Forget women’s names…how did people decide how to spell the names of Scotch distilleries?
-Bruichladdich
-Bunnahabhain
-Laphroigh
-Rhosdhu
A few of the stranger examples.
Yes, how dare another language have its own internally consistent spelling rules which are not immediately apparent to an English speaker?
Guinhumar (medieval spelling, Latinized as Guinhumara) > (Welsh) Gwenhwyfar. Neatly anglicized (from the closely related Cornish) as Jennifer.
When my middle boy called his buds from back in high school and told them that he was dating someone named Siobhan, they asked if she was black. They later said that it sounded like it was spelled: ShaVon, so that’s another variation.
I learned a new word today that made me think of this thread, because it sounded like a pretty name but would be a bad idea to use as one. Sharrow.
I don’t understand how Siobhan could be spelt phonetically as Chevonne or Shevonne. The second syllable isn’t an “on” sound, it’s an “awn” sound.
But then a lot of Irish names get mangled - see Caitlin pronounced, or even spelt, as “Kate-Lynn”.
“On” and “awn” are homophones to many Americans.
Closest I can think of to how I’ve heard people here say it is Shuvaun.
Really? I know “on” and “ahn” would be homophones to some, but that hadn’t occurred to me.
You Americans really need to get some more vowel sounds. 
Chie-au-vent ?
Bons baisers de Paree.
Yeah, cos “shitting in the wind” is much better than “roast pork” 
In fact, it’s a huge exaggeration, to say that the actual name has anything whatsoever to do with whether the kid gets teased for it.
I didn’t take the name Siubhan (a Scottish variant) until I was an adult (noted simply because it’s why this thread caught my eye). My birth name is pretty much bog standard. I went to school with 3 other people with my first name, and my last name is common enough that nobody would ever blink an eye. The amount of teasing I got based around my name was fucking ridiculous.
Kids don’t tease other kids because of something that’s different about them, they tease them because they seem like they’ll be reactive targets, and they latch onto the easiest thing to tease them about. (The most ridiculous example I can think of from my personal history was somebody who was heavier than me making fun of my weight.)
If I were to anglicize the name Si(u/o)bhan to make it easier to pronounce, I’d go with Shvaughn, since that was the name of the character who inspired me to take the name. On the other hand, I’m not sure if Chinese speakers would really have an easier time with the ‘vaughn’ string than with the Gaelic spelling, so I don’t know if that really helps the OP.
I have never been able to get me head around how to pronounce Siobhan. Whenever I see the word written my brain always pronounces it See-Oh-Barn.
I’ll add another vote for spelling it Siobhán.
Why use a name from another culture if you’re not going to spell it in that culture’s traditional way?
Spelling a name in a way that doesn’t fit in with the phonetics of the surrounding culture is rather pretentious, in my opinion. I don’t get why you guys think spelling a name so that it will never be spelled correctly is better than a respelling that will be. I get that a lot of common respellings are kinda annoying these days, but that’s because you won’t know how to spell them.
In other words, using Siobhan (esp. with diacritics) is the equivalent of names like Kaytee, Mykayla, etc.
No it is not. Plenty of people in Britain, America and elsewhere know that “Shuvaun” = Siobhán (ok maybe without the fada but still). Also, how will the respelling actually make it any more likely the kid’s name would be spelled right?
Wiki lists: Siobhan, Siobhain, Siobhann, Siobhin, Siobhon, Siobahn, Shivon, Siavon, Siovhan, Shivaune, Shivaun, Shavon, Sioban, Siobain, Shivonne, Shvaugn, Shivaughn, Shivaughne, Shievonne, Shavaughn, Shavaughne, Shavaughan, Shavaugn, Shavaugne, Shavaun, Shavaune, Sheavaughn, Shevaun, Shevawn, Shavone, Shavonne, Chevonne, Chivonne, Chevon and Shivan as variants.
If you at least use the most common spelling you’ve upped the odds surely. Also, I could be wrong but I imagine out in the Far East a lot of people would have trouble with plenty of European names. Furthermore, being someone who gets his named spelled wrong (both first and surname) all the time it’s hardly the worst thing in the world to have to deal with.
I’ll attest yo this too. Having an unusual name in the context of my society is pretty cool, especially because it is one with s real cultural history.
My only problem is I’m a tad too easy to google.
Yeah, I think in America, if people read “Chevonne,” they might well assume the person is African American. Not that that’s a terrible thing, but I did once meet a white girl with a “black-sounding” name, and it caused enough awkwardness she just gave up and used her middle name. YMMV in Singapore of course.
I would say if you want to make your child’s life a bit less annoying, use something easier to spell and pronounce for the first name and use Siobhan as a middle. Don’t get me wrong, it’s lovely, and I considered it for my daughter too. But it must be a drag to have no one be able to spell *or *pronounce your name your whole life.
(NB: I’m extremely conservative about that issue, to the degree that I thought “Chloe” and “Claire” might be too “out there,” and gave my kids ultra-traditional white-bread middle names in case they feel more comfortable using that in their bid for a Supreme Court seat or something. So feel free to ignore me!)
In what way is using the original ethnic spelling of an ethnic name the equivalent of taking a traditional name and coming up with a non-obvious (and in the second case, non-phonetic) spelling?
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:99, topic:653237”]
In what way is using the original ethnic spelling of an ethnic name the equivalent of taking a traditional name and coming up with a non-obvious (and in the second case, non-phonetic) spelling?
[/QUOTE]
You’re looking for logic in a **BigT **post?