The CMU pronouncing dictionary sez
Here’s how the British pronounce it (small wavfile)
“You mean coitus?” [koy-tus]
I almost drove myself nuts last year by reading a book with a character named Siobhan in it. I know how it’s pronounced, but I couldn’t get my brain to translate it on first glance.
In fairness, the spelling systems used in Irish and in Scottish Gaelic were clearly developed by drunks.
I admit I never looked it up, so I guessed.
“Co,” as in together.
“It,” as in doing it.
“Us,” as in she and I.
I was wrong, apparently. Still, KOY-tus sounds like the coughing of enormous goldfish.
So… how is Siobhan pronounced? It looks like “See- ob- hann” to me.
I’ve always heard it pronounced Sheh-vaughn. Oh, and another vote for coy-tus.
One pronunciation of Siobhan is pronounced Shi-vawn but at least one person says this:
I have one acquaintance from Scotland that has a sister Siobhan and they pronounce it shuh-VAHN.
So, it is a tough one.
Jim
shuh-VAHN.
If some website tells you otherwise, take that as evidence for how bad information on websites can be.
One of my college history professors was an authority on the history of birth control. And he did love to talk about it. So he frequently had occasion to mention “ko-eye-tus interruptus.” But he was a quirky guy with a strong Louisiana accent, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he used a non-standard pronunciation just because he liked it better.
That is how I try to say it but I was not sure if it varied between Scotland and Ireland. My last name has at least 3 accepted pronunciations in the US but only one in Italia. So there could be variation from country to country.
Jim
I should be clear that that’s the Irish pronunciation. I wasn’t aware that the name was used in Scotland.
I cannot claim any really knowledge but my WAG is that it is not common in Scotland. I have talked to person whose sister was named Siobhan in over 10 years so I cannot verify where the name came from or if it is at all popular. They did come from the highlands region near the Isle of Skye. This is an area that speaks and uses a lot more Gaelic, so it might be common in the region.
Jim {I worked for a company with a business office in Aberdeen, that is how I knew this guy, we used to like to talk as I love Scotland and I was the one programmer in the department that could best understand his heavy Brogue}
A little coitus never hoit us.
In the interest of helping complete this, uh, compendium of Siobhan-knowledge, the traditional, authentic spelling is Siobhán, with the fada on the a. Helps explain the length of the sound, anyway.
He’s causing coitus stir.
Koh-I-tuss, with a long I. (That’s what she said!)
Oh yeah, and I always thought Siobhan was pronounced Syohb-han. I knew it was wrong, but that name just don’t scan. Of course, this would be one of the “trendy names” now. Good luck giving your kid a name most Americans can’t pronounce.
Judging by what I’ve seen, there will be no problem with most Americans pronouncing it because there will be about five in every kindergarten classroom.
It makes your child different and unique to give them the same trendy name that all their classmates have, and all the moreso if you do it by stripmining a culture that you don’t actually know anything about!
Co-EE-tus.
I’d pronounce the verb “CO-it.”
This IS the correct way to pronounce it. Ko ee tuss
Geez, didn’t people have dictionaries in 2006? The OED says both /ˈkoʊədəs/ (KOH-uh-duhss) and /ˈkɔɪdəs/ (KOY-duhss) are correct in US English. But not /i/ (ee) as the middle syllable. Merriam-Webster and Collins agree.