The Central Statistics Office has just released the list of most popular baby names in Ireland in 2003.
The Top Ten for boys are:
Seán
Jack
Adam
Conor
James
Daniel
Michael
Cian
David
Dylan
For girls:
Emma
Sarah
Aoife
Ciara
Katie
Sophie
Rachel
Chloe
Amy
Leah
Full results here (warning: pdf file)
For those of us who are Gaelic-impaired, how are Cian, Aoife, and Ciana pronounced?
My approximations (not being Irish):
Cian: KEE-un*
Aoife: EE-fuh
Ciara: KEE-ruh*
In the case of Cian and Ciara, the “EE” sound is more like the “EA” you find in the word ‘ear’.
Ciara = Kira
Kira soulds a little too like Kye-Ra
it should be more like Kia-ra.
I’m glad we’ve gone back to normal names. It was getting a bit rediculous.
No, Twisty, Kira and Ciara are homophones, at least the way “Kira” is pronounced in North America.
Call my sister ‘kia-ra’ and she will hate you for all eternity.
Is that because her name is actually Angela?
Thanks!
Sooo… I’m guessing now that this fella’s first name has not only gotten an Americanized spelling but also an Americanized pronounciation (KYE-un).
Does it make you want to scream when you see/hear such things, or have you seen so many examples by now that you no longer have the energy to protest? 
The latter. E.g. I know the Irish name Caitlin is pronounced ‘KATE-linn’ in the US - the actual Irish pronunciation, however, is actually Kathleen (or Katleen).
And things have come full circle. That little girl who was killed in Limerick last year when her house was petrol bombed was called Katelyn.
Kyan is a different name: there was a King of Ulster named Anselan O’Kyan. It also has an unrelated African origin.
I did see a ‘Ciara’ on a US talk show who introduced herself as “See-ah-ruh”. :dubious:
I was saddened to see so many boring English names in the girls in the OP. Isn’t there enough frickken Emmas in the world already? (Apologies to the Emmas reading this…)
I just can’t wait for “Chloe” to disappear. What a horrible thing to do to a poor defenseless baby girl.
Ah okay, a different name altogether - so one less egregious offense. 
But an African origin, really? I’m just curious as to the particulars. A Google search on “Anselan O’Kyan” brings up a bunch of Scottish/Irish genealogy sites.
I don’t know the details, I only discovered it here while googling.
But what about “Oisin” and “Caoimhe”? All I can guess is “Oozin’” and “Cavvie.” 
Although, that particular Kyan is a stage name, and was adapted from “Cayenne.” And no, I don’t have a cite, I found that on some Queer Eye bio page a few months back and I’m not gonna go dig it up. I believe his real name is Eddie.
USH een
KWEE vuh
would be how I’d pronounce them.
Note that the report removes accent marks from the names which is a bit of a cop out in my opinion, especially as Sean is two different names depending on which vowel the accent is on.
Usheen (emphasis on the “ush” ) and Cweeva, if you use the same phonetics as me