kev asleep at the wheel, 40 miles left to go

i finally learned how to pronounce “Siobhan”

Update: I get a silly number of hits from Google on how to actually pronounce Siobhan, and have even received email asking why I don’t explain how considering the title of this post. Fair enough. It’s pronounced “shiv-awn”, like Chevonne, but with more of an “ive” sound instead of “ev”.

Update 2: I also got feedback in the comments from another Siobhan as follows:

I’ve heard it pronounced both ways in our Dublin office, so I’ll put both pronunciations up here. The first pronunciation is the predominant one, as the latter pronunciation seems to be a regional dialect. There are a number of references to the latter pronunciation out there, so I’ll add it. Thanks for the additional info, siobhan!

Update 3: Shivie says

and you know what, she’s got a really good point. :) thanks, Shivie!

Now you know and now, back to the original post:

Wedding’s done, and it was hella fun. The ceremony was at 14:30, and was accompanied by music from the Star Wars soundtrack. It was short, on time, and tastefully done (even with Kj being one of the objects of attention). Laura looked phenomenal, and even Kjell looked respectable, which is the way it’s supposed to be.

I got to spend the aft chatting with Rachel at the King’s Stag drinking cheap ($4.25) pints of Guinness, and we headed to Darrel and Siobhan’s room (#666) to meet up with a bunch of old Ingenia crew and their families. Where did all those kids come from, anyways? We had a beer there, marvelled at the way parents can balance a kid, their food, a beer, and a diaper bag simultaneously, and then departed back to the pub as Siobhan had a hankerin’ for a Kilkenny, and we reluctantly *cough* decided to join her.

The reception and dinner was great, and I got to know a bunch of my friends wives and kids a little better, along with catching up on where everyone was. Good times, and we managed to close the place out.

Congrats guys, and thanks for inviting me out, I had a great time.

The rest of the day will be spent crucifying chocolate bunnies, and taking in the gorgeous weather. Twenty degrees and sunny, I’m glad I’m here instead of the left coast where it’s overcast, damp, and near freezing. Tomorrow it’s back home though, so I must go and waste the day away with the family properly.

I am one of those people who Googled “How do you pronounce Siobhan?” and now that I know, I feel extremely intelligent!!!

I, too, googled “How do you pronounce Siobhan?” I’ve always wondered after reading it in a book!!!

Sounds like you had a nice day. :)

Yep, me three!!! Another google hit for your website about how to pronounce Siobhan. I always felt I was saying it wrong by using a ‘v’ sound – but no.

I’m yet another who googles the Siobhan pronunciation. It’s the smallest favors that are most appreciated on the ‘net.

You’ve made four of us happy by answering a simple question. Thanks!

#5 here. Thanks. I Googled for the pronounciation as well. I would have never picked it up without your help.

Yup! I also googled it after meeting a girl called Sibohan ( I thought it was chevaun!) at V festival at the weekend.

That’s it.. I’m going to make a website or a band or write a book and title it “How to Pronounce Siobhan.”

I’m #7. :) I have no idea who you are, but thanks!

Why not spell in Shavaugn?
Why spell it Shio-bhan?

Can we say Mark is pronounce ZZZZ?

It’s stuipid.

To everyone so far who has let me know the post has been useful – many thanks!

To Mark – I shall happilly calll you “ZZZZ” if you like.

first read the name in the book “man and boy” and last night, saw it in the credits of a supporting actress in “fools rush in” — after seeing it a second time, i had to google it. i really thought it was “see-oh-bonn”

now i know!

thanks, always wondering about the pronounciation of Siobhan

Thankyou so much for educating the individuals out there who are willing to do a bit of research to find out how to pronounce an otherwise impossible name. I can’t begin to tell you what I answer to and on the ODD occasion someone actually gets it correct I feel really really happy. I love my name, so again thankyou…. SIOBHAN

Then reason SIOBNAN is pronounced “shÉ™-VÔN” is it is NOT from english, but the Gaelic language, which is the same reason Sinéad O’Connor’s name isn’t pronounced “sign-add”.

Can you believe we all wondered how to pronounce Siobhan? Wow…
Thanx for the answer :D

Yep, yet another googler looking for the pronunciation…

Thanks!

I am just a fan of the name and intriguing spelling of Siobhan and had to leave a comment to add to your collection-which is amazingly large.

