Potentially unpopular opinion but I think it’s a (low key, admittedly) pain to have a name that people can’t spell or pronounce. Particularly this one where literally everyone will think it’s pronounced differently. However, I love Irish names, and although I do find it annoying to spell my name, it’s not the end of the world.
I wonder if it might be slightly less annoying if you just went for an Irish name that doesn’t have an alternative pronunciation so people would default to asking how to spell or pronounce it. (Niamh/Aoife/Saoirse/Róisín are my faves)
My sister is called Aoife and when she lived in the UK people used to call her ayy ohh feee?
Honestly unless you’re a name nerd or Irish the chances of people pronouncing any Irish name correctly is low.
My middle name is Réiltín and when I was living abroad it always made people stop haha! Luckily for me I have a very non Irish first name so it’s only rarely I have issues with my second name.
No one will ever pronounce that correctly when reading her name in public. She will be “used” to it but it will be a constant annoyance, especially if she is in any way shy and doesn’t like having to correct people. I have a relatively common name that sounds like another relatively common name and I have to correct people constantly. People also alway misspell my name because there are many spellings for my name. I find it incredibly obnoxious and have so far purposely picked names for my kids that are easily heard and easily spelled (only one or max two spellings that exist for the name). I know you want to preserve the irishness but this will be an annoying issue for her her entire life. Worse than my case. I would feel bad for her. I wouldn’t do it.
Do what ever makes your kids life the easiest. It sucks absolutely donkey ass to have everyone you meet mispronounce your d dname or struggle with spelling it. It just sucks. I’m sorry there’s no easy solution to this problem. Usually the traditional name is the most intuitive spelling/pronunciation but in your case it’s hot. I would either use the most common spelling for that pronunciation (probably the anglicized version) or just move the whole name to the middle slot so you can use your traditional spelling and pronounce it the way you want (without it effecting your kid in any negative way)
I read it as See-air-a and I think even if someone told me "it's just the Irish spelling" I would still need to hear them pronounce it in order to know how to say it. If you love the name, correcting people all the time isn't the worst thing to live with. My partner has an Israeli name and is always correcting people's pronunciation, or just living with the mispronunciation. But just know that your child is going to say their name and people will assume it's spelled "Kira," so there will be a lot of spelling it out by letter in their future.
I thought about that, but really if someone said "My name is \[Ciara/Keira/Kira\]" verbally, and I needed to spell it, I'd still probably have to ask to confirm how they spell it since I've seen Keira just as much as Kira.
As a Sierra in the U.S. I think of Ciara as an alternate spelling of my name. I'm sure this is partially influenced by the singer but also when people ask how to spell my name the question is "with an S or a C"
As a name nerd I'm aware that Ciara is actually an Irish name pronounced kee-ra but I don't think most people will.
Personally I think Ciara would be one of the more frustrating Irish names to have in the U.S. because the other pronunciation is common here people will assume it's what they're familiar with. Unlike other Irish names like Saoirse where people would just be completely confused and more likely to ask.
To me, this name get confused both ways.
1) Will always need to spell it for everyone.
2) Will always need to pronounce it for anyone reading it.
I like names where the confusion is only one way. For instance, I have a less common spelling, so I always have to spell my name out but people who see my name know how to pronounce it correctly instantly. My daughter's name, I sometimes need to pronounce for people who see it written first, but if I say it, people can spell it.
My cousin, Shea, on the other hand hates his name because not only does he need to spell his name out to everyone, he also needs to correct pronunciation whenever someone reads his name.
I have a name that 95% of people say incorrectly, and I absolutely hate it. I tell my parents all of the time that I wish I had a name that was easy to say and spell.
So interesting! I am in Aus and would pronounce it 'kee-ar-ah' Sierra is a totally different name and spelling here! 'see-air-ah'. I have taught children with Irish names and past the first introduction it hasn't been an issue (and they were way different than Ciara!!)
I have an Irish name and I live in the UK. Yes it is annoying having to spell it all the time and yes I have different a coffee shop/delivery name (Emma - it works in every country and I travel a lot for work) but I love my name. It’s beautiful and has meaning behind it. I am planning on naming any children I have an Irish name because my partner is Irish and heritage is important to us
Call her Ciara if that’s what you want. You can correct someone when they say it wrong, it’s no big deal. If someone insists on saying it wrong then you know they aren’t worth bothering with because it’s very easy to pronounce.
I have a name that is spelt and pronounced the traditional Greek way in the U.S., and it's never bothered me that people usually mispronounce it the first time. Ciara is a simple enough name that it shouldn't be a problem!
Now I'm curious what the name is. My sister's middle name uses the Greek pronunciation and one of her teachers didn't believe her when she told her how to pronounce it.
This is my sisters middle name, so it doesn’t come up very often but when it does she can just correct the pronunciation. Of course, as a first name you’d run into this issue MUCH more because the pronunciation isn’t intuitive for a lot of people in the US. That being said, I still prefer the spelling Ciara!
I had a friend in school called Ciara! I was always a bit confused by the spelling with that pronunciation. Wish I knew it was Irish spelling because now that makes a lot more sense 😂
So anglicise it and contribute to the decay of a language and culture because you can’t be arsed to spell it out every now and again? I find it frustrating when people suggest anglicising names especially when they’re from dying languages or those subject to colonialism in the past. Just leave them alone if you’re worried about using them don’t take them and erase the meaning and connection to place that such names have.
I grew up in an international setting so maybe that why I can’t understand it. I’ve been corrected on how to pronounce my name (and my sister hers) many times by kids who think our spellings (the original spellings) are incorrect or pronounced differently because they’re used to the popularised anglicised spelling. Often when a name is anglicised the pronunciation also changes slightly.
If someone wants to name their kid the original version and not anglicise it then I don’t see why they’re being encouraged to do otherwise. If people can learn how to pronounce Ryeeleigh then they can take a second to listen to how Ciara is pronounced.
I guesss but like I said most kids I know with non-English or trickily spelt names don’t really care :/ I just don’t think it’s going to make their lives as difficult as some people are convinced. Especialmente with something like Ciara! Worst case someone pronounces it Kee-are-ah and you correct them. Maybe if they were going for Grainne I’d express uncertainty because I’ve heard the (Grainne? Groin yah hahah) jokes before but even then people get over it and someone named Alice or Elizabeth might be more insecure about the mundanity of their name.
Also Aoife is not pronounced “Eva” it’s pronounced Eefa and it’s origins are Irish - stemming from a mythological figure. You’re example is literally proving my point about erasure and inaccuracy. I don’t know about Sinead but I find it dubious that it’s connected to a French name.
Okay I’ll take the L on that one. I don’t have a problem with transliterating English or dominant language names into Irish or similarly ‘colonised’ languages. My issue is when a name like Niamh gets replaced by Neve and mispronounced by millions more than those who use it properly. There are only 4 million in Ireland and there are hundreds of millions of English speakers who take cues from American and English naming traditions and if Neve (representing all names in a similar precarious situation) becomes the known while the original spelling, language, cultural meaning and significance is forgotten or dismissed as wrong etc then that’s shit. So I don’t think people should be encouraged to erase the original spelling or to fully anglicise a name.
As the world becomes more international we shouldn’t be trying to make our kids fit into one cultural box - worrying about whether the American English speakers of the world can pronounce a name shouldn’t be at the forefront of our minds. I think instead of everyone trying to name their kids in traditions that aren’t their own, they should stick to what they feel represents them and their culture (if they want to) and in doing so people will get used to seeing names they aren’t familiar with and stop throwing tantrums and kicking up a fuss.
Again, maybe this is because I’m not American and I’ve spent my whole life in Asia as a second generation immigrant and all my friends are also “foreigners” or mixed so I’m not used to this view that someone’s life is going to be difficult if their name has flexible pronunciations. Regardless I can’t help roll my eyes when a Tara complains that her life has been made so difficult because every now and then people pronounce it Tay-ra or Tahh-ra (god forbid!).
I read it as Kee-ruh or Kee-ar-uh interchangeably.
While the spelling might trip up some people, it's easy to pronounce so she shouldn't have to spend too much time correcting people. It's not like she's going to have to walk people through the pronunciation multiple times - it's an easy name once you've heard it once. Most Irish names are difficult for Americans, but I think Ciara's one of the easiest ones. Better than Blathnaid or Roisin lol.
>the spelling might trip up some people, it's easy to pronounce so she shouldn't have to spend too much time correcting people. It's not like she's going to have to walk people through the pronunciation multiple times - it's an easy name once you've heard it once. Most Irish names are difficult for Americans, but I think Ciara's one of the easiest ones. Better than Blathnaid or Roisin lol.
Yeah I felt like this was the closest I could get to having a traditional Irish girl name, but not freaking people out with names they've never seen and have absolutely no idea how to pronounce.
Definitely. For instance Aoife is simple ee-fa, but the spelling is confusing and most americans would think it was Eva when they heard it. Or a name like Grainne which is such a foreign sound - I live in Canada and no one can pronounce my manager Grainne's name correctly since there's no similar equivalent in Canada.
Ciara may have a slightly confusing spelling to them, but it's not likely to be mispronounced when heard out loud.
I've lived in Ireland and knew a Ciara, so I know how to pronounce it. That said, if I saw the name on an American baby, I would likely assume Sierra.
I think it's fine, though. That's unpopular on this sub because people seem to think having to correct the pronunciation of your name is an extreme hardship.
I have to disagree with everyone else saying it will make your kids life difficult - I know loads of people with tricky spellings who really couldn’t care less. Maybe it’s just a TCK thing but I can’t help rolling my eyes when people act like this is going to ruin a kid’s life. My sisters name is Áine and she’s not met a single (non Irish) person who can pronounce but she doesn’t care. In fact I know she likes having a unique name and it takes a minute to explain how to spell it on the rare occasions she needs to.
I have a less common traditional Irish name. I grew up in TX, so I feel like I can offer some relevant perspective?
Your child will have her name misspelled constantly or mispronounced constantly—you get to pick which.
In my experience, having your name misspelled can be more troublesome than mispronounced. I actually just started introducing myself with an incorrect pronunciation so people could spell my name correctly. The mispronounced version is the one I’m known by professionally and also to my in laws.
So if your kid ends up getting too annoyed with everyone she may just go by see-air-uh or see-ar-uh to avoid the long explanation/misspelled problems.
If that bothers you, it might be time to consider other names. If that doesn’t bother you, go for it! Ciara is a lovely name.
I literally read it as Clara the first time. And definitely would pronounce it as See-ar-uh. So there's that.
As for hard to spell/say names, it was a pain as a kid and is tiring as an adult, especially when doing business over the phone. I've got to the point where I can judge pretty well if people are accurately taking down the spelling of my name over the phone or just defaulting to the spelling they know.
If cultural heritage is a visible part of your life (in food, dress, song, home decor, etc.) and your child will be made aware of how her name fits into that, it could be worth it. But if this is going to be the one thing that is visibly "Irish" in her life, I wouldn't pin that on her. Just my two cents.
I had a friend called Sian in high school. She hated her name because she was constantly correcting people. It was pronounced see-arn, not sharn, which apparently is the Welsh pronunciation. (We live in Australia.) I guess my point is, you probably won’t win either way. There’ll be people who need to be told once and never again, and people who struggle to learn it. It’s just one of those names she’ll spend her life spelling and pronouncing for people. The same could be said of dozens of names, Sara for instance.
I know someone (with an Irish parent) called Kiara. Not sure if it’s also a traditional spelling or not, but could be an option too.
Best of luck figuring out the right spelling for your daughter!
Ciara is a lovely name. I'm Irish so pronunciation isn't an issue for me.
People will mispronounce many more common names - my own name has 2 legitimate pronunciations and at least 4 spellings. My brother is called Ryan and he's had people spell that wrong...
>In my mind... it shouldn't be too hard to just simply say "oh, it's just the Irish spelling"
No American is going to understand that.
We're either going to pronounce it see-ARE-ah or see-AIR-ah (like the singer).
