Is Saoirse cruel?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not this again. The answer is no, don’t give your child an Irish name. Since you don’t live in Ireland and you are just an American who has some Irish ancestry, it makes absolutely no sense.

As someone who actually grew up in Ireland, it truly baffles me why Americans do this!

What an ignorant comment. There are more Irish in America than in Ireland, and they have every right to name their children with Celtic names.

Yes, I know there are many Irish people living in America. I happen to be one of them. However, OP is American with Irish ancestry. Not the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People eventually figured out Siobhan! They will figure out Saoirse too. Especially since the actor talks about how to say her name all the time - it is more commonly heard

Yeah but people spell it Shivan now too (some of them).

Sure, dumbasses do. I shudder when I see that, or “Skylar.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a “foreign” name. My parents gave me an American nickname that’s similar to my real name, which I still go by today.

Even though my last name is pronounced exactly as it’s spelled in English, and is pronounced exactly like a very famous celebrity’s except that the first letter is different, 60% of people get it wrong. (The other 40 are like, “Why? It’s pronounced exactly as it’s spelled”). The only way you would not know this household name is if you live in a community that doesn’t acknowledge televisions or Hollywood, or if you are under 25 and moved to the US last year.

If preceded by my real first name, sometimes both names simply get mispronounced. Sometimes letters get scrambled. The best is when random syllables or consonants somehow get dropped in. Some people seem to temporarily lose the ability to sound things out one syllable at a time, phonics-style. Circuits fry. Eyes glaze over. They’ve just given up by the time they get to my last name, or they actually say some iteration of my first name (both names are under six letters. They share two vowels that occur only once each.)

When I was a kid and other kids would say stuff, it was good to have “yeah that’s why I go by X” as a response to fall back on. During roll calls I learned to just raise my hand when the awkward pause happened. And I could always see the relief when I said “you can call me X”

My name doesn’t get misspelled on written correspondence too often, probably because it is really not that hard. I do get misgendered. My findability online is scattered since I don’t always have control over which name gets posted. So a bad picture from 15 years ago might be the first search result.

It pisses me off when Americans insist on calling me by (a still butchered version of) my real first name because “it’s cute! You should embrace it!” So condescending and presumptuous. I have a very strong connection to my home country, so I go by my non-American name when I’m there.

Oh man, my brain wants to solve this like the Wordle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not this again. The answer is no, don’t give your child an Irish name. Since you don’t live in Ireland and you are just an American who has some Irish ancestry, it makes absolutely no sense.

As someone who actually grew up in Ireland, it truly baffles me why Americans do this!

What an ignorant comment. There are more Irish in America than in Ireland, and they have every right to name their children with Celtic names.

Yes, I know there are many Irish people living in America. I happen to be one of them. However, OP is American with Irish ancestry. Not the same.

Again, IGNORANT.

ALL American given names - and surnames - are derived from other nationalities and languages. ALL OF THEM. Unless you want to name your child Stands With a Fist, et al. We are a nation of immigrants, period. Mary is not an American name, nor is James.

Please, stop with the ridiculous shaming of people whose chosen given names are derived from their family's ethnic origin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not this again. The answer is no, don’t give your child an Irish name. Since you don’t live in Ireland and you are just an American who has some Irish ancestry, it makes absolutely no sense.

As someone who actually grew up in Ireland, it truly baffles me why Americans do this!

What an ignorant comment. There are more Irish in America than in Ireland, and they have every right to name their children with Celtic names.

No, these people are American, not Irish. If you do not have Irish citizenship you are not Irish! Gah! This is why Americans of Irish descent are the worst.

[Anonymous]

My (ES age) daughter is friends with a Saoirse. The adults stumble over it more than the kids do and I don't think there's any reason for that to prevent you from using a lovely and meaningful name.

Kids come into a classroom at the beginning of the year, see names spelled out at the top of their classmates' desks and attach them to the student sitting there. They don't carry any baggage about how a name "should" be spelled, whether it's easy enough for Americans to pronounce, whether their parents should be "allowed" to use it, etc. until an adult frames it that way. Realistically, they will have classmates from families that don't speak English as their primary language and have names reflecting that origin. What will you tell your kids about those names?

[Anonymous]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdkd6wgbzhI

Saoirse Ronan pronouncing her name.

[Anonymous]

I gave my kid a beautiful complicated French name even though we are not French. (Like Veronique). I just liked it. Turns out she’s dyslexic. That was unkind in retrospect. She now goes by her middle name. (Think Hunter) I wish I’d made things simpler for her from the outset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not this again. The answer is no, don’t give your child an Irish name. Since you don’t live in Ireland and you are just an American who has some Irish ancestry, it makes absolutely no sense.

As someone who actually grew up in Ireland, it truly baffles me why Americans do this!

