Irish names in the US?

[SCFsnoopy 0]

My name gets misheard ALL the time - it's Sophie, but on a regular basis I will introduce myself only to have people go on to call me Zoe, Stacey, Chloe, Sarah (?) ... I know I've had a couple other weird ones too but I don't remember them now.

No one usually has a problem spelling it, some will double check that it is the "ph" spelling... although I've noticed that at coffee shops in particular, for whatever reason, my cup will have "Sofia" written on it. It happens to often for me to even bother about it anymore.

How are Caoimhín and Saoirse pronounced? I love the way Gaelic looks and sounds, but I'm just so clueless about pronunciation if I've never seen/heard it before

[Mand 1]

I would pronounce Caoimhín as Kwee-veen, others say Kee-veen though. Even here we can't agree And Saoirse is Seer-sha. I really like that name and didn't realise it's thought of as a strong political name!!

[SCFsnoopy 0]

I would pronounce Caoimhín as Kwee-veen, others say Kee-veen though. Even here we can't agree And Saoirse is Seer-sha. I really like that name and didn't realise it's thought of as a strong political name!!

Saoirse... Seer-sha... that's nice

I've always like the name Sorcha, which I believe (correct me if I'm wrong!) is more or less pronounced "Sor-ra" and was eventually Latinised into "Sarah"... it's a nice twist on an otherwise fairly common name.

[Mand 1]

Sorcha is actually pronounced Sor-aka

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

How do you pronounce Colm? Like the author Colm Toibin? I ask because I've heard Irish people pronounce it 2 different ways.

[familyguy 2]

How do you pronounce Colm? Like the author Colm Toibin? I ask because I've heard Irish people pronounce it 2 different ways.

Kolm - The letter c is always pronounced hard, as in cow, never soft as in cigarette.

As a guide for other names that pople have trouble with;

The slash above the letter is called a fada in Irish, meaning long, because it lengthens the vowel).

á = aw - awe, crawl (a - flat in Ulster)

é = ay - hay, bray

í = ee - feed, creep

ó = o - owe, flow

ú = oo - cool, fool (more like the French word for "where")

Also, some of the consonants are pronounced differently;

s = sh (when it is in the stressed syllable)

bh = v

dh = g

mh = w

th = h

Also, be aware that the letters j,k,q,v,w,x,y,z do not occur in Irish.

Edited September 24, 2009 by familyguy

[Mand 1]

Some people pronounce it Kolm, some Kulm and other Kulum!! It all depends on where you're from in Ireland

family guy, that's a good lesson in Irish

[JustJ 0]

Our surname is a good ole Co. Donegal one. Hard to raise your arms in Co. Donegal without meeting another with the same surname..... and yet, it's completely butchered to H*ll here.

I always planned to name a son Somhairle. Probably just begging for an a$$kicking on the playground.

[Rob and Jill 82]

My name's Gillian and that never gets pronounced right either.

I feel your pain. I bet you get Gill-ian all the time, where since mine is spelled with a J, I get to avoid that one.

I just go by Jill. I get sick of trying to make people understand my name is NOT the following:

Jilly Ann

JULIAN - Seriously? I'm not a dude.

Jill yan- Come on people...

Julie ANN-

I mean, I know, I'm from the south but ANN IS NOT MY MIDDLE NAME! (Ok I feel better)

And RENEE is not reeknee....

Ugh.

[bora bora 1]

What abour your name (if you're American) in your spouse's country? For me that's horrific!

My name is Meredith and the 'th' is difficult for many non English speakers to pronounce. In Brazil they call me Me-re-deeetch. UGH! I've never liked the nickname Mary since I love my name, but I don't even mind anymore because they butcher my name so much!

I've figured when we have kids we'll have to give them names that can be pronounced in both English & Portuguese.

For example, my DH named one of our cats Ze Buscape (which is the name of the bear in the cartoon Hillbilly Bear). The employees at the vet kept messing up his name and laughing. Ze is short for Jose (pronounced JOE SAY) and Buscape is phonetic in Portuguese. I had no idea it'd be such a big deal. Thank God our other cat's name is Sebastian.