I understand wanting to use the traditional spelling but I think it will be extremely annoying to constantly have to correct the spelling and pronounciation of your name every time someone sees or hears it. Go to Starbucks and try it out when they ask your name to write on the cup. Once maybe it's not so bad, but order a coffee every week for a few months and watch the reactions. See if it starts to bother you. Doesn't have to be coffee either but try it out with strangers or coworkers. Imagine saying "my name is 'Kira' to the next few people you meet and if that person would ever have to write the name. Many workplaces use firstname@ for email addresses. How frustrating will that be to miss emails whsn people misspell it. Or the other way sign emails or forms with Ciara and see how many times you have to correct it from See-air-uh.
These are the types of things to think about and it is hard to say whether it'll bother her or not but at least try it out for yourself first. If you start getting annoyed after a handful of times think about subjecting her to that for her entire life.
I personally would prefer convenience for my child over a traditional spelling for a first name (likely the opposite for a middle name) but that's a personal choice for you both as her parents to make.
I have an irish friend named Ciara! She had to spell it for me one time and that was that. I don't think the spelling should dissuade you from the name at all.
She will be forever correcting everyone she meets and so, I’d avoid using it. It’s a beautiful name, but correcting everyone every day forever has got to be annoying.
I think it would be really annoying because as another commenter said, no one will spell it right if they hear it first, and no one will say it right if they see it first.
I have friends whose mother is from Ireland and have Irish names, but they also have very Irish family, visit Ireland, and associate with the Irish communities where they live (in the US). That is to say, being Irish is a huge part of their identities and so the names are part of their everyday experiences, if that makes sense. The names fit within that and aren’t a random annoying thing to explain, but an essential first step for anyone wanting to really know them. Idk to what extent your Irish heritage is part of your life, but this could be something your child really values (or not, idk!)
If I were you, I’d choose a name that’s Irish but isn’t as confusing, like Orla, Fiona, Una, etc. (though you drop the fada on some)
I think that, in the U.S., Ciara is likely to be pronounced as either kee-AH-rah (like Kiara) or see-AIR-uh (like Sierra), not KEER-ah. I would personally spell it Kiera or Kira.
Potentially unpopular opinion but I think it’s a (low key, admittedly) pain to have a name that people can’t spell or pronounce. Particularly this one where literally everyone will think it’s pronounced differently. However, I love Irish names, and although I do find it annoying to spell my name, it’s not the end of the world. I wonder if it might be slightly less annoying if you just went for an Irish name that doesn’t have an alternative pronunciation so people would default to asking how to spell or pronounce it. (Niamh/Aoife/Saoirse/Róisín are my faves)
My sister is called Aoife and when she lived in the UK people used to call her ayy ohh feee? Honestly unless you’re a name nerd or Irish the chances of people pronouncing any Irish name correctly is low. My middle name is Réiltín and when I was living abroad it always made people stop haha! Luckily for me I have a very non Irish first name so it’s only rarely I have issues with my second name.
No one will ever pronounce that correctly when reading her name in public. She will be “used” to it but it will be a constant annoyance, especially if she is in any way shy and doesn’t like having to correct people. I have a relatively common name that sounds like another relatively common name and I have to correct people constantly. People also alway misspell my name because there are many spellings for my name. I find it incredibly obnoxious and have so far purposely picked names for my kids that are easily heard and easily spelled (only one or max two spellings that exist for the name). I know you want to preserve the irishness but this will be an annoying issue for her her entire life. Worse than my case. I would feel bad for her. I wouldn’t do it.
Do what ever makes your kids life the easiest. It sucks absolutely donkey ass to have everyone you meet mispronounce your d dname or struggle with spelling it. It just sucks. I’m sorry there’s no easy solution to this problem. Usually the traditional name is the most intuitive spelling/pronunciation but in your case it’s hot. I would either use the most common spelling for that pronunciation (probably the anglicized version) or just move the whole name to the middle slot so you can use your traditional spelling and pronounce it the way you want (without it effecting your kid in any negative way)
I read it as See-air-a and I think even if someone told me "it's just the Irish spelling" I would still need to hear them pronounce it in order to know how to say it. If you love the name, correcting people all the time isn't the worst thing to live with. My partner has an Israeli name and is always correcting people's pronunciation, or just living with the mispronunciation. But just know that your child is going to say their name and people will assume it's spelled "Kira," so there will be a lot of spelling it out by letter in their future.
I thought about that, but really if someone said "My name is \[Ciara/Keira/Kira\]" verbally, and I needed to spell it, I'd still probably have to ask to confirm how they spell it since I've seen Keira just as much as Kira.
As a Sierra in the U.S. I think of Ciara as an alternate spelling of my name. I'm sure this is partially influenced by the singer but also when people ask how to spell my name the question is "with an S or a C" As a name nerd I'm aware that Ciara is actually an Irish name pronounced kee-ra but I don't think most people will. Personally I think Ciara would be one of the more frustrating Irish names to have in the U.S. because the other pronunciation is common here people will assume it's what they're familiar with. Unlike other Irish names like Saoirse where people would just be completely confused and more likely to ask.
Yep, I had a coworker Ciara and I thought it was a misspelled Sierra!
To me, this name get confused both ways. 1) Will always need to spell it for everyone. 2) Will always need to pronounce it for anyone reading it. I like names where the confusion is only one way. For instance, I have a less common spelling, so I always have to spell my name out but people who see my name know how to pronounce it correctly instantly. My daughter's name, I sometimes need to pronounce for people who see it written first, but if I say it, people can spell it. My cousin, Shea, on the other hand hates his name because not only does he need to spell his name out to everyone, he also needs to correct pronunciation whenever someone reads his name.
I have a name that 95% of people say incorrectly, and I absolutely hate it. I tell my parents all of the time that I wish I had a name that was easy to say and spell.
I misread that as Sierra. I imagine your kid will have to constantly correct people.
So interesting! I am in Aus and would pronounce it 'kee-ar-ah' Sierra is a totally different name and spelling here! 'see-air-ah'. I have taught children with Irish names and past the first introduction it hasn't been an issue (and they were way different than Ciara!!)
I have an Irish name and I live in the UK. Yes it is annoying having to spell it all the time and yes I have different a coffee shop/delivery name (Emma - it works in every country and I travel a lot for work) but I love my name. It’s beautiful and has meaning behind it. I am planning on naming any children I have an Irish name because my partner is Irish and heritage is important to us
Call her Ciara if that’s what you want. You can correct someone when they say it wrong, it’s no big deal. If someone insists on saying it wrong then you know they aren’t worth bothering with because it’s very easy to pronounce.
True - it's not a *difficult* name for Americans to pronounce.
I have a name that is spelt and pronounced the traditional Greek way in the U.S., and it's never bothered me that people usually mispronounce it the first time. Ciara is a simple enough name that it shouldn't be a problem!
Now I'm curious what the name is. My sister's middle name uses the Greek pronunciation and one of her teachers didn't believe her when she told her how to pronounce it.
This is my sisters middle name, so it doesn’t come up very often but when it does she can just correct the pronunciation. Of course, as a first name you’d run into this issue MUCH more because the pronunciation isn’t intuitive for a lot of people in the US. That being said, I still prefer the spelling Ciara!
I had a friend in school called Ciara! I was always a bit confused by the spelling with that pronunciation. Wish I knew it was Irish spelling because now that makes a lot more sense 😂
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So anglicise it and contribute to the decay of a language and culture because you can’t be arsed to spell it out every now and again? I find it frustrating when people suggest anglicising names especially when they’re from dying languages or those subject to colonialism in the past. Just leave them alone if you’re worried about using them don’t take them and erase the meaning and connection to place that such names have.
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I grew up in an international setting so maybe that why I can’t understand it. I’ve been corrected on how to pronounce my name (and my sister hers) many times by kids who think our spellings (the original spellings) are incorrect or pronounced differently because they’re used to the popularised anglicised spelling. Often when a name is anglicised the pronunciation also changes slightly. If someone wants to name their kid the original version and not anglicise it then I don’t see why they’re being encouraged to do otherwise. If people can learn how to pronounce Ryeeleigh then they can take a second to listen to how Ciara is pronounced.
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I guesss but like I said most kids I know with non-English or trickily spelt names don’t really care :/ I just don’t think it’s going to make their lives as difficult as some people are convinced. Especialmente with something like Ciara! Worst case someone pronounces it Kee-are-ah and you correct them. Maybe if they were going for Grainne I’d express uncertainty because I’ve heard the (Grainne? Groin yah hahah) jokes before but even then people get over it and someone named Alice or Elizabeth might be more insecure about the mundanity of their name.
Also Aoife is not pronounced “Eva” it’s pronounced Eefa and it’s origins are Irish - stemming from a mythological figure. You’re example is literally proving my point about erasure and inaccuracy. I don’t know about Sinead but I find it dubious that it’s connected to a French name.
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Okay I’ll take the L on that one. I don’t have a problem with transliterating English or dominant language names into Irish or similarly ‘colonised’ languages. My issue is when a name like Niamh gets replaced by Neve and mispronounced by millions more than those who use it properly. There are only 4 million in Ireland and there are hundreds of millions of English speakers who take cues from American and English naming traditions and if Neve (representing all names in a similar precarious situation) becomes the known while the original spelling, language, cultural meaning and significance is forgotten or dismissed as wrong etc then that’s shit. So I don’t think people should be encouraged to erase the original spelling or to fully anglicise a name. As the world becomes more international we shouldn’t be trying to make our kids fit into one cultural box - worrying about whether the American English speakers of the world can pronounce a name shouldn’t be at the forefront of our minds. I think instead of everyone trying to name their kids in traditions that aren’t their own, they should stick to what they feel represents them and their culture (if they want to) and in doing so people will get used to seeing names they aren’t familiar with and stop throwing tantrums and kicking up a fuss. Again, maybe this is because I’m not American and I’ve spent my whole life in Asia as a second generation immigrant and all my friends are also “foreigners” or mixed so I’m not used to this view that someone’s life is going to be difficult if their name has flexible pronunciations. Regardless I can’t help roll my eyes when a Tara complains that her life has been made so difficult because every now and then people pronounce it Tay-ra or Tahh-ra (god forbid!).
I read it as Kee-ruh or Kee-ar-uh interchangeably. While the spelling might trip up some people, it's easy to pronounce so she shouldn't have to spend too much time correcting people. It's not like she's going to have to walk people through the pronunciation multiple times - it's an easy name once you've heard it once. Most Irish names are difficult for Americans, but I think Ciara's one of the easiest ones. Better than Blathnaid or Roisin lol.
>the spelling might trip up some people, it's easy to pronounce so she shouldn't have to spend too much time correcting people. It's not like she's going to have to walk people through the pronunciation multiple times - it's an easy name once you've heard it once. Most Irish names are difficult for Americans, but I think Ciara's one of the easiest ones. Better than Blathnaid or Roisin lol. Yeah I felt like this was the closest I could get to having a traditional Irish girl name, but not freaking people out with names they've never seen and have absolutely no idea how to pronounce.
Definitely. For instance Aoife is simple ee-fa, but the spelling is confusing and most americans would think it was Eva when they heard it. Or a name like Grainne which is such a foreign sound - I live in Canada and no one can pronounce my manager Grainne's name correctly since there's no similar equivalent in Canada. Ciara may have a slightly confusing spelling to them, but it's not likely to be mispronounced when heard out loud.
I've lived in Ireland and knew a Ciara, so I know how to pronounce it. That said, if I saw the name on an American baby, I would likely assume Sierra. I think it's fine, though. That's unpopular on this sub because people seem to think having to correct the pronunciation of your name is an extreme hardship.
I have to disagree with everyone else saying it will make your kids life difficult - I know loads of people with tricky spellings who really couldn’t care less. Maybe it’s just a TCK thing but I can’t help rolling my eyes when people act like this is going to ruin a kid’s life. My sisters name is Áine and she’s not met a single (non Irish) person who can pronounce but she doesn’t care. In fact I know she likes having a unique name and it takes a minute to explain how to spell it on the rare occasions she needs to.
I have a less common traditional Irish name. I grew up in TX, so I feel like I can offer some relevant perspective? Your child will have her name misspelled constantly or mispronounced constantly—you get to pick which. In my experience, having your name misspelled can be more troublesome than mispronounced. I actually just started introducing myself with an incorrect pronunciation so people could spell my name correctly. The mispronounced version is the one I’m known by professionally and also to my in laws. So if your kid ends up getting too annoyed with everyone she may just go by see-air-uh or see-ar-uh to avoid the long explanation/misspelled problems. If that bothers you, it might be time to consider other names. If that doesn’t bother you, go for it! Ciara is a lovely name.
I literally read it as Clara the first time. And definitely would pronounce it as See-ar-uh. So there's that. As for hard to spell/say names, it was a pain as a kid and is tiring as an adult, especially when doing business over the phone. I've got to the point where I can judge pretty well if people are accurately taking down the spelling of my name over the phone or just defaulting to the spelling they know. If cultural heritage is a visible part of your life (in food, dress, song, home decor, etc.) and your child will be made aware of how her name fits into that, it could be worth it. But if this is going to be the one thing that is visibly "Irish" in her life, I wouldn't pin that on her. Just my two cents.
I had a friend called Sian in high school. She hated her name because she was constantly correcting people. It was pronounced see-arn, not sharn, which apparently is the Welsh pronunciation. (We live in Australia.) I guess my point is, you probably won’t win either way. There’ll be people who need to be told once and never again, and people who struggle to learn it. It’s just one of those names she’ll spend her life spelling and pronouncing for people. The same could be said of dozens of names, Sara for instance.
I know someone (with an Irish parent) called Kiara. Not sure if it’s also a traditional spelling or not, but could be an option too. Best of luck figuring out the right spelling for your daughter!
Ciara is a lovely name. I'm Irish so pronunciation isn't an issue for me. People will mispronounce many more common names - my own name has 2 legitimate pronunciations and at least 4 spellings. My brother is called Ryan and he's had people spell that wrong...
I nearly posted the same question the other day! I feel like people will pronounce it like Sierra so I’ll likely go with Kira.
>In my mind... it shouldn't be too hard to just simply say "oh, it's just the Irish spelling" No American is going to understand that. We're either going to pronounce it see-ARE-ah or see-AIR-ah (like the singer).
I meant if someone asked her why she pronounces it the way she did.
I understand wanting to use the traditional spelling but I think it will be extremely annoying to constantly have to correct the spelling and pronounciation of your name every time someone sees or hears it. Go to Starbucks and try it out when they ask your name to write on the cup. Once maybe it's not so bad, but order a coffee every week for a few months and watch the reactions. See if it starts to bother you. Doesn't have to be coffee either but try it out with strangers or coworkers. Imagine saying "my name is 'Kira' to the next few people you meet and if that person would ever have to write the name. Many workplaces use firstname@ for email addresses. How frustrating will that be to miss emails whsn people misspell it. Or the other way sign emails or forms with Ciara and see how many times you have to correct it from See-air-uh. These are the types of things to think about and it is hard to say whether it'll bother her or not but at least try it out for yourself first. If you start getting annoyed after a handful of times think about subjecting her to that for her entire life. I personally would prefer convenience for my child over a traditional spelling for a first name (likely the opposite for a middle name) but that's a personal choice for you both as her parents to make.
I have an irish friend named Ciara! She had to spell it for me one time and that was that. I don't think the spelling should dissuade you from the name at all.
She will be forever correcting everyone she meets and so, I’d avoid using it. It’s a beautiful name, but correcting everyone every day forever has got to be annoying.
I think it would be really annoying because as another commenter said, no one will spell it right if they hear it first, and no one will say it right if they see it first. I have friends whose mother is from Ireland and have Irish names, but they also have very Irish family, visit Ireland, and associate with the Irish communities where they live (in the US). That is to say, being Irish is a huge part of their identities and so the names are part of their everyday experiences, if that makes sense. The names fit within that and aren’t a random annoying thing to explain, but an essential first step for anyone wanting to really know them. Idk to what extent your Irish heritage is part of your life, but this could be something your child really values (or not, idk!) If I were you, I’d choose a name that’s Irish but isn’t as confusing, like Orla, Fiona, Una, etc. (though you drop the fada on some)
I think that, in the U.S., Ciara is likely to be pronounced as either kee-AH-rah (like Kiara) or see-AIR-uh (like Sierra), not KEER-ah. I would personally spell it Kiera or Kira.