and its driving me potty. Our little girl is called ciara (pronounced keira) and the poor thing gets called all sorts.. key-arrrr-a, sea-air-a, key-air-a. I wanted to spell it 'keira' and oh wanted to spell it 'ciara' because thats the irish way of spelling it and thats where the name originated from. so anywhooo he won the spelling...but grrrr it drives me nuts and im always correcting people and i worry that ciara is going to be having to correct people all her life...at school etc and i cant help wonder if i should have stuck to my guns and fought harder for 'keira';. its a pointless post really.....just needed to rant.

Oh hun, as long as the people who are closest to you know how to spell and pronounce her name then dont worry about it. I can imagine its frustrating though.#

I must admit when I read it though I thought it was Kai-rah but can see now that its spelt the Irish way

xxxxxxxx

My good friend is of Irish origin and called one of her boys Oisen... for the life of me I just cant say it right. I call him all sorts and I hate it... I do try but I just cant pronounce it right at all.

I wouldn't worry. As Elaine says...so long as close friends, family and eventually school get it right then it does not matter what others say.

d xxx

There's little girl at my son's nursery called Ciara, pronounced Keira too and I must admit I wasn't sure how to say it first but once told I didn't forget.
I'm constantly correcting people on my surname and is it annoying but you get used to it!! x x

not the same but everyone in my family keep calling Marissa Melissa.. i know they sounds the similar but they are two different names....

I think she's even been called Louisa once - god knows how they got that name!

it is frustrating, but hopefully once you've told people they should remember. If not get some cards made saying "I cant pronounce Ciara properly so I'm wearing this card as a punishment" put it on bits of string and hand them out to people who get it wrong.. might make them think twice about it then

xxx

my daughter who is now 4 has the same problem she has started going mental at ppl who get it wrong, her big brother stopped putting her in any of his story's at school and when i asked him why he said its because the teachers keep saying her name wrong when they read them x

I read her name as 'Keira', that might be due to coming from an Irish family myself! My son is Hayden and whenever someone new hears his name they usually say 'Aiden' so we just try to politely correct them and pretend it doesn't getting annoying after 3 years! I would like to have an Irish name for my little girl due in 4 weeks but Hubby is really struggling with the spellings and how to pronounce them, so it will probably end up being something short and sweet! xxx

Cat 36 weeks

know exactly how you feel although mine is with the spelling of my LO...his name is spelt Jensen but EVERYONE (even our family) spell it Jenson...it drives me INSANE...it's because of Jenson Button and just grrrr!!! he gets Jason off strangers who don't hear me properly

Hi hun,

You're not alone. I read your lo's ones name right but my lo is called Niamh (pronounced Neve) imagine the amount of times she gets called Neem, Neemah, Ni-eem-ah.... it is annoying but I also wanted the proper Irish spelling of her name.

Just correct people wih a smile whilst secretly thinking "Grrrrrrrrr, flaming idiots!!" like I do

x

I know the feeling and it's very annoying....There's not much you can do except correct them.

My little boy is called Gabriel which you would think was obvious seeing as it's such an old name but I get 'Gabrielle' so often and 'Gabby' (puke). Grrr those are girls names.

My name is Philippa & the amount of people who've called me Penelope over the yrs (teachers, colleagues, etc) is ridiculous...THEY SOUND TOTALLY DIFFERENT. Also I don't like being called Pippa. But people do that as well. I don't dislike the name Pippa but my parents just never called me it - also at 21 I am getting a bit old to be a Pippa methinks

xx

We live in America and trying to get Americans to say ISLA as opposed is-la is near impossible. We have yet to go to one appt. where they say her name right...

I wonder how the actress Isla Fisher pulled it off?

There isn't much you can do but get used to it... sorry...

ooooh, another one... because I spell my name with an e on the end I get no end of people calling me Stephen.... was talking about breast pumps with someone saying how mine was broken and they replied they couldnt imagine a stephen with a pump!
I politely said neither could I, and reminded them I was female!

xx

I know the feeling too,
Mummycat I have the opposite problem to you my little boy is called Aiden but is always getting called Hayden! He also gets called Adrian sometimes too. xx

Hi this is interesting that people find it hard to say those names. Probably because i am Irish and I take it for granted that everyone knows how to pronounce them. While reading these posts I automatically read Ciara, Niamh and Oisin. My daughter is called Kara. The Irish spelling is Cara. My husband wanted to spell it with a K so that was ok with me. People do tend to spell it with a C as it is more common but I just tend to forget about it and when spelling it for someone I just end up saying Kara with a 'K' lol. I still think that if people are having bother with Ciara they will still have bother with Kiera. It just maybe isn't a common name where you are. I work with someone called Ciara and was also at school with someone called Ciara. As long as you and family can pronounce it then thats all I would worry about. When she goes to school the teacher and her friends will learn it quite quickly.

My 5 week old is called Keira. My surname used to be Keir and people could never say that right, i'd usually get Kerr and i'd always have to spell it. You just get used to it. Already people have spelt Keira - Kiera, i'd never seen it spelt any other way but she'll soon get used tp correcting people x

I know how you feel hun, i did post on here before because i was so annoyed that people kept saying Lea wrong!
Its spelt Lea as in Lea(h) but without the H and people are always calling her Lee! Drives me mad.

Try not to worry to much, aslong as you know and you can always correct people, it does get annoying but some people just dont think before the speak lol xx

I'm afraid I'm goiong to put the other side of the coin. I'm a teacher and it's so difficult trying to get all the names right. I really do try to get them correct, I'm not out to embarrass either the child or myself but it's hard when you're not familiar with the name.

I am now used to Niamh, Lea, Kiera and some of the other Irish names but it took a while. I always write in the phonetic spelling into my mark book.

A couple of classics include:

- Fraser (not Frasier like the TV series). I had just got used to it when he left and a boy called Frasier joined and I had to start all over.

- Yisade - a lovely girl who I have taught for 4 years and I think I still pronounce it wrong. I think the poor girl has just given up on me.

Please have sympathy with me.

H xx

PS Tigerlily - I've got a boy starting with me in Sept called Gabrielle (it's true, I made him write his own name down!). Poor boy, I think his parents got confused.

i get it too!
LUCA (LOU-KA ) i get lucas, luke, and lukey tones nan keeps calling him lucas n then i correct her and she says are you sure dear? well yes i named him grrrrrrrrr

xxxxx

hahaha lolly hatch, my little boy is also Luca, and i get so annoyed when people call him Luke or Lucas!! My Nan actually calls him Lucan, like lord lucan, no matter how many times i correct her!
But i must admit the irish names do really confuse me. I know siobhan, niamh and ciara, but thats about it, i'm lost with the others! and i must admit, whenever i see ciara written i say it as ki-ara in my head, but i check myself before i say it to make sure i'm getting it right! i do always ask if i'm not sure, and i always remember once someone has told me how their name is pronounced! xx

When my son and i go to appointments everyone is too scard to say my first name and call me by my married name. My first name is Angharad and i live in Yorkshire England so i think its funny hearing people try to say my name with a yorkshire accent! My son is called Aaron (Air-run) but people always say Arron - Aaron! I'm sure he is going to growup thinking he has two names or mayby just one very long one!

Oh dear! I'm Irish and Ciara is on my name list, and current fave is Aoibhinn (ay-veen) and that even causes debate over pronunciation back home in Ireland.