What an ignorant comment. There are more Irish in America than in Ireland, and they have every right to name their children with Celtic names.

No, these people are American, not Irish. If you do not have Irish citizenship you are not Irish! Gah! This is why Americans of Irish descent are the worst.

Why are you here? Why don't you go back to Ireland if you find Irish Americans so repugnant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not this again. The answer is no, don’t give your child an Irish name. Since you don’t live in Ireland and you are just an American who has some Irish ancestry, it makes absolutely no sense.

As someone who actually grew up in Ireland, it truly baffles me why Americans do this!

What an ignorant comment. There are more Irish in America than in Ireland, and they have every right to name their children with Celtic names.

Yes, I know there are many Irish people living in America. I happen to be one of them. However, OP is American with Irish ancestry. Not the same.

Again, IGNORANT.

ALL American given names - and surnames - are derived from other nationalities and languages. ALL OF THEM. Unless you want to name your child Stands With a Fist, et al. We are a nation of immigrants, period. Mary is not an American name, nor is James.

Please, stop with the ridiculous shaming of people whose chosen given names are derived from their family's ethnic origin.

are you always this rigid and insistent?

nobody cares if she names the child Kathleen or Maeve. It’s choosing an unpronounceable name with a specific political meaning from another nation that’s the problem. It would be like an Irish mom naming her child Baraka 😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I fully realize this is judgmental and probably even irrational, but my gut reaction when I see that name on an American-born kid is an internal eye roll because it seems really try-hard on behalf of the parents. Like they are trying to prove how sophisticated and cultured they are and are looking forward to clarifying and correcting other's pronunciation and then explaining that "it's an IRISH name" for their kid's entire childhood. Just - why do that?

I don't think that using a name from another language/culture is a problem, even if long/unfamiliar/complex/etc. - but go for something that isn't a complete nonstarter for most Americans from a pronunciation/spelling perspective.

(Maybe I had a bad run-in with some Saoirse parents along the way?)

Also definitely don't do Sari rhyme with hair. I think Sari like sorry is actually a great nickname for Saoirse and could be a way around some of the aforementioned complexity. I have a friend who's daughter is Aurelia, nicknamed Ari, that works well.

+1000. I've even encountered a Saoirse dad who was flustered and then kind of visibly angry when I pronounced it correctly off of his kid's name tag. Like I stole his chance to Irish-splain this impossible-for-dullard-Americans-to-comprehend collection of vowels. All the eye rolls.

As a person with a difficult Irish name, I 100% believe this and the previous pps take. I think my parents, even though one was an Irish citizen were pretenious af to give me this name. The only Irish thing about me, besides my name, is my ruddy complexion and striking eyes.

[Anonymous]

Please no. My husband has a name he has to explain every single time he meets a new person. EVERY SINGLE time. He is 45. It’s an Irish name. There are so many other beautiful Irish names. Do not do this unless you are moving to Ireland.

[Anonymous]

Add a few other options

Tallulah
Moira
Maureen
Marade (like parade)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not this again. The answer is no, don’t give your child an Irish name. Since you don’t live in Ireland and you are just an American who has some Irish ancestry, it makes absolutely no sense.

As someone who actually grew up in Ireland, it truly baffles me why Americans do this!

What an ignorant comment. There are more Irish in America than in Ireland, and they have every right to name their children with Celtic names.

DP but you're being very defensive. There is a difference between Irish people and Irish American people. Just like Irish people are deeply annoying and sound genuinely unintelligent complaining about how "nobody in *Ireland* names their kid Colleen/Shannon/Erin!" or "we don't eat corned beef, you posers!", Irish Americans should probably sit down somewhere when they get caught out using a name they can't pronounce or spell just to announce their Irishness to complete strangers. If you're not going to stay in your lane, you should at least be aware that lanes exist. But Americans are pretty sure the world is their highway, so we have to have this discussion infinity times.


No, these people are American, not Irish. If you do not have Irish citizenship you are not Irish! Gah! This is why Americans of Irish descent are the worst.

Why are you here? Why don't you go back to Ireland if you find Irish Americans so repugnant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not this again. The answer is no, don’t give your child an Irish name. Since you don’t live in Ireland and you are just an American who has some Irish ancestry, it makes absolutely no sense.

As someone who actually grew up in Ireland, it truly baffles me why Americans do this!

What an ignorant comment. There are more Irish in America than in Ireland, and they have every right to name their children with Celtic names.

No, these people are American, not Irish. If you do not have Irish citizenship you are not Irish! Gah! This is why Americans of Irish descent are the worst.

Why are you here? Why don't you go back to Ireland if you find Irish Americans so repugnant?

You're not talking to who you think you're talking to. More than one person finds the Irish-American obsession with their "motherland" worthy of eye rolls. Here's one now: