Do you think that Siobhan is usable in the US? My partner and I have been talking about how much we like Gaelic names, and also the idea of having a full name that we don’t really use other than formally since we both have nicknames that we use pretty much exclusively. My partner floated the name Siobhan with the nickname Bonnie.
Do you think that Siobhan would work in the US? I think that enough people have heard of it. Would you know how to pronounce it? Would the nickname Bonnie work even thought the B is pronounced as a V?
I absolutely love this name, but can’t use it in [name_u]Texas[/name_u]. People would never be able to say or spell it. Same with [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f].
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I think it’s usable! The spelling and pronunciation would have to be corrected pretty frequently, but in my experience it’s one of the more familiar non-anglicized Gaelic names in the US. I think [name_f]Bonnie[/name_f] works even though it’s not in the pronunciation.
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The American professor i had at uni did pronounce the [name_f]Siobhan[/name_f] in my class as see-oh-ban, but that’s the limited experience I can offer you of [name_f]Siobhan[/name_f] in the US.
I do think it’s an easy correction though 
[name_f]Bonnie[/name_f] is a sweet nickname though I think it might encourage people to pronounce [name_f]Siobhan[/name_f] with a b sound
I live in the US and went to school with a [name_f]Siobhan[/name_f] - she was surprised when I knew how to spell it, as I’m sure she runs into name confusion all the time. I think it’s usable but people will struggle with spelling/pronunciation. There is the Succession character who goes by Shiv - a harsh nickname for a harsh character.
I like [name_f]Bonnie[/name_f] better on its own!
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people will struggle with spelling and pronounciation, but even over here (scotland) where the name is used regularly, Siobhans I know still get see-ohb-han pretty commonly!
people usually learn after being corrected, and it is a absolutely lovely name
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I don’t think possible mispronunciation should turn you away from using this beautiful name! It is easily corrected and you’re right that most people have heard of the name before. [name_f]Bonnie[/name_f] is absolutely adorable.
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Personally, I don’t think it’s usable. I’ve seen this name posted multiple times and I STILL never remember how to pronounce it. I remember thinking it was pretty, but I would never remember how to pronounce or spell it.
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I went to school with a [name_f]Siobhan[/name_f]. So we’re talking 90’s-2000’s. The only thing I remember was maybe on the first day of school she’d have to occasionally let the new teacher know pronunciation but then everyone would move on. So based on experience I think very usable. This is [name_u]New[/name_u] [name_f]England[/name_f] we’re talking about if that’s helps any.
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Yeah, this could be pretty regional. I live in Atlantic [name_f]Canada[/name_f] and I happen upon [name_f]Siobhan[/name_f] from time to time and as far as I can tell people seem to mostly recognize it and pronounce it correctly. I’ve heard a [name_f]Siobhan[/name_f] be called “SY-oh-ban” just as a joke by someone who definitely knew the correct pronunciation. But there is a pretty strong Gaelic tradition here that would be less concentrated in a lot of [name_u]North[/name_u] [name_u]America[/name_u].
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[name_m]Ive[/name_m] never heard of it…
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I think it’s completely fine! A lot of people won’t know it immediately, but a lot absolutely will. The TV show Succession helps a lot, as it’s very popular (to my knowledge) and the lead lady is named Siobhan.
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I’m American and I think it would be easy enough to correct the pronunciation in the US (although I think people will still struggle with the spelling). That said, I’m deeply immersed in naming communities, so my familiarity with [name_f]Siobhan[/name_f] may be vastly different than the general public’s. I personally support the usage of non-English names and bucking the Anglophilic hegemony, but I can understand the hesitation.
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