Saoirse is a Gaelic import, rich with meaning.Thanks to Marie for suggesting Saoirse as our Baby Name of the Day.
Saoirse: Pronunciation
Let’s begin with the inevitable question: how do you pronounce Saoirse?
It turns out that even the Irish disagree. There’s seer sha, sair sha, soar sha, and sir sha. I’ve heard seer sha most often. The first syllable rhymes with clear. It’s easy enough to say, even if it isn’t obvious.
The most famous bearer of the name tells us that it rhymes with inertia. She also admits that others say it differently, even in Ireland.
Saoirse: Ronan
Saoirse Ronan was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role as Briony in Atonement in 2007, at the age of just 13. More recently, she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her work in Brooklyn. This time, she was all of 21.
As she’s become more famous in the United States, the unusual name has caught on. In 2007, there were 38 newborn girls given the name. By 2014, that number was up to 110. Following the widespread success of Brooklyn, the name could climb even higher.
Saoirse: Freedom
The name comes from the Irish Gaelic word for freedom or liberty. It’s big in Ireland, ranking around the Top 25. But this is not a traditional Irish name – instead, it’s a twentieth century innovation.
The name traces its roots to the Irish War of Independence. Between 1921 and 1922, most of Ireland was completely independent, before part of the country became part of the United Kingdom.
The war is sometimes called Cogadh na Saoirse in Irish. So this isn’t just freedom in a general sense – it’s a very specific reference. Republic Sinn Féin – a political party that still believes in a completely independent Ireland, and has ties to violence – calls their official publication Saoirse. One of the names for the short-lived completely independent Ireland was Saorstát Éireann.
All of this makes the name especially patriotic, though I expect it feels much more mainstream today – especially as the name has increased in popularity.
Saoirse: Irish Heritage Choice
Many Americans of Irish descent left before Saoirse would have been considered a child’s name. But it still feels like a way to acknowledge your Irish heritage.
RFK and Ethel’s daughter Courtney Kennedy Hill named her daughter Saoirse Roisin. Dad is Courtney’s former husband, Paul Hill, who is Irish – in fact, he was one of the men wrongly accused of an IRA bombing in London, and imprisoned. Their story was told in the 1994 film In the Name of the Father.
Thirty years later, Song of the Sea gave the name to an animated character. The 2014 fantasy film tells of siblings Ben and Saoirse, and their adventures following the disappearance of their mother, and their discovery that selkies, faeries, and all manner of Irish folklore is real.
Between the celebrated young actress and the animated film, chances are that more and more parents will discover this intriguing name. With a new generation of Irish heritage choices on the rise, this name could join Maeve in the US Top 1000.
What do you think of Saoirse? Is the spelling/pronunciation too much to handle in the US?
This post was originally published on December 10, 2010. It was substantially revised and reposted on March 17, 2016.
For two years I have been in love with this beautiful and strong name. I am not Irish but my husband may possibly have some on his side. Regardless, that will be the name of choice if I ever have a daughter. I have researched it a lot and am well aware of its patriotic overtones and meaning. Thanks for featuring it. Great choice.
I absolutely adore this name, both the sound and the meaning. My beautiful wife is totally onboard with using it as a girl’s name. I’m just not sure I can bring myself to do it. On one hand, I used to work with a woman named Siobhan, who seemed to like her name and as far as I know never had any trouble with it. On the other hand, I don’t want to condemn the child to have to constantly spell and pronounce her name for everyone. One good thing, I suppose, is that we live in the Pacific Northwest, where people are probably a little more accustomed to unusual/artsy names than in other parts of the country. I grew up in a small town in Michigan, and nobody would EVER get the name there.
The previous poster has a point about how someone’s viewpoint could be tainted by a trendy poseur-type of couple wanting to use this name. If you use the name knowing full well the political meaning and historical context in Ireland, that’s a plus. If you have Irish heritage, all the better. If you just think it’s a pretty name but don’t understand its implications and connotations (you’d be well advised to NOT take your daughter named Saoirse on a trip to Northern Ireland, for example), well, shame on you for not doing more research. For me, I do have Irish heritage, and I agree with the ideal of a united Ireland, though not through violent means. But mostly, I think this name is simply a gorgeous way to give someone the name “Freedom” or “Liberty” without actually using those words — which I think would come off sounding a little hippie-ish.
Thanks for featuring this wonderful name!
I hear the name or even just see it and all that I can picture in my mind is a smug couple who have never so much as visited Ireland introducing their daughter to me and ranting on about heritage. Negative associations can really pull down names, right?
All told, this is a pretty name and I can see why it is attractive. My tastes are a lot more stogy and old fashioned though so it is not for me – I could not really follow up babies Agatha and Winifred with Saoirse.
I have a distant Irish ancestry, an eighth Irish to be precise, and although I myself have never been there, my parents thought it a nice and unique name. Although our connections with the island are not very strong, I don’t think it was to be smug, and as far as I can say I have never had a negative reaction to my name, and I work in a call centre so say my name about seventy times a day. Many people give their child a name that is related to some ancestry or heritage they share, not to be smug, but as a little nod to their history because it is just a nice and sometimes interesting thing to do. Being in the USA I would have thought thousands of children are running around with an Italian, Polish, Indian, African, Spanish, Greek and so on name because of their great grandmother of grandfather? That must be a lot of negative associations to contend with.
Love!!!!
It’s lovely. I did think about it when I was adamant another kid was going to get a “Gaelic” first name or else! Must complete the set etc.. Yes, I know, kids are not matching tea sets. I got shot down. I figured it wouldn’t be a complete pain in the rear now given the young actress and with Niamh and Aoife use on the rise here.
I’ve long been butthurt over Sorsha (from Willow). I wish it was a “real”, “legitimate!1eleventy!!!!!” name. I may or may not have thought about using Sorcha as a middle and mispronouncing it as at times I find the Irish prn of Sorcha, grotty.
This is a gorgeous name! So beautiful yet strong. I really wish people weren’t so afraid to use it! It honestly wouldn’t be all that unusual to see Saoirse where I live. I’m in the midwest and see a lot of Scandinavian and Irish names that might be difficult for some to pronounce (for example, my daughter has a Solveig and an Aoife in her daycare class) — I love it!
CC, your daughter’s class roster should win some sort of award – that’s just grand!
Love this name so incredibly much. I’m really happy it was featured. To me it’s also SEER-shuh.
I actually find Saoirse’s pronunciation to be somewhat more intuitive than a few of her more popular Irish Gaelic sisters (e.g. Siobhan, Naimh). I personally tend to say “seer sha” because I think it’s prettier than “sir sha”, but I like the sound of “shair sha” too. My husband is of Irish heritage, but like you pointed out, I doubt there’s any Saoirse’s on his family tree given that they migrated during the Potato Famine.
I think with a name like Saoirse, you better have the Irish heritage to back up the name or it can sound ridiculous.
As for pronunciation issues…I don’t think living a big city vs small town matters one bit. While there are a lot of Irish Americans in the NYC and Boston, there are a lot of proud Irish Midwesterners… ever heard of Norte Dame?
I was born and raised in the Midwest; I didn’t mean to offend. I completely forgot about Notre Dame and I think you’re absolutely right. I do think that where you live does matter in terms of a name’s popularity and pronunciation. For example, I have good friends (Cuban-Americans) who named their son Joaquin. When they lived in a small town in Michigan, no one pronounced it correctly, but when they moved to Chicago (with its large Latino population) they had no problems and everyone was familiar with it.
In any case, I think Saoirse is a great Irish name and it’s not the end of the world to have to spell/pronounce your name 🙂
Sarah, I know what you mean. The trick is that in a small(er) town, you may find that people get to know your name more quickly.
Possibly because they were busy gossiping about the wacky, outlandish name you picked. “Journey Coraline Wren, really? Why couldn’t she have named her a nice normal name, like Barbara?”
No offense taken, I was just having a bad day.
This is just one of those things that drives me nuts and I see it all the time on baby-name sites. A parent-to-be says something like “I love the name Saoirse, but I can’t use it because we live in Iowa. If we lived in NYC we could pull it off… but not here.”
If you love it, use it. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by how many people are already familiar with it and how many others will grow to love the name.
I’ve always thought that comment meant something more like this: “Every family we know in our peer group has chosen fairly conservative, Top 100 names, and we’re not comfortable being the first to break out of that pattern.” That’s not tied to your zip code, but to your personal experience.
My husband works in a very conservative field. I’ve usually worked amongst academics, community activists, artists, and the like. Our neighborhoods have always split the difference, but leaned more towards my world than his. It makes for an interesting experiment – his colleagues’ kids are Olivia and James and Elizabeth and Emily. You’ll hear some of those names in our ‘hood, but there’s also Seamus and Carsten and Zora and Murielle. In the first group, I can imagine it would be intimidating for some parents to announce that they’d named their kiddo Luella. In the second group? The reaction would probably be “cool name.”
I agree, though, if you love a name, use it.
It can be tricky though. I live in a smallish city which has always been pretty traditional (at my high school 10 years ago we had a token asian person, and a token african), and one of my friends Moriganagh had a terrible time with her name. She eventually just told everybody to call her Mori to make things simpler. So while loving a name can be one thing, it can be hard on your kids in the future. Of course many people mangle my name, Yvonne. E-von. Not that difficult LOL
I don’t live in a “small town” – I live in a smaller city and I think Abby hit it on the head. Most of the people we know here are kinda shocked at Imogen’s name. Most of the people we know have Madison, Madeline, Isabella, Lily, Olivia, Luke, Max, Andrew, Matthew, McKenzie (I’m actually not sure of the spelling), Ella, Thomas, Cole, etc. It’s a variety, but generally not too unusual. The reaction in England among our friends is quite different – the name there is much more common and most everyone likes it (or says so) Our friends there are like ours here – they also chose fairly well-used names, but by UK standards).
However, I do think that the difficulty posed with Gaelic spelling vs. pronunciation compounds things. I’m not saying someone shouldn’t use it, but they should do so with their eyes wide open.
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but a few years ago, a fiercely “I’m proud I’m Irish” guy at my previous place of work, who is highly educated, had literally *no idea* how to pronounce a client’s name: Siobhan. He and another well-educated (we’re talking graduate degrees from elite institutions) person, both of whom had lived in a variety of regions in the US (TX, VA, MN, NC, and in sizeable towns: Houston, Minneapolis, Richmond, etc.) were wondering if it way “sye oh BAHN” or “SIGH uh bahn.” When I mentioned that I was pretty sure it was “shaVON” they were both surprised and overall doubtful… so much so that I back-pedaled and said, “well, that’s how I heard it pronounced in England, but that doesn’t mean she would say it that way.”
Names like this aren’t impossible for Americans and not everyone will be unfamiliar, but a name like this, I think, will be slightly tougher in terms of repeating, spelling, and waiting for people to catch on – even more so than Eugenia or Svetlana, or Yokiko or Carys, which have a more clear connection between the letters on the page and the sounds heard for an English-speaker.
You’re quite right – I live in NYC and happen to know 4 women named Siobhan (another great Irish name) and find generally people don’t do a double take here when hearing “unusual” names. I actually once knew a woman named Blue.. 🙂
The meaning actually makes me like this name even more. Saoirse is very pretty and a wonderful Gaelic name. I think the pronounciation issues would depend on where you live. If you are somewhere urban like NYC I could see it not being as big of a problem than if you are in a small Midwestern town. I personally prefer the ‘seer-sha’ pronounciation, but if Saoirse Ronan gets really famous I could see her ‘sir-sha’ pronounciation becoming the standard. I do think Saoirse is a bit harder to wear than another Gaelic choice like Seamus, but I don’t think it’s impossible!
Oh, I love this name! I am madly in love with all things Gaelic, and this is one my favorite names. Unfortunately, I think that the pronunciation issues would get old reallly fast. I don’t think anyone in this neck of the woods would ever pronounce it correctly. *Sigh* I didn’t know what it meant, I just liked the sound. (Seer-sha to me) I wish it was usable.