# How Do You Pronounce 'Siobhan'?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-siobhan/251601>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 22, 2004, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-siobhan/251601 "2004-06-22T10:08:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-siobhan/251601/61 "2004-06-25T02:49:35Z")

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Ever been to Cobh (pron. “cove”)?

I have!

😃

I remember when I was told how to pronounce “slainte an bhradain chugat”, which means “health of the salmon to you”, I thought my head was going to explode. IIRC, I think it’s something like “slonteh an vredoin chooth”, with the ch kind of gutteral and the th kind of sharply spirantal in that last phonetic, like the German versions of those paired consonants.

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**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-siobhan/251601/62 "2004-06-25T15:06:53Z")

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> [@Zoe](#):
>
> All of my step-children are Irish descendants with Irish names and three of my grandchildren (siblings) have Irish names with Irish spellings. My step-daughter is another "“Shuh-VAWN” but we are Southerners and say “Shuh-VON” sometimes.
> 
> Is _Colin_ the masculine version of _Caitlin_? Is it ever spelled with two _l_’s in the Irish?

Nope, Colin is either a Welsh or a Norman name, I think. Certainly not Irish. I don’t think there is a male version of Caitlín.

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**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-siobhan/251601/63 "2004-06-25T22:52:43Z")

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The most generally accepted etymology for Colin seems to be that it’s somehow a diminutive of Nicholas.

There is an Irish name, Colm, which sounds similar to Colin (it’s a two-syllable name, believe it or not), but it’s probably not related.

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**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-siobhan/251601/64 "2004-06-25T23:25:40Z")

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> [@TwistofFate](#):
>
> Ball-ya Aw-Ha Clee-a

That’s how it would sound if you sounded all the words out, but it normally sounds like “Blaw Clee-a”.

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