I am a huge fan of the name, [name_f]Sorcha[/name_f], but when I researched it on Nameberry, I learned that its pronunciation is not what I expected. I had always thought that it would be pronounced like its alternate, Sorsha, but discovered that the “c” actually has a hard sound.
“A popular Irish name virtually unknown here — with a pronunciation that’s far from obvious. It’s basically SOR-ca, but with a little hiccup between the ‘r’ and the ‘c’ that’s near-impossible for the English speaker to reproduce. Other phonetic pronunciations given are sir-eh-ka, sur-aka and surk-ha.”
I far prefer the [name_f]Sorcha[/name_f] spelling to the Sorsha spelling, but also far prefer the soft “s” pronunciation to the hard “c” pronunciation. My fear in using [name_f]Sorcha[/name_f], but pronouncing it with the “s” sound is that I’ll appear uneducated or that a future daughter might think poorly of the choice.
What do you think, is it foolish to consciously mispronounce a name?
Surr-ik-ah and Sor-sha are both legitimate pronunciations of the same name. Sorsha is somewhat more Anglicised, Surr-ik-ah is more authentic, but they are both widely accepted
SURR-uh-kuh (sorry, not very good at spelling out pronunciations) is technically the correct pronunciation but I’ve heard that it is SOR-ka in the north of [name_f]Ireland[/name_f] but I’m not certain. I know it looks like a good anglicisation of Soairse but it’s not pronounced the same. Although, in countries other than [name_f]Ireland[/name_f] people would probably pronounce it Sor-sha so it would probably be fine.
[name_f]Sorcha[/name_f] and [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f] are different names - [name_f]Sorcha[/name_f] is the Irish for [name_f]Sarah[/name_f] and [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f] is the Irish word for freedom.
[name_f]Sorcha[/name_f] isn’t really a form of [name_f]Sarah[/name_f]. It is originally Gaelic and means “brightness”. It predates the arrival of Christianity in [name_f]Ireland[/name_f]. It became associated with the English name “[name_f]Sarah[/name_f]” when the British were occupying [name_f]Ireland[/name_f] and discouraged the use of ethnically Irish names. People were forced to record their authentic names as anglicized equivalents. The same thing happened to [name_f]Aine[/name_f], which again is a very old Irish name-- it got recorded as [name_f]Anne[/name_f] or [name_f]Anna[/name_f], but is originally completely different and independent. [name_f]Grainne[/name_f] became [name_f]Grace[/name_f]. There are lots of other examples, too.
I think the SURR-i-ka pronounciation is actually much prettier than “SOR-sha”. I would use it if my partner would get on board, but he doesn’t want any names that are hard to spell in the United States, and I doubt we will live in [name_f]Ireland[/name_f] at any point long-term though I’m half Irish.
Also, it’s worth pointing out that [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f] isn’t pronounced SOR-sha either…It’s more like SEER-sha or SAIR-sha.
If you really want to use a name that sounds like SOR-sha, why not just spell it phonetically? Sorsha. I’m usually not a fan of that, but in this case SOR-sha is not really either name ([name_f]Sorcha[/name_f] or [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f]) since both are pronounced differently.
Yeah, I really think you should just go with Sorsha spelled Sorsha. I think it looks nice.
[QUOTE=rosierose;2124550
Also, it’s worth pointing out that [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f] isn’t pronounced SOR-sha either…It’s more like SEER-sha or SAIR-sha.
If you really want to use a name that sounds like SOR-sha, why not just spell it phonetically? Sorsha. I’m usually not a fan of that, but in this case SOR-sha is not really either name ([name_f]Sorcha[/name_f] or [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f]) since both are pronounced differently.
Yeah, I really think you should just go with Sorsha spelled Sorsha. I think it looks nice. [/QUOTE]
[name_m]Just[/name_m] wanted to say, I completely agree with what rosierose said, I normally really dislike it when people spell names phonetically but Sorsha is kind of somewhere in between.
However it seems most people outside of [name_f]Ireland[/name_f]/who don’t have Irish heritage pronounce [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f] SOR-sha so they might think that you were anglicising it
You are right that Sorcha is pronounced entirely differently– as others suggested, if you are trying to achieve a phonetic spelling of [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f], I get it but I think Irish name lovers will be confused and everyone else will still pronounce it wrong.
Thanks for all of the links, everyone! I was also fascinated to learn about British occupation and its effect on naming- it really makes the concept of anglicization distasteful. I hadn’t anticipated that “Sorsha” might to appear to be chosen as an anglicization of “[name_f]Saoirse[/name_f].” Thanks for pointing that out.
