Yes, like Killian. “C” in Irish is always “K,” never “S.”
This is probably why I should never have children. I’d name my son Ebenezer.
Yes, as Killian. I knew an Irishman here named Cillian.
It’s a loan word-- that is, a foreign word adopted whole. It doesn’t follow English orthographic rules. Kinda like when you meet someone named Siobhan, or my stupid middle name. Those names actually have sounds that don’t even exist in English.
If parents want to name their kid “Killian,” that actually makes a certain amount of sense, if they live in the US, and I wouldn’t call it a creative spelling. It’s more along the lines of “Teague” over “Tadhg,” for an American child, or “Shovan” over “Siobhan.”
My advice after my experience with my middle name might be just to pick another name, but I hope you see my point that trying to Americanize something isn’t “creative” in the same way that turning “Connor” into “Caughner” is.
As the proud owner of an invented name with unique spelling (that doesn’t go counter to the grammar/pronunciation rules in Spanish), I can say that the kids themselves will get accustomed to it, and it won’t be a burden. That said, the parents also have to know and accept what they’re getting into. My parents were never mad that people initially had trouble recognizing or spelling my name. And even made a joke out of it. And yes, I know there will never be a coke bottle with my name. Although some items in craft fairs can be personalized, and my mom has gotten me some of those trinkets.
OTOH, my dad would get very irritated when people would misspell our uncommon, but completely non-weird last name (at least Spanish speakers). Dudes, we pronounce it correctly, don’t add letters were there aren’t any.
I’ll tell you one thing I don’t get though: even if someone’s name has four Ms and a silent Q, or is pronounced “Abby,” but spelled “Ball Peen Hammer,” when you are replying to an email, how hard is it to get the spelling right? All you have to do is CP it. I’m amazed at some of the bizarre spellings I get, when my name was right there, six letters, right there to copy, or use the CP function if copying the old-fashioned way is hard.
The IT department at my current job misspelled my second last name, which was properly written (after my first last name, which they ignored) in all my (typewritten) forms. :smack:
My login name still includes the misspelled last name.
Our last name has two CCs in a row, but it’s a Jewish name, not a Scottish name-- think Hanukkah, like, you know, the Maccabees. Anyway, a lot of computer programs have a default where a second C in a last name is capitalized, turning it into a “Mac” name, like Mc[capital letter] names, if they had an extra A. I guess computer programmers think people of Scottish descent are too lazy to hit the shift key for their second C, and it isn’t possible that someone could have a name with two lowercase Cs in a row.
Drives me batshit.
We get stuff addressed to McAbey, MacCaby, M[superscript C]Abby, and every possible permutation of a Scottish name with a capital letter you can think of. I thought more people had heard of the Maccabees.
So, Ciaran is like Kieran?
Seriously. I’ve had people spelling my name (Gwendolen) as Gwendolyn all my life. OK, fine, if you didn’t listen to me as I spelled it and wrote it down wrong, that’s one thing. But it’s right there in my email address. Plus, if I put
Thanks,
Gwen
you probably don’t need to respond with “Hello Gwendolyn”. Either call me what I called myself, or copy it correctly from my email address.
Sort of. More like “Kyaran” — “Karen” with an extra “y”
When I become emperor of the planet, this is the slogan that will be stamped on every coin, note and flag in the world. Cops will recite it in the same way as miranda warnings, and minor felons will be punished by having it tattooed on their foreheads with ink that fades after a number of years/months.
I have an aunt–my Mom’s eldest sister–whose full birth name is Willie Marie Johnson. She probably had a lot of difficulty with people insisting she was lying to them about her first name. (Her father named her after himself. )
If I had to do it over I’d name my son Jetson and daughter Raiden.
I’ve also known an Irishman named Ciaran here too. (And a Conor. Or was it Connor?) His name sounded like Kieran to my ear, but I admit I could have been mishearing Kyaran.
“Gwen” could be short for Guinevere or Gwenyth. I guess these people know your full name?
I have a cousin whose name is Cassie, short for an obscure Yiddish name no one has ever heard of. She gets telemarketing calls and junk mail for “Cassandra” all the time, and lately, since “Cassidy” because a pop name for little girls, she’s gotten that a few times.
On the flip side, when I first came to Indiana, I went by Rebecca, because I wasn’t sure Hoosiers could deal with Rivkah. That’s when I found out that for a lot of people, that’s just license to call you the horrible “Becky.” What a terrible thing to do to a nice name like Rebecca. I went back to Rivkah pretty fast.
That reminds me of when my mother said “We wouldn’t need censorship if people had taste,” which sums up my mother pretty well.
People sure do a lot of assuming when it comes to names. I know a guy whose given name is “Danny”. Not Daniel. But there are plenty of people who will try to formalize and assume.
Others assume common nicknames must apply. My dad’s name is Charles - don’t call him Charlie, he doesn’t like it.
I try to pay attention and call people by the names they tell me, and pronounce them the way they tell me. Even if it’s wrong.
I sign “Gwen” so they are welcome to call me that. I think instead they glance at my email Gwendolen.x.xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx and go on automatic and type Gwendolyn. Oooo, that y just stabs at my eyes! 
I’ve had people call me “Dick”. Just because my name is Richard, don’t call me “Dick”.
Many people call me Em, though I don’t call myself that. I don’t really mind though. I commented to an online friend that it sounded like people were calling me “M”, as in the letter of the alphabet, and so “M” became that friend’s nickname for me. It amused me. 
I could be wrong about the modern pronunciation. I’m going by my lessons in Irish.
My first name is William, and I am always amazed at how many people instantly call me “Bill.”