This is getting kind of funny, now. Glad it helps, and thanks to all who let me know it did!

I am working with a Siobhan and felt really bad that I couldn’t pronounce her name after listening to her voicemail numerous times. But now I can at least stop calling her Ms. XXX. Thanks for the helpful information

I’m currently reading a book with your name in it. Now I can pronounce it correctly (in my head) as I read it. It’s an absolutely lovely name–are you of Irish descent?

Thank you so much for clarifying the prenunciation of the name “Siobhan” :) Throughout my whole life i have constantly been called “Si-o-ban”! Except for the one or two inddivuduals who have actually come across the name and know how to say it. It is a beautiful irish name so thank you for highlighting the issue!

Good bless Kev, God bless google and God bless all the people who couldn’t pronounce ‘Siobhan’.

Having just purchased, and used, a Garmin Navigator my Irish friend and I decided the lovley woman giving us directions should be named,’Siobhan’. I had always wondered how to pronounce the name. Believe me she guided us through many a maneuver in St. Paul MN. In addition, Siobhan is the Irish version of my name, Joan. I am very pleased to pronounce the name correctly and with assurance. Love those Irish!

Haha, i also googled ‘siobhan pronouncination’…. funny how many there are of us…. :) tnx for the answer!!

i had no idea other people googled “how to pronounce siobhan”. i thought it was just me and i was dumb. :)

I could’ve told you that kev! When I was in grade school I think there was a tall girl named Siobhan. She was purdy.

Just about to ring a stranger and I had no idea how to say Siobhan correctly, there’s not many of them in Australia. Ta muchly

I just type Siobhan into Google because I thought it was a pretty name, wanted to know what it meant. I was quite certain that I knew how to pronounce it. Show-Bahn.

You learn something every day, but most days it has to do with how dumb you are. Like today, for me. :)

im called siobhan and you pronounce it

…***~~..sh-vorn..~~***… and you dont pronouce sinead ‘sign-add’ but its shun-naid

Thank you! I’m an English teacher in Brazil who came across the name Siobhan in a book and was just wondering how to pronounce it to my students in class tonight! You saved my day!

While reading The Icarus Girl I came across the name and was very curious about how to pronounce. Thanks!

Just thinking of a name for a new grand daughter
Need the pronunciation
Thanks……

I too am yet another Googler. Congratulations on getting all these hits! I’m going to change my name to Kheaivimn.

It’s Gaelic, you know…

My middle name is Siobhan and when people find that out they are like ‘waah??’ ‘See-O-Buhan?’ and i have to explain its like ‘Sh-vorn’, but then people say it like ‘Sh-Von’ n i’m like nooooo its Sh-VOOORRRn lol!

I used to get people to try and spell it when i was younger though just cos i knew they wouldn’t know how! haha :D

Awesome name, i’m so glad i have it!

Sydney Australia checking in from Google via “how to pronounce siobahn”. To all the “sh-vorn’s” in the world, you have a fabulous name!

I just received an email from someone with this name. I had never run across it before and was not even sure if it was a gal’s name or a guy’s name, so I googled it. (OK. I’m a silly American.) Wow! Now I even know how to pronounce it. Thanks!

Hi

Thanks for the input on the pronunciation but the general consensus that it is done with a r would be wrong mostly siobhan is pronounced shivawn the r i think would be the british pronunciation

I have come across “Siobhan” many times.

…Aaand in my mind, it was sio-b-han.
Seeob-han.

Teehee.

I still think it’s weird that Bhan is Von.

But meh :)

Think I’m going to name my Bichon…Siobhan! My mom told me how to pronounce the name, but…I didnt believe her! Thanks for the info!

Always believe those parents(even when they tell us about the easter bunny and santa!!!)

thank god for this sitE ~!
i can finally do my book oral presentation
on this character. lol

haha i love that theres a whole conversation on how to pronounce my name. i know your not specifically talking about me. but siobhan is my name so yay

I didnt think one name could be that intresting glad so many people get a kick out of how to say my name

All throughout school I had people calling me si-o-ban, si-o-ba-han, sabean, and even soybean(???). People even tried to tell me I was wrong. What do you know, looks like I wasn’t, lol.

Hilarious! I found this post after I was Googling pronunciation for Aoife. Always wondered about Siobhan too.

The first hit I had was this site, but it doesn’t actually ever give a full pronunciation:
http://www.utm.edu/departments/english/everett/496pron.htm

Read the name in Ian Rankin’s novels, and now I know how to pronounce it. Great

Pronounce my name ‘tomahsh (second syllable long ah, and I’m Hungarian. Always glad to see there are other languages where s is pronounced sh! Great, Irish and Gaelic friend!

So one way to make your website famous is to feature the pronunciation of Siobhan :D

I’m another Googler…

To all those confused about WHY it might be pronounced this way… try this. Say the words “fan” and “van” to yourself. Notice how your lips and teeth are in the exact same orientation for both sounds. Now try “pan” and “ban”… almost identical. Respectively, these are voiceless and voiced versions of two phonetic sounds. Now think about saying “phan”… you probably said fan, even though, why would “ph” sound like “f”? It’s well accepted that it does, and it follows that “bh” would sound like “v”.

how does one pronounce SINEAD (as in Sinead O’Connor)?

I Googled Siobhan pronounciation also, and I would’ve never guessed that you say it like that.

I always pronounced Sinead as ‘suh-nade’, with more emphasis on the ‘-nade’ part.

ITS EASY TO SAY AND SPELL U NUTTERS

IT DOES MA HEAD IN WEN I GET CHATTED UP BY LADS N THEY SAY HOW THE HELL DO YA SPELL AND SAY THAT

My daughter’s name is Siobhan. As Americans, we pronounce it “Sha-von” or as some tease “Shove-on”. It is a fairly common name in Ireland though. The correct way to say it there would be “Shi-von” and if you have an Irish accent, it would come out “Sh-vorn”. Heh heh. The Gaelic language is awesome. It only consists of 18 letters, but the pronunciation of those letters and the dipthongs they use makes English look so sloppy in it configuration. Yes, “bh” sounds like “v”.

This makes me feel like a rock star!! I love my name and I don’t mind correcting all the thousands of people who have pronounced it wrong. In a way, it helps define me!! Thanks!

Holy crap, people call me soybean too Siobhan!! And to think I thought I was original;) Now who wants to guess where the accents go in the name Siobhan :o

Im called siobhan!

Thanks for this – all my live i’ve wondered how to pronounce Siobhan. Thank god for Google

From Christchurch, New Zealand, in Yokohama, Japan.
Thank you for this Siobhan. :)

Thank you!

I really needed to be able to pronounce the name of the woman I’ve waited all my life to meet and who I intend to make my wife.

Sioban Fehey!

Well…A guy can dream can’t he! LOL

Thank you!

I really needed to be able to pronounce the name of the woman I’ve waited all my life to meet and who I intend to make my wife.

Siobhan Fehey!

Well…A guy can dream can’t he! LOL

As Siobhan’s post says – Sinead is pronounced shun-naid. I think we’ve established Siobhan is pronounced sh-vorn just my son’s name Sean is pronounced ‘shorn’(as in Sean Connery). In Gaelic the ‘s’ is generally pronounced ‘sh’.

Googled this beautiful name – Now just wonder how to pronounce -Niamh..

I met a Siobhan today and googled it to learn how to pronounce it. Thanks for your help!

I tried to guess the pronunciation and as it turns out, I wasn’t even close.

Thanks much!

To the Siobhans who posted #42 and #54:
I have also been called ‘soybean’!!! And I thought I was the only one. I am highly amused to find that I am not the only one.

I use to hate always correcting people – b/c even if I corrected them they would still say it wrong – so thanks!
I love that my name is different and I dont mind all the nicknames – people won’t forget you!

I looked up “Siobhan”, and Google correctly suggested that I was actually wondering about pronounciation, and then pointed me here.

Google rocks.

Hello from Germany :-)

Got here googling for “Siobhan pronounciation”. I’m sure Ian Rankin explains it in one of his novels. Was curious but too lazy to reread all the books, so thanks a lot for explaining!

wow nice to know im not the only one googling siobahn if i ever have a daughter i think i will name her that !

wow i found this site googling ‘siobhan pronounciation’ too! how funny! also to Andy, I think Niamh is pronounced like my name neve, i wish i had been given the proper irish name niamh instead of the boring anglicised neve lol. and in case anyone is wondering, aoife is pronounced like my sisters name, eefya. My mother obviously like irish names, but not the spellings lol.

Mark, it’s an Irish name, not English. It follows the rules of pronunciation in Irish, not English! So don’t expect it to!

Siobhan is my favorite name for a female. If i ever have a daughter she WILL be name Siobhan.

Hi i love the name siobhan and want to call my daughter that, my husband thinks she will be teased, have any other siobhan’s had a problem like this and regretted the name? its such a beautiful name.

Just checked the name, Im reading the new “Rebus” book.

cheers

yeah this is so weird hi shiv

hiya everyone my mum was weird n spelt my name wit an a insted of an o she sed it looks betta but it dont stop people from sayin my name wrong n its so anoying!!! but i luv my name. hiya kev :D

i think its easier being spelt with an a i finally lerned to spell it like took several attempts =)

I saw the article in Slate about Google Suggestions and thought I’d give it a try. Siobhan is pronounced far different than I’ve ever thought (see-oh-bahn). Thanks!

I actually have a friend named Shayne and he told me he is dating some girl named Siobhan. I too googled it because I had no idea how to say it and i didn’t want to be rude and ask. Lol, Thanks!!

I’m called Siobhan and i pronounce my name “shivorn”.
However, I know when I have done something wrong when my mum calls me “shi VON” it’s a bit more sharper and tends to ring in the air longer than if she had said “vorn” :S

but my nick name is, depending on where somebody knows me from, is
siob (pronounced “sigh ob”)
shiv
shuv
ohan (pronounced like the surname of lyndsey lohan without the “l”)
sib (like the male name sid)

As if the name isn’t confusing enough without having a tonne of different ways of abbreviating it!!

Hi,

Not sure if you’ll be interested in this, but you never know, it might come in handy during a pub quiz or something.

‘Siobhán’ should be spelt with an acute accent over the ‘a’, which changes the way the word sounds. The accent is called a ‘fada’ which literally means ‘long’ in Irish, so you’re elongating the sound of the ‘a’.

‘an’ sounds like the name ‘Ann’. But ‘án’ sounds like ‘dawn’ without the ‘d’.

It makes more of a difference in the name ‘Seán’ (pronounced Shawn), the male equivalent of Siobhán. Without the accent it is ‘sean’ (pronounced ‘shan’) which means ‘old’ in Irish.

I read once, Siobhán was an ancient Irish name derived from the words ‘síog amháin’ (pronounced ‘shee Og Ah wahn’) which means ‘only fairy’ or ‘one fairy’. Fairies were very important in Pre-Christian Ireland and there are fairy-rings (ancient standing stone circles) dotted all over the country. To this day a lot of superstition surrounds them and farmers or landowners usually never disturb them if they are on their land – out of fear, more than respect. Even though it’s the 21st century there are still somethings we won’t mess with.

I’ve always hated that name……siobhan! Maybe because I’ve always had a puke inducing feeling with gaelic things. I don’t know why?

Love it It means white lady I’M Irish and proud
Joke over

Siobhan ur knickers Only heard that 10 yrs ago Better than the crap ive read

looked it up because of the book “the curious incident of the dog in the night-time”

i actually didn’t really care about how to pronounce the name
but now it’s good to know

Oh, so not “Sio ban” then?
I’d better stop calling her that then.

My friend Siobhan pronounces her name Shwan (one syllable and no v)and so do all her friends. Her father is Irish though the family lives in Canada now and insists this is the way to pronounce it. We are all used to it and now I find saying Shivon strange now.

I know a Siobhan
and she really is a sweatheart
there are so many little things
that really sets her apart

she’s wonderful, she’s lovely
she’s fun and my best friend
any time i’m sad or down
she’s quick my mood to mend

but recently i’ve upset her
and not for the first time
sure once could be forgiven
more than twice though is a crime

pronunciation was never a problem
t’was me that was the issue
and with heavy heart i write these words
Siobhan sweetheart i miss you

This just goes to show you that we are not all as different as we think…even with names as common as kimberly, and rare as siobahn.

I too googled “siobahn pronunciation” and i’m usually great with pronouncing names. I told my friend (she said she kept seeing that name and wanted to name her future daughter that, but she asked me how to pronounce it)the wrong pronunciation (sh-bon)but i felt the urge to google it, still! Anyway, it’s great to know i’m not the only one with free time to google siobahn! What a lovely name.

Add my thanks to this string on Siobhan’s pronunciation. And Anti-Siobhan? What’s the point of that? Good day and good luck, all.

I am one of the few who did not Google how to pronounce it, I actually was hoping to find out what it meant or the history of the name.

Another Siobhan here who has been called Soybean in the past! It came up as soybean in a spellcheck and i’m a vegetarian so it stuck for a little while.

We siobhans ROCK! We should start a Siobhan fan club.

I was wondering when someone would remember that awful taunt, “Siobhan,your knickers, your mother is coming!” Thanks #83

“I think Niamh is pronounced like my name neve, i wish i had been given the proper irish name niamh instead of the boring anglicised neve”
Yes, but you may have been even more frustrated by correcting people’s pronunciations constantly your whole life, so your mother certainly had your best interest in mind. My family changed the spelling of their last name to Rae from Rea so people would pronounce it right, and they clearly cared more about the sound than the look.
Speech after all is older and more fundamental than writing.

I must confess that I stumbled upon this site on my quest to find out how to pronounce Siobhan. The only reason I was looking for it was that my mate said that he was going out with a girl with that name and I thought I had better actually find out how to say it properly.

I googled it too! Twice actually. I checked a few months ago but forgot what I found, so looked again today. I didn’t find this place last time.

Sh-Vorn rocks!

I read this in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and I also tried to look up Siobhan…I thought that pronouncing it like it was written was fine (Seeo-Bahn), but it turns out it’s different, oh well, might as well pronounce it right. :D

Thanks for the tips! Google wins again.

Have a client with the name and thanks, I will tell her she has a beautiful name :) Google won!!

haha im called siobhan :)
just call people shivie if your still unsure
and its probly pronounced better: shivon
just to let u kno :D
its good that you have a page on my name thogh haha ;)

my whole life i grew up with this name. now people are actually googling on how to pronpunce it….. *sigh* whatever my nick name at scool is still, see o bhan, and syo ban and all that crap. even syo and sibby and i have way too amny nick names 0_0 anyways CYA (im 13 by the way)

It kind of floors me that this is my most popular post.

To all the Siobhans, it’s a wonderful name, and hopefully a few less people mangle it now.

- k

“Why is spelled ‘Siobhan’?”

Look at our language…look at a world like “fusion”. Look at the “sio” in fuSIOn. What sound does it make? There you go.

The second part is the ‘v’…In Gaelic or Celtic or whatever culture it’s from…the ‘bh’ lettering creates a ‘vvvvvvvvv’ sound. Much like what most of us hear with ‘ph’ lettering creating a ‘fffffffff’ sound. Phonics. Phat. Physics. Etc.

The ‘an’ at the end is self-explanatory.

My daughter’s middle name is Siobhan, and I regret selecting it sometimes, because of its mispronunciation, but I do so like it, although I had to Google the pronunciation before she was born. People have asked if it is spelled wrong but I just shake my head and explain its origins.

Ohh my, I totally had this problem as well. LOl, “See o Bahn” my bad :):)

I used to wonder how Siobhan was pronounced and my brother told me it was like saying ‘Shivon’..I didn’t believe him so I googled it for clarification and sure enough he was right. He also told me that Sinead was celtic/gaelic for “Jennifer”.

No, lies! Its See-yoh-barn! so stfu!

So many people get this wrong!! Good site

Im Siobhan And People Always Say My Name Wrong And Spell It Wrong It Gets On My Nerves Lol x

im siobhan 109 and i some times get called shivvy or shivers but i like the name shivverz so tht is my nick name

my dad is the number 108 and my friend is going to sign it i think

siobhan coupe x

Shiivverzz Rulez Ly, x

No Michaela Yew Rule ly2 x

I FINK THAT SIOBHAN IS SPELT IN A WIERD WAY LOL ,, X

You both rule.

MiiCHA3LA: Finking gets you a bad rep.

You’ve got to love google, guaratneed to learn something new everyday! I have to confess I do know how to say Siobhan but every time I see it spelt it comes out wrong (silly eye to brain connection thing) so curiousity got the better of me and I had a quick look to see what was around for it!! And it is indeed a beautiful name :)

Thanks Kev!!

Thanks for setting the record straight for those people who actually take the time and show interest in the people or “Siobhans” they meet. I love explaining to people the origins of my name and the pronunciation as well. When I first met my husband he thought my name was spelled Chevron without the r so when he lost my phone number he posted a large sign in the town where i lived CHEVON CALL MARK well because it wasn’t spelled correctly i never paid attention to the sign. He finally found my phone number (through a mutual acquaintence)called me and now we have been married for twenty years and he always calls me Chevy although he likes to tell people what my name is and tries and get them to spell it. I love my name and i have so much fun with it. Siobhans ROCK!!

My name is Siobhan
Most people pronounce it right
you get the odd people who dont have a clue
It is a common name where im from, London.
I have 5 friends called Siobhan.
Siobhan means God is gracious.
This is the same meaning as John, Shane, Joan, Sinead, Sean and much more.

WoopWoop Siobhan x

I’m Irish and living in Ireland and unfotunately it’s the spelling that people get wrong. It really gats my goat. ‘Shwon’ is how they say it in Gaeltacth Connemara(a native irish region)as there accent causes the ‘h’ before the ‘b’ to make the ‘v’ sound that a ‘bh’ generates, silent… so u end up with Shwon.
If u think Siobhán is confusing try pronunce… GHEOBHAIDH… Nope thats not made up.. HA!
and use a fada on the ‘a’ looks better and it really does change the pronunciation… ha.

iya ! my name is siobhan ….

and i get called loads of diffent names …like

shiv .. shivi ..shivver ..lil shiv ..vonie .

and some ppl call me sean .. coz it kinda sounds like it … lol

but tbh .. yh r name is weird but like it is more xcitin .. then the common names like yh get…

so if yh fink its weird just… we dont care reli .. coz r name is like yyyy more xcitin ! then urs proberly !!

and god … it aint that hard 2 pronounce !

toodlez ….x

The reason i know how to pronounce siobhan is because its my name and i have had it for my whole life

I’m one of those people who got here via Google.

I’m reading a Sunstorm, A Time Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter.

In that book “Siobhan” is one of the character’s names. I’ve read other stories with Siobhan’s and just glossed over it. However, I HAD to know this time. ;-)

Thanks.

My name is siobhan and if i tell you all the names that i have been called then i will be here forever, so i wont lol, but people call me shiv, shivi, von, vonnie etc and it’s really annoying when they can’t spell it so in a christmas card they just write shiv. And to numba 72 i have hated my name for a long time but it’s something that im gonna have to get use to and i dont really care any more. But when i hear people call my name it is kinda wierd because of a school will about 500 people there is only 3 including me, so i always turn around thinking that there talking to me. lol.

Hearing people with the same name as me kinda feels a bit wierd so to all the siobhan’s out there that don’t like their name….Get use to it and learn to like it. lol

Bubiee

My cousin’s daughter is called Siobhan. I was just writing an email to my cousin and wanted to refer to her daughter but wasn’t sure how to spell her name. So I checked how to spell it before risking sending an email with her name wrongly spelt, when I came across this site. I hope that no. 122 appreciates what I have done rather that guessing and spelling it wrong!

my Name is siobhan, i googled my name out of boredom.. ashamed to admit it.

I imagine this page is useful to people who don’t already know though :)

I am called Siobhan and i say it like this shiv-on

#2349674319067431 I too googled “siobhan pronunciation” and et viola! here i am.

Yep, I Just googled the name Siobhan, as thats my little sisters(she is 6) penpals name, I had no idea
how to pronounce it, so thank you!!
I think it is a really nice name!!

Hi, my name is Siobhan and wow, there were a lot of people curious about how to say it. Who knew. Anyways, my grandmother is from Ireland and it’s her favorite name so that’s how I got it. We pronounce it “shi-von” and it’s the equivalent of Joan/Jean meaning “god is gracious.”

I’ve never met somebody with my name before so it’s really weird to see so many out there. I’ve also noticed that there are quite a few people who don’t like having it as a name, I’ve always loved my name and I pretty much got over the mis-pronunciations and spellings in elementary school. It was great as a kid being the only Siobhan in school! I didn’t have to share my name with anybody.

My friend’s best friend’s name is Siobhan.
She tells me its SHE-BHAUN.

So I don’t know about the ‘V’ in it.
I’m confused.

I pronounce my name as ‘Shervon’ rather than ‘Shivorn’ as many people pronounce it!

where you come from/live depends on how you pronounce your name (SIOBHAN)!

Another Googler!

Finally put that question to rest!

Thanks!

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One of the more important aspects of a wedding is the rings that are to be worn by the bride and the groom. To let them show their married state there are many designs of wedding rings that can be bought. While these are all beautiful sometimes it is n…

Thanks, from google as well!

who cares

does anyone know how to speak gelic

@bob: wrt “who cares” – if you don’t, why take the effort to comment? you confuse me a little, and speaking in a language only gel would understand… I think I’ll leave that alone. :)

Had to comment after scrolling through this whole list. Congratulations on being the #1 hit for googling “How to pronounce Siobhán”!!!

I knew irish names were tricky, and so when I got an email from Siobhán and realized I would need to meet her the next day, I figured I should verify. I work with a very red haired Shivonne so i suspected something like this. But I didn’t really expect to find such an interesting page!

thank goodness i finally figured out how to pronounce this name!

I looked up this name after having no idea how to pronounce a Devendra Banhart song, ‘this beard is for Siobhan’. I thought it’d be pronounced ‘show-bun’ How wrong I was.

haha this gave me a good laugh, some people pronounce it shvorn? i did not know that. I too have been nicknamed soybean! that’s so weird. and i love devandra banhart!

And yet another in the quest for pronunciation of siobhan. I’ve always thought it a perfectly lovely name as I read it, but have never heard anyone speak it. But I had to know how to pronounce it, because I believe I would propose to the first single woman I meet who’s parents had so blessed her! She would have to be beautiful, inside and out.

Heyaah__x

My Name Is ‘Siobhan’ People Call Mee Si-o-Ban All Thu Tym Wen They Dnt No How To.

Buh All My Mates Call Me ‘Vonniee’ N Spell It That Way.

In Skewl Thu Teachers All No Mee By Vonniee Cuz I Fink Its Easier Buh Most Of My Mates Spell It Ryt.

I Get Ppl Sayin To Mee All Thu Tym That My Name Is A Lovely Name.

Buh I Hate It When Ppl Ask Me Wat My Name Is On Msn Nd I Have To Say – Siobhan,, Pronounced ‘Shivorn’ Buh Ppl Call Mee Vonniee.

Lol. Finushed My Essay Now.

Thankks__Lol

Byee x

One more to add to the “How To Pronounce Siobhan” list. Thanks!

I know my name is gaelic , is there a cooler way to pronounce it then Geh-ree?

thanks a lot. this really helped

Wow, thanks. i’v been messaging this girl called Siobhan, but had never actually heard her name pronounced, amd thought it was pronunced exactly how its spelled, see oh barn
oh man, am i glad i never actually tried to say her name to anyone.
thanks for the help, lol

I also googled the name, because I seem to encounter someone by that name every couple of weeks.
thanks.

hi my name is Siobhan too thanks alot for telling people how it is really pronounced

I too am named Siobhán – pronounced Shi-von.
I have Irish parents and live in Australia. I am often asked how to pronounce my name and am surprised that when I tell people how to pronounce it that there are still people who will call me Shi-vawn (which I hate being called). With Irish people in Australia and when I have been in Ireland I have had no problems with people pronouncing my name.

Hi, yet another Siobhan who googled my name out of boredom. So pleased you are finally educating these people, its not that hard to say!! One of my fave games is getting people to try and spell it themselves when they ask me! i am a bit stunned by the soybean thing tho, am 22 and have never had that one yet!! My famiy called me Shev when i was younger, still hate it now! but my best friend calls me von, dont mind that! Thanks again for clearing this up for so many people!

I loved the name ever since reading it in a merry gentry series and it is now the name of my puppy..us irish have to stay together! Thank you for the valuable information

Yet another Siobhan! I allow people to call me either Shivon, Shavon, or Shivawn. As long as they actually get the “v” sound, I am pretty much happy. As I live in the US, most people ask me why my mother would name me such a weird name; I usually respond that it is a unique but traditional Irish name.

As to someone asking why there is a “v” sound, I was told that in the Irish language the “bh” makes the “v”.

Siobhans unite!!

Thanks Siobhan B – Go Illini! