day and age when people have totally wackadoodle names that are totally fine. You are real deal Irish and so a real deal Irish name is perfectly acceptable.

[Anonymous]

It’s not cruel. It’s beautiful.

“Saoirse, like ‘inertia.’” - Chris Pratt

-signed, someone with an easy foreign name which gets butchered but I love it anyway

[Anonymous]

It’s 2024 and you’re living in a decently metropolitan area right? Not 1944 in Nebraska?

People can learn to pronounce names. It’s absolutely fine.

— works with a Siobhan. Most people in my office knew how to pronounce it from the beginning, she pronounced it for one person, no subsequent problems.

[Anonymous]

11 pages deep and I still haven’t figured out how to pronounce it.

[Anonymous]

I think it is a beautiful name. But really tough and it would be annoying to have to correct 99% of people.

[Anonymous]

Sair-sha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My god I keep thinking this thread will die as I roll my eyes seeing it everyday.

Of course it is not CRUEL. That is a hyperbolic and silly word.

I went to high school with a Siobhan and Sinead. Yes when you were introduced to them it took a sec, but then they were Siobhan and Sinead! And that was that.

If you love it I think it is fine, especially in this day and age when people have totally wackadoodle names that are totally fine. You are real deal Irish and so a real deal Irish name is perfectly acceptable.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find the "too political" comments a bit funny because Irish independence was a century ago and it's...not controversial now.

Also, it's way over the head of most Americans. My husband has an Irish revolutionary first and middle name ("George Washington Smith" style) and I didn't even realize until I walked past a monument to the historical figure in DC. Nobody ever comments on it. He's second generation, it was definitely on purpose, but it's not exactly in your face.

Of all the ignorant things posted in this thread, thinking that Irish nationalism was settled 100 years ago and there’s nothing political about it today has to be the worst. The Good Friday Agreement was in 1998. Northern Ireland politics were front and center during Brexit and they only recently reopened their government after it was shut down for almost 2 years because the DUP refused to acknowledge Sinn Fein had a majority. Saoirse is a very Irish nationalist name and is the title of a newspaper of a militant pseudo-IRA group that broke away from Sinn Fein for being too conciliatory (Sinn Fein! Conciliatory! What??).

The island is still divided and it is still A Big Issue. Saoirse is not a neutral name. Being ignorant about it doesn’t take that away. OP at least has to know what she’s doing with her “heritage.” And that’s before we touch pronunciation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids are in Catholic school and DDs did Irish dance for many years so we are very familiar with these names and it is all fine. Kids will be fine with it, adults are the problem.

To the Irish poster, my dad was first generation in US and we all have citizenship- at what point can we not use my grandmother’s name?

I’d be willing to bet decent money that your grandmother’s name follows a traditional English pronunciation. Giving children names that follow Irish spelling rules did not really occur in large numbers until forty years or so ago.

Interesting theory.

My family is part of a very large worldwide society of people of Irish descent who share a common ancestral surname. 90% of the members are from Ireland itself, and a huge number of members are far older than 40.

Looking at the membership rosters from the past 100 years shows thousands of people with traditional Irish names, such as Daithi, Mairead, Cliodhna, Aodh, Diarmuid, Eithne, Grainne, Eoghan, Muire, Eithne, Aoibheann, Tadhg, Eimear, Niamh, and Padraig. Based on my sample size of approximately 2500, it seems the use of Gaelic names certainly has occurred in large numbers, at least in people born since 1900.

[Anonymous]

It’s a trying too hard name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11 pages deep and I still haven’t figured out how to pronounce it.

sir-sha

or the one I know actually goes by sore-sha

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the "too political" comments a bit funny because Irish independence was a century ago and it's...not controversial now.

Also, it's way over the head of most Americans. My husband has an Irish revolutionary first and middle name ("George Washington Smith" style) and I didn't even realize until I walked past a monument to the historical figure in DC. Nobody ever comments on it. He's second generation, it was definitely on purpose, but it's not exactly in your face.

Of all the ignorant things posted in this thread, thinking that Irish nationalism was settled 100 years ago and there’s nothing political about it today has to be the worst. The Good Friday Agreement was in 1998. Northern Ireland politics were front and center during Brexit and they only recently reopened their government after it was shut down for almost 2 years because the DUP refused to acknowledge Sinn Fein had a majority. Saoirse is a very Irish nationalist name and is the title of a newspaper of a militant pseudo-IRA group that broke away from Sinn Fein for being too conciliatory (Sinn Fein! Conciliatory! What??).

The island is still divided and it is still A Big Issue. Saoirse is not a neutral name. Being ignorant about it doesn’t take that away. OP at least has to know what she’s doing with her “heritage.” And that’s before we touch pronunciation.

Oh come on. While I agree that Irish independence is certainly not a fully settled and calm thing to act like Saoirse is the Irish version of Adolf or something is ridiculous. It is an Irish name that is not obscure, a fairly significantly famous actress has the name. Perhaps if you were living in Belfast and had no familial history with it it could be seen as political. But an American naming their American child that after a grandparent does not have to worry about that. In my humble opinion at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a trying too hard name.

Sure, if you’re not Irish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've loved the name Saoirse for years but now that it's actually coming time to pull the trigger, I'm wondering if it's a bad idea.

Some context: I'm Irish-American with a very Irish name (first and last) but one that's pretty well-known in the US (more so now than when I was a kid). DH isn't Irish at all. DD is getting his last name so I knew I wanted an Irish first because it connects her to me and my family. Saoirse has always been my favorite and I really adore the name but knowing she's staring down the barrel of years of mispronunciations and poor guessing, I'm beginning to reconsider.

We've considered other more American Irish names like Mara, Nora, Quinn, etc but don't love them as much. What are your thoughts? Especially people who had a lot of trouble with their names growing up. Is it worth it? Also have people really become that much more familiar with the name after Saoirse Ronan?

FWIW we're planning on using Sari (said like hair, just like how we'd say sair-shuh) as a nickname but much more as a pet name than every day use name.

Great If you live in Ireland but here it is ludicrous and she will spend her life telling people how to pronounce her name. Don't even use it as a middle name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've loved the name Saoirse for years but now that it's actually coming time to pull the trigger, I'm wondering if it's a bad idea.

Some context: I'm Irish-American with a very Irish name (first and last) but one that's pretty well-known in the US (more so now than when I was a kid). DH isn't Irish at all. DD is getting his last name so I knew I wanted an Irish first because it connects her to me and my family. Saoirse has always been my favorite and I really adore the name but knowing she's staring down the barrel of years of mispronunciations and poor guessing, I'm beginning to reconsider.

We've considered other more American Irish names like Mara, Nora, Quinn, etc but don't love them as much. What are your thoughts? Especially people who had a lot of trouble with their names growing up. Is it worth it? Also have people really become that much more familiar with the name after Saoirse Ronan?

FWIW we're planning on using Sari (said like hair, just like how we'd say sair-shuh) as a nickname but much more as a pet name than every day use name.

You want to give a child a name that you can't even pronounce correctly. It's is pronounced sur-shuh.