Anonymous
Post 04/10/2024 15:54     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
Don't do it!

My friend's daughter is Ciara pronounced "Keera" and even that is annoying for her to deal with.

My name is beautiful and from a different culture... it is unusual, but it is PRONOUNCED EXACTLY AS IT IS SPELLED and it is butchered EVERY TIME.

Ever not go up to someone you would otherwise talk to at a work event, pta meeting, baby shower, etc. because you weren't sure how to say their name? I can tell you that many people do. Don't limit your child with something this level difficult.

Also, be careful 'planning' for nicknames. Make sure you love the given name.
Anonymous
Post 04/10/2024 13:56     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
Cousin of a Caoimhe here...don't do it! My cousin has gotten over it but elementary & middle school in the states was needlessly miserable because of her name. The anticipation of a new person having to see and try to say her name made her such an anxious kid.

-Bridget (a great Irish but still pronounce-able name)
Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 20:01     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
Anonymous wrote:Btw I love the name. But I think the majority of people will butcher it


They will. Op, maybe use it as a middle name.
Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 19:55     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
I volunteered for a rabbit rescue several years back (don’t ask lol) and one of the rabbits was named Saiorse. That was the first time I’d heard it and of course just seeing it, I had no clue how to pronounce it. One of the other volunteers had to clue me in. If you’re set on that name, just make it a middle name like PPs said.
Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 19:51     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
Anonymous wrote:I think it’s a beautiful name. My children have ethnic names from my culture. It never even crossed my mind that it could be cruel because it’s not.


Agree
Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 19:50     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
Another idea:

Áine - pronounced Awn-yuh -- is a great Irish name and has a very common US spelling -- Anya!

Bonus, this name is also used in a lot of other cultures, so it's just a really great all-around name that most people will be able to pronounce wherever your daughter may go.
Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 19:48     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
Haven’t read the thread but totally confused about the nickname - don’t understand.
Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 19:46     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
Anonymous wrote:
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.


Mairead is beautiful, and preferable to a spelling that resembles "Marinade."

I suspect the reason that Indian names work well for American English speakers is because they originated in phonetic languages (unlike English, ha) and so get spelled phonetically.

The equivalent here would be "Seersha" or "Sersha." I know it doesn't look quite right. But I've known plenty of Owens and Patricks and Sheilas, and these spellings struck me as normal BECAUSE at some point a few decades ago, people started using these spellings instead of Eoghan, Pádraig, and Síle/Seelagh.

OP, you could be one of the changemakers!
Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 19:41     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
Use it as the middle name.
Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 19:39     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
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.
Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 19:36     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
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!


America is a blend of all cultures. Would you tell someone of Italian ancestry that they can’t name their kid Giovanni, for example? Any easily pronounced Irish name is common in the US. The only issue is how difficult it would be for others to pronounce Saorsie.


The problem is that many Irish names are unique in that they don’t follow standard English spelling rules. There would be no fuss if op wanted to name her child Maeve or Nora or Kathleen or Eileen. The issue is the proper Irish pronunciation of Saiorse deviates wildly from the American pronunciation rules.


Exactly!
Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 19:36     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
Anonymous wrote:This is a mess. Sari said like hair? How in the Irish Catholic Church is that going to make sense in the US?! You're going to call your daughter hair? What?

Nobody will pronounce it right unless they're Irish and nobody will spell the vowels right in the right order.


Yeah. I’m already confused and very accustomed to names from a variety of countries. Irish names are a mystery to me.

I’ll take a name from Ethiopia, France, or Iran any day of the week over an Irish one.

Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 19:32     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
No one will pronounce Sari the way you want. It’s like Sair-a vs Say-ra for Sara. She will get bored of correcting people or teaching people how to say or spell it. That said, it could be worse. My son has a friend named Fionnuala.
Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 19:29     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
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.


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.


Yes and their Irish great-great grandmother immigrant to the US was named Mary or Kathleen. Not Saorsie. It’s like someone in Dublin naming their child Brooklyn :)


Totally, the Irish immigrant side of our family had a Mary, Kathleen, and Frances...but the other side was from a non-English speaking country, got Anglicized nicknames as soon as they came to the US, and named their kids things like Alice, Rose, and Edward. There are generational trends, and all the way into at least the 60s immigrants wanted to give their kids "easy" American names so they wouldn't stick out and would assimilate easily. So I don't think this


Sorry, post unfinished. I don't think the assimilation pressures early to mid-20th century immigrants felt are necessarily representative of "tradition," just like I don't think a third or fourth generation American trying to reconnect with their heritage is experiencing it the way someone in Ireland or another country is.
Anonymous
Post 04/09/2024 19:28     Subject: Is Saoirse cruel?
Anonymous wrote:
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.


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.


Yes and their Irish great-great grandmother immigrant to the US was named Mary or Kathleen. Not Saorsie. It’s like someone in Dublin naming their child Brooklyn :)


Totally, the Irish immigrant side of our family had a Mary, Kathleen, and Frances...but the other side was from a non-English speaking country, got Anglicized nicknames as soon as they came to the US, and named their kids things like Alice, Rose, and Edward. There are generational trends, and all the way into at least the 60s immigrants wanted to give their kids "easy" American names so they wouldn't stick out and would assimilate easily. So I don't think this