New Name

[lilmizmombassa.livejournal.com]

I posted a few months ago about the need for my daughter to have a first name starting with the letter "C" and followed by the middle name of Marie (that's how my mom and I are named and I'd like to follow traddition). First I liked Clara, then Charlotte, then, most recently, Caoimhe (Kee-va). However, I'm in the U.S. and that is where my future children will be brought up sometime in the future, most probably, and I realize that Caoimhe is an unrealistic first name for a little American girl. My new favorite C name: Ciara. (Prn. Kee-ah-ra.) What are your thoughts? Like it? Hate it? Any nicknames or bad connotations or anything you can think of? Is it too difficult to pronounce based on the spelling? How does it sound with Marie? Anything else you would like to share?

Any feedback you can give is more than appreciated.

Comments

[3lati0n.livejournal.com]

Ciara always seems like Sierra (See-err-a) to me, because of the singer. I do know a girl with that name and it is spelled Chiara.

[adamantplatypus.livejournal.com]

Ciara is gaining popularity in the US. It's one of the most recent "trendy" names.

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I've heard Ciara pronounced two ways: Cee-air-ah and Keer-ah. I really don't like the pronunciation of kee-ah-ra, never heard it before. I'm not sure how many people would pronounce it like that.

[daydream11.livejournal.com]

I second this spelling!

[daydream11.livejournal.com]

I've always pronounced that particular spelling as see-AIR-uh, and it reminds of that horrible Vibe magazine cover of the singer Ciara. =\ Love the name, just not that particular spelling (anymore).

Celeste
Celia
Cora
Cordelia

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

I am not a big fan, and I never know how to pronounce it - obviously there are a lot of options!


I like the sound of Caoimhe the best. Too bad you can't spell it Keeva...

What about:
Colleen
Christina
Catherine
Connie
Caroline
Caris
Clara

[cure-rocker.livejournal.com]

i like charlotte marie best but ciara is alright

nn could be kiki which i think is adorable.

[kilobites.livejournal.com]

I think that Charlotte Marie sounds the best, but Ciara is okay. I do think there could be some pronunciation issues with a lot of people wanting to say it Sierra instead of Kee-ah-rah. A Chiara spelling might help?

[twitchywoman.livejournal.com]

I love Caoimhe and am personally disappointed that 99% of the population will butcher the pronunciation.

[kaoriz.livejournal.com]

I love Caoimhe =) and I think the others are just as pretty and all of them work with Marie. Marie is a pretty versatile middle name, it seems to work with just about everything.

[ironqueen.livejournal.com]

Clara Marie is definitely my favorite from the names you listed.

Ciara is pretty but I pronounce it Cee-air-ah.

[fantomes.livejournal.com]

Clara is my favorite. Charlotte would be second. I'm not a huge fan of Ciara, and while I like Caoimhe, I think it would be a difficult name to have (I have a fairly common name, and even mine gets butchered kind of frequently).

[minga13.livejournal.com]

I like the name Ciara pronounced kee-ah-ra. Spelling it Chiara makes me want to say it as Chee-ah-ra. Kiara was the name of Simba's daughter in the Lion King 2.

A similar name for you, that I quite like is Ciana (kee-ah-na). It can also be spelt Kyanna/Kiana. I know a girl who has it spelled Kyanna although everytime I see it it makes me want to say Kee-anna.

[tiphanism.livejournal.com]

It's a shame about Caoimhe, but I think you're right, it would confuse people.

I second Chiara - afaik it's an Italian name, and the h is important for the pronunciation: without it it would be prononounced "chee-ara".

[rubytitania.livejournal.com]

I think if you really like Caoimhe you should go with it. It's pretty and people will get used to it!

It looks like the pronunciaation of Ciara might be an issue itself anyway. Personally I know two Ciaras and they both pronounce it Keer-uh...

Kee-ah-ruh is nice...but it reminds me of the drink Kia-Ora.

[pythianlegume7.livejournal.com]

If you're worried about mispronunciation (I guess you are, because of the Caoimhe issure), imo you should NOT use Ciara. I firmly believe that Ciara should always be pronounced KEER-uh (this is an Irish name and KEER-uh is the traditional pronunciation), and that if you want kee-AH-ra, you should use Chiara, which is an Italian name, and kee-AH-rah is the traditional pronunciation of that. With Ciara you are going to get all sorts of mispronunciations, from Sierra to Kira to Kee-air-uh, etc.

Haha, this name pops up here so often and I always give the same response. I'm really sorry if I come off as arrogant, but this is an issue I feel strongly about.

[roseofjuly.livejournal.com]

Haha, I completely agree with you. I'm big on names being spelled traditionally and pronounced traditionally. (My younger sister's name is Caitlin, which is the traditional Irish spelling, and people spell her name wrong ALL the time. I don't understand it. We pronounce it Kate-lynn, but we used to tease her when we were little by pronouncing it our approximation of the Irish/Gaelic way, "cotch-lyeen" or "coyt-lyeen". We're not Irish, so this amuses me.)

I like Ciara pronounced KEER-uh the best, but everyone's going to say it wrong.

ETA: Hey, the OP's name is Caitlin too!

[0o-faerie.livejournal.com]

I always pronounce Ciara like See-air-ah and Chiara like Kee-are-ah.
But seeing some of the comments here, I suppose I've been mispronouncing Ciara.

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

First off, I commend you wholeheartedly for droping Caoimhe, which would indeed be unrealistic.

Ciara is going to get pronounced Sierra a LOT. Like, a whoooole lot. In my mind, that's a huge strike against it. Also, though for all I know it has a very upstanding history as a Name of Substance, it definitely scans as a trendy, meaningless name of the kre8tif style, and that drives me crazy. My opinion doesn't have to be your opinion, but you did ask. :) I like both Clara and Charlotte (especially Charlotte); they're both lovely names with style and substance, and neither of them (so far as I know) overwhelmingly popular.

Some more suggestions:
Cordelia
Catarina
Cynthia

[roseofjuly.livejournal.com]

I LOVE Cordelia! And I agree that Ciara, while an adorable name, has high potential for mispronunciation (and misspelling, when spoken out loud) and has the unfortunate modern-day representation as a trendy, kre8tif name. Since most people will assume that you are trying to say "Sierra" and just wanted to spell it differently, rather than having a legitimate Irish name with a legitimate Irish spelling.

[cremepuff.livejournal.com]

I prefer the K pronunciation, but the problem is that, like everyone else, I associate that spelling with the singer.

[skate97.livejournal.com]

I do know that Ciara is most commonly pronounced keer-ra (the traditional Irish pronounciation, since Ciara is the traditional Irish spelling) so you might have people saying it wrong...

[roseofjuly.livejournal.com]

In the U.S., most people are going to say "see-air-ah" or "see-are-ah". Very few people are going to pronounce it the way the OP wants, much less the traditional Irish spelling! (See also Boston Celtics, which annoys me :D)

[skate97.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I've never met anyone who's pronounced it either of those ways. But I live in Boston. Here, it's always pronounced correctly.

[roseofjuly.livejournal.com]

You can name your kids whatever you want, but if this matters to you, no American teacher is going to know how to pronounce Caoimhe. She may or may not mind correcting her (my mom, who loves Irish names, told me that she would've loved to name me Siobhan. As a child I would've taken GREAT pleasure in saying "it's SHA-VON" every year).

I think Ciara Marie is pretty, my only qualm with the name is that singer name Ciara. I would hate for anyone to assume that I named my kid after her (even though I think she's okay). I honestly like Clara and Charlotte better (Charlotte Marie is really pretty).

[unmowngrass.livejournal.com]

Sha-von? Really?

In England, I've been told that Siobhan is Shiv-orn. (Never having met one personally I can't get it from the horse's mouth, so to speak.)

But anyway, strange...

[skate97.livejournal.com]

Again, though, this all does depend on where the OP lives. Siobhan is pretty common where I live as well. But my SIL, who's name is Erin, had a hard time getting people to pronounce her name correctly when she lived in Virginia for a year. Everyone told her they'd never met a girl named Aaron before.

[unmowngrass.livejournal.com]

I like Clara Marie, and Ciara Marie, and I seem to be one of the few who read Ciara as Kee-ah-ra, same as the OP. And I vastly prefer Ciara to Ciera, which I would say Kee-air-ra

Also, whilst I LOVE the sound of Caoimhe Marie (I had to copy and paste that to get the right spelling!!), I think you're 100% right not to use it given the circumstances. Given the difficulty Ciara is causing just on here though, I also don't recommend it even though I do like it.

So, why not go for Cara? Similar to both names which you obviously like, and doesn't get that repeating sound that Ciara Marie does. Or what about Carla? Unless it runs together a bit too much?