Hair

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

That does sound painful. What the thing to say - of course it sounds painful and to think I was toying with the idea of the full back, sack and crack package at the salon round the corner but I dont think I'll bother !

[Teatime FatCat]

Now, not wishing to blow my own trumpet (cos if I could do that, I'd never leave the house!) - but I can agree with you on the 'sack' part. I did it for charity a couple of years ago..................................I still have the nightmares!!!

[Zainub]

It is. The other day I ran into an Irishman at a blog who spelled his name Sean. We were having a bit of fun with nicknames, so I suggested Bean for Sean as the two rhymed. But then I was told that in Irish Sean is the same as Shaun and/or Vaughan and/or John...which left me very confused.

[Occasional Fan]

Sean isn't English, though, Zainub - it's Irish. It's closest English equivalent would indeed be John, and - stand by - in Scottish it becomes Ian. And in the northern part of Ireland, where some of the population describes itself as "Ulster Scots" (I think: maybe Dave Gillespie can correct that description if he sees it), it becomes Iain, which is pronouced much the same as its Scottish counterpart.

You can do the same with James (English), Hamish (Scottish) and Seamus (Irish, and pronounced "Shaymus").

[Oliver]

Originally Posted by Occasional Fan

Sean isn't English, though, Zainub - it's Irish. It's closest English equivalent would indeed be John, and - stand by - in Scottish it becomes Ian. And in the northern part of Ireland it becomes Iain.

You can do the same with James (English), Hamish (Scottish) and Seamus (Irish, and pronounced "Shaymus").

Very good on the Q-Celts OF... what about the P-Celts?

Have you got something against the Welsh? What's wrong with Iwan and Iago?

[Zainub]

This does leave me even further confused .

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

As the hair has gone out the window (via the shoulders) this always intregues me. Siobahn. I always rember staring at this (irish btw) name and wondering how to pronounce it. It of course pronouced "Chevaun". Work that one out.

[Teatime FatCat]

I agree that the Irish names are the worst - for instance, Cleadgaghoarghesheagh is actually 'Brian'

[Zainub]

Err...pronounciation is a bit of twisted logic, that I very frequently do not understand.

Issue for instance is Is-u in Britian, and that is what I got taught at school, but when you go in the States and tell them about your issues (in affect is-use) they tend do look at you as if you're from Mars.

Just for the record Zainub is pronounced Zay-nub...nub as in rhyming with tub. Some (in fact most) people chose to spell Zainub as Zainab - but I think that would merit a prounounciation as zay-nab...and nab as in rhyming with cab...which would be the incorrect pronounciation, that's why I chose the u over the a...or rather my parents did.

[Oliver]

Originally Posted by Richie Benauds Love Child

Siobahn. It of course pronouced "Chevaun". Work that one out.

Aha! This is a transliteration issue.

In many languages children struggle with the B and V issue. As they do with the J and DZ sound.

In Spanish, B and V are all but interchangeable. A hard V is a B.

Consequently when Osvaldo Ardiles and his mate Ricardo Villa arrived in England following the 1978 World Cup, a whole bunch of reknowned English football commentators asked how they should pronounce the lesser known one's name. And for a time such greats as Brian Moore and John Motson were calling him "Bvilla" (to rhyme with Aston Villa) and "Bviya."

The Celtic language is extremely close to the Spanish language... the Roman empire being a large common bond, and the Celtic race, of course which spread a vast distance from Asia to the Atlantic coast over the course of seven hundred years. Anywhere in the world with "Gal" in the first element, Gaul, Galacia etc., is an area where the Celtic language took hold.

Anyway that's enough history: BH is V. Once you've got that, and the knowledge that "Sean" is pronounced "Shaun"... thus accounting for the "sh" sound "Shivorn" is fairly easy to understand.