# Shawn, Sean and Sade **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 10, 2001, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956 "2001-05-10T03:30:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/21 "2001-05-12T09:41:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doobieous \* > \*\*Sade comes from Britain. Her ancestry is Nigerian/British and was originally “Helen Adu”. So, Sade is her stage name. \*\* Isn’t Folasade her middle name? ---
**Author:** ![Pammipoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/87869e/32.png) [@Pammipoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pammipoo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/22 "2001-05-12T17:26:00Z")
This has nothing to do with the original question, but one of my best friends is Sean. For years, I spelled it as Shawn…it drove him crazy. For some weird reason, people are anal about things like that, go figure. Eventually I stopped…it was just fun pissing him off though 😃 ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/23 "2001-05-12T23:34:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by missbunny \* > \*\* > How about “Liam”? I cannot tell you how many idiots have insisted to me that it’s pronounced “lamb.” (None of them Irish, of course.) \*\* That happens to be my first name. Around here, I usually get “Lem” or “Lye-am.” Of course, I live in Cincinnatuh, home of the Bangles. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/24 "2001-05-15T09:31:40Z")
Whoa Kilt wearin’ Man! Way to scare off a poster!! Dia dhuit Glass Onion, chonas ata tu? As ruadh once again beat me to it, the fada is over the “a”, and serves to elonggate the sound. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/25 "2001-05-15T11:17:38Z")
All this talk about Sean makes me think about the best known (?) wearer of that name: Sean Connery. His real name, in case you didn’t know, is Thomas Connery, and adding a Sean would thus make him John Thomas Connery. I wonder if he thought of that when he changed his name. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/26 "2001-05-15T12:48:33Z")
And just how many of us would you suppose have read _Lady Chatterley’s Lover_ that would catch that allusion to “John Thomas”? Well, quite a few who haven’t read it would have seen the Monty Python film _The Meaning of Life_— “I am a Protestant! That means I can wear a rubber sheath on my John Thomas!” ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/27 "2001-05-15T13:27:10Z")
The immortal (or is it immoral?) singer/songwriter Ivor Biggun has written a little ditty about “John Thomas Alcock (the man with the biggest plonker in the world)” ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/28 "2001-05-15T14:08:10Z")
Hey, I tried to cushion the blow later in the post, TwistOff, but that sort of attitude annoys the hell out of me. Hopefully Onion isn’t completely scared off - that wasn’t my intention. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/29 "2001-05-15T23:05:14Z")
I’m sure it wasn’t, KWM, but there’s one thing you should consider. We do these name threads every couple of months here, and one of the things that is consistently singled out for ridicule is phonetic spellings. The only one that springs to my mind at this rather late moment is “Mikayla”, but I know there have been plenty of others. Spellings like “Shawn” have the same effect on Irish people - try not to take it personally. ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2001, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/30 "2001-05-16T21:55:40Z")
Yeah, but Ruadh, I’m of Irish and Scottish descent, and I’m very proud of that fact. I have no problem with how other people spell their names, but I get annoyed when people take a “holier than thou” attitude on “proper” spellings. If, indeed, I decided to spell my name “Raymond Luxury Yacht” and pronounce it “Throat-Warbler Mangrove” that would be…well, stupid. My point is, spellings change over time. Spellings change to accomodate new cultures. People need to get past themselves and stop calling other people “ugly” and declaring that they “can’t comprehend” something when what they’re not comprehending is that they don’t get a say in how others spell their names. I might point out that by Onion’s standards, everyone named “Patrick” is mis-spelling and mis-prounouncing his name, since the original Gaelic spelling is Padraic. Same goes for women named Kathleen. I know I opened a can of worms here, as I tend to every time someone criticizes the way other people spell their names (you’re right, Ruadh, about every 2 months or so…)but, dammit, people need to get off this “correct spelling of names” kick. I honestly hope I didn’t chase off a new member, but them was fightin’ words…and I was already annoyed at other stuff when I stumbled on this thread. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2001, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/31 "2001-05-17T12:37:41Z")
What about Siobhan? That’s always been one of the mystifying ones for me. I have always thought it is pronounced “shi-vonne” with an “i” as in “itch”. Am I off base on this? And what’s the correct prnounciation of Ciaran? I know it’s a male name but something makes me want to say “Sharon”! ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2001, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/32 "2001-05-17T20:00:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gigi \* > **What about Siobhan? That’s always been one of the mystifying ones for me. I have always thought it is pronounced “shi-vonne” with an “i” as in “itch”. Am I off base on this?** No, in fact you’re almost bang-on. The vowel in the first syllable is a schwa sound, but you’ve got the rest of it right. > [@](#): > > And what’s the correct prnounciation of Ciaran? I know it’s a male name but something makes me want to say “Sharon”! The usual anglicized version is “Kieran”. Try saying it that way, but with a long “a” in the second syllable. Both these names take fadas, BTW: _Siobhán_ and _Ciarán_. Next week’s Irish names lesson: Aoibheann, Labhaoise, and Toirdhealbhach 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2001, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956/33 "2001-05-18T00:26:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Doobieous \* > > \*\*Sade comes from Britain. Her ancestry is Nigerian/British and was originally “Helen Adu”. So, Sade is her stage name. \*\* > > Isn’t Folasade her middle name? \*\* You know, i never found that out in the biographies I found online (you’d think someone would explain that). Anyway, if it is Folasade, there you go, the probably origin of her stage name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shawn-sean-and-sade/64956.md?page=1)