Do you know how to say this Irish name that Merriam-Webster claims is the hardest to pronounce?
Merriam-Webster has managed to provoke Irish speakers on social media after asking users to pronounce a name.
The publisher of the dictionary asked people on X via social media ‘which word has the biggest discrepancy between spelling and pronunciation?’
Known for their sassy and sarcastic posts, the post concluded with ‘asking about our friend, Siobhan’.
In the case of Siobhán, phonetically broken down as shi-vawn, Irish speakers were quick to point out that the name is pronounced exactly as it sounds in Irish.
The name is also missing from their online dictionary, as it is a proper name in the Irish language, as opposed to English.
Sarah Snook can be seen here as Siobhan (Shiv) Roy in the hit TV show Succession
The dictionary publisher asked people on X via social media ‘which word shows the biggest difference between spelling and pronunciation?’
The now-deleted post drew widespread criticism from Irish speakers, who pointed out that the name was based on Irish pronunciation rules.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher, a lawyer at Ireland’s Human Rights and Equality Commission, wrote: ‘Glad to see this nonsensical post from @MerriamWebster has been removed.
‘Again for those in the back: Irish names *are* pronounced the way they are spelled. In *Irish.* It’s a different language.’
Siobhán O’Grady, chief Ukraine correspondent for The Washington Post, wrote: “Siobhán (which, by the way, has a fada on the a) is spelled phonetically in the language it is written in – namely Irish.
‘A language that still exists and is still spoken, despite systematic attempts to erase it. ‘
While Seán Ó Raghallaigh added: ‘Siobhan is pronounced exactly as it is spelled in Irish.
‘There is no separation between spelling and pronunciation, unless you impose a pronunciation in another language on it.’
Just hours after it went live, the publisher decided to remove the post after adding community context to indicate what was wrong.
The now-deleted post drew widespread criticism from Irish speakers, who pointed out that the name was based on Irish pronunciation rules
A survey last year found that Irish names are among the most difficult words for people to pronounce. Irish actress Saoirse Ronan is pictured here
One user joked about the decision to remove it, writing: ‘There’s something so heartwarming about bullying the dictionary so hard for not understanding the concept of the Irish language that they delete the post in less than a day. ‘
A survey last year found that Irish names do occur arranged among the words that people have found the most difficult to pronounce.
The research found that the most difficult name of all is Aoife, pronounced ‘ee-fa’, which generated the most searches on Google, above all other names.
While Saoirse, pronounced ‘sear-sha’, ranked second among names including Siobhán and Niamh, pronounced neev.
During an interview with Stephen Colbert, Irish actress Saoirse Ronan had to teach people how to pronounce her name, which she also did on Saturday Night Live.
Colbert had the actress read Irish first names, including Tadhg, (tag) Niamh, Oisin, (o-sheen) and Caoimhe (keeva).
When the host asked her to pronounce Siobhan, he laughingly called the pronunciation “ridiculous.”
