Is Saoirse cruel?

[Anonymous]

Yep, I'm Irish, but there are a handful of names that I just wouldn't do.

Caoimhe is another one. It's impossible in America.

Now, I know a Cliodhna, and while I also think that's impossible, I would consider it spelled Cliona. The sound is lovely.

Niamh is tough, but better as it's only one syllable with a clear pronunciation.

[Anonymous]

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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 😂

Most Americans have no clue what is going on in THIS country - a very, very tiny percent would have the first clue of the political aspect of the name Saoirse.

These comments are beyond stupid.

[Anonymous]

OP I don't think it's cruel, but I also wouldn't do it.

I married into a "hard to pronounce" last name from a pretty easy to identify one. My first name has been a top 50 name for 50 years, so no problem there. But it's SO ANNOYING. I gave my kids basic and easy to say first names because the last name is so irritating.

If you are ok writing Saoirse (said Seer-Shuh) on everything then go for it. But don't use it and then be annoyed no one knows how to say or spell it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Add a few other options

Tallulah
Moira
Maureen
Marade (like parade)

Ah, yes. The spelling is Mairead, but this is also really pretty and not quite as complicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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 😂

Most Americans have no clue what is going on in THIS country - a very, very tiny percent would have the first clue of the political aspect of the name Saoirse.

These comments are beyond stupid.

The problem is when the Americans who don't have the first clue are the ones using the name for their kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep, I'm Irish, but there are a handful of names that I just wouldn't do.

Caoimhe is another one. It's impossible in America.

Now, I know a Cliodhna, and while I also think that's impossible, I would consider it spelled Cliona. The sound is lovely.

Niamh is tough, but better as it's only one syllable with a clear pronunciation.

I do know a Niamh and while it's a pretty name, that spelling is rough here in the USA.

[Anonymous]

The people I know who were born in the US to Irish parents and given more unusual Irish names (Oisin, Daithi, Taidgh) have found it to be a pain in the arse.

[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.

True that we are a nation of immigrants. I have no issue with Americans giving their children names derived from their families origin but instead of Sairose that no one knows how to pronounce, OP should stick with Kathleen, Maureen or Nora.

[Anonymous]

Unless you name your kid something Native American, or Mormon, or African American, it's probably going to be a name that didn't originate in America. If your heritage is Irish, then an Irish name makes sense.

But you don't need to pick the very hardest names to spell. Saoirse, Caoimhe, Aoife, are too hard. The issue, to me, is less the teacher not knowing how to pronounce it (they'll learn) and more the work email that goes astray because someone mistyped Saoirse as Soairse or as Saorsie or something.

I'd either pick something that's got no more than one difficult feature spelling wise -- like Ciara, or something like Maeve or Eilish that has an Americanized spelling. There are lots of beautiful options.

I also wouldn't name a kid a very political name.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

I am someone who grew up with a name that I have had to spell for others and tell them how to pronounce for my entire life due to similar circumstances. I found it a giant pain. I am in my 40s now and I can’t say I’ve ever warmed up to that and still find it mildly annoying and never truly grew to love my name (it’s not traumatic or anything and I am used to it but there is a reason I gave both my children easy to spell/everyone knows how to pronounce names.)

This said, I was friends with a Siobhan growing up and she loved her name despite also having those issues so you never know.

[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.

It comes from the historical legacy of discrimination when many arrived in the US 170+ years ago. No matter how much these first Irish immigrants and their descendants worked hard and tried to assimilate, they were always singled out, othered. Same way a third-generation American of Chinese origin is still called “Chinese” even if they’ve never been out of the country and only speak English. So what do you do? You band together, find strength in community, and try to retain the aspects of your heritage that you can, even if it warps over time and looks fake or nominal to “real” Irish people. I think that’s why Irish-Americans can be so loud about their “Irish” identity - it was ascribed to their forebears willy-nilly. Irish-Catholics in Boston were still being discriminated against when JFK was elected president, fully 100 years after they’d established a presence in the country.

[Anonymous]

*the label was ascribed

[Anonymous]

^so if anything, from a distance, I think the political idea of “Saoirse”, with only a headline-level familiarity with historical context, might even appeal to some Irish-Americans

[Anonymous]

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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.

This set of quoted responses reminds me of a son's friend's name. I never asked about the backstory. His rather unique boy's name is a word/name in Hindi and also a character in a famous sci fi movie series (probably a created name, not Hindi-driven). Anyway, the kid's mom and dad pronounced his name very differently from each other, so the entire friend cohort was unsure which was right. The parents got divorced around the kid's first grade. It was obvious they didn't agree on much and that was just one of the symptoms.

So, is your husband ready to be a "Saoirse Dad"?