Gaelic names - regrets?

JadaBlue · April 2014

Hello ladies! I'm an active member of the August 2014 board and was delighted to learn last week that my husband and I are expecting a girl. I'm hoping that a few of you might be able to share your experiences with using Gaelic or other difficult to spell names. Saoirse (seer-sha) is our favorite girl name. We love the sound, the meaning, and it suits our heritage. We're not too worried about giving her an unusual name (we are Americans who live abroad or in the DC area; our daughter will mostly attend international schools with students from many countries with diverse names). But we recognize that we'll be dooming her to very few people being able to read and then correctly pronounce her name, and to having to always spell her name. I would really love to hear from anyone who has used a difficult name about your experiences and advice.

noryang · April 2014

Foreign Service? We are too! I would worry even less about pronounciation issues when you spend so much time "in the life". Kids in international schools (I am a teacher) don't even blink at names that totally stump most Americans. I had a classfull of kids with names I struggled with for weeks but the other students and many of the more veteran international teachers never batted an eye.

We named our daughter Eowyn. If you aren't familiar it is a name from literature and not a "real name" but certainly with a strong Gaelic influence. We love, love, love the name. I was worried mostly about getting crap for the LOTR influence but few recognize it immediately and those that do think she is a pretty cool character. MANY people compliment the sound of the name. The majority stumble over the pronounciation for a second and then warm very quickly to it. I love that this is a name that she will rarely see duplicated but in the realm of "weird names" it doesn't even qualify.

Baby #2 is due in about 9 weeks. We are going with Caelan (traditional spelling) for a boy and Freya for a girl.

I think the most important thing you can do is give your child a name you love. Better to have an unusual but real name that your child can explain than one that the only explanation for is "my parents wanted my name to be unique".

==N== · April 2014

I think Saoirse is beautiful! I would quote pp but my phone always messes it up...better to have a unusual but real name than a youneek one.

naflmj · April 2014

I think you should use it but I live garlic name

noryang said:

Foreign Service? We are too! I would worry even less about pronounciation issues when you spend so much time "in the life". Kids in international schools (I am a teacher) don't even blink at names that totally stump most Americans. I had a classfull of kids with names I struggled with for weeks but the other students and many of the more veteran international teachers never batted an eye.

We named our daughter Eowyn. If you aren't familiar it is a name from literature and not a "real name" but certainly with a strong Gaelic influence. We love, love, love the name. I was worried mostly about getting crap for the LOTR influence but few recognize it immediately and those that do think she is a pretty cool character. MANY people compliment the sound of the name. The majority stumble over the pronounciation for a second and then warm very quickly to it. I love that this is a name that she will rarely see duplicated but in the realm of "weird names" it doesn't even qualify.

Baby #2 is due in about 9 weeks. We are going with Caelan (traditional spelling) for a boy and Freya for a girl.

I think the most important thing you can do is give your child a name you love. Better to have an unusual but real name that your child can explain than one that the only explanation for is "my parents wanted my name to be unique".

I love Caelan but having a sister Cailin it is out for us.

OP, I think you should stick with the name you love!

meggiev123 · April 2014

DH and I work in the international development field and live abroad. Personally we opted for a phonetic name that would be easy for people wherever we're living. That said, I agree that at an international school it won't be an issue at all. Go with the name you love!

brooklynesque · April 2014

I love the name and don't think you should worry about using it, particularly if it fits your heritage.

NerdyLucy · April 2014

I'm going to tag @DrLoretta for this because of her daughter's name. She may have some insight.

ETA: I apparently didn't tag her correctly.

https://forums.thebump.com/profile/321158/Dr.Loretta

@Dr.Loretta

Dr.Loretta · April 2014

Got the tag!

It really hasn't been much of an issue. Encounters typically go like this:

"What's her name?" I tell them"

"What?" I smile and repeat it"

"How do you spell that/what kind of name is that?" That won't help you/it's Irish

"Oh, that's pretty" Thank you

Her teachers have been fine with it. As others have mentioned, they're dealing with youneek names as it is, another unusual name isn't going to bother them. We also live in a diverse area (DD's preschool class list looks like the United Nations) and an area with a large Irish population.

And in this day and age, if you want to hire someone named Saoirse or Caelan or Niamh, a 20-second Internet search will give you a pronunciation.

LucilleAustero · April 2014

If you love the name, use it. It is a very pretty name.

I feel people are going to butcher names, even if they are fairly straightforward.

nanabanana06 · April 2014

I love this name. I have a friend in a mom group whose daughter is this name. I was shocked to see it used in real life and I loved it. I almost named my daughter Siobhan. I wish I would of stuck to my guns some days and not been talked out of it by my mom.

JadaBlue · April 2014

Thank you everyone for your encouragement, @Dr.Loretta for your on-point insight, and @mummyofsix‌ for your reality check. We'll probably continue to talk names to try to find something more pronouncable that we love as much, but if that fails at least we have a very easy last name. :-)

Dr.Loretta · April 2014

If you're looking for other suggestions, we also like Roisin, Mairead, Maeve, Bridget, and Brenna

Kitty Holland · April 2014

My mom said that back in the day Sean was considered a very ethnic Irish name that was often mispronounced.

swizzle3 · April 2014

i literally have no idea how to pronounce that name. So you will be getting that a lot i'm sure.

That being said Ciaran is a love of mine.

Dr.Loretta · April 2014

swizzle3 said:

i literally have no idea how to pronounce that name. So you will be getting that a lot i'm sure.
That being said Ciaran is a love of mine.

Here you go

https://www.babynamesofireland.com/s-names/s-names-for-girls

moonraffe · April 2014

Although easier, my name is often mispronounced, always misspelled, and apparently well loved here (Freya). But that is only in the US. When I've traveled abroad, it's never an issue. I love that my name is different, it has an interesting history, and people love it once they actually hear what it is (Sarah? No. Fran? No. Etc). Go with the name your love. People will figure it out (except Starbucks, they screw up every name on a John Travolta level) and most of us with uncommon names love them in the long run. ETA-Children rarely, if ever, mispronounce my name. So your daughter's classmates should have no issue.

kimba1976 · April 2014

We named our little girl Saoirse and have zero regrets. It is by far my favorite Irish girl name. I am pregnant again and if it's another girl, we are going to go with another traditional Irish name. Possibly Caoimhe (Kee-vah) or Aisling (Ash-ling). My husband is Irish and it is important to him that our children have Irish names. My experience so far is that yes, some people struggle with the pronunciation, but it's usually adults and not kids. When filling out any forms, I will spell out her name phonetically in the margins to help people who aren't familiar with the name pronounce it.

jallascalla · April 2014

My kids have Irish/Welsh names and I agree with the posters above, adults get it eventually, kids are totally fine. We also currently live in Asia and our kids are in an international school -- I was surprised at how many kids with gaelic names are enrolled here (as well as every other nationality).

Its great, the kids just learn the names and nothing seems weird or odd, it is just Irish or Indian or Japanese, etc.

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Gaelic names - regrets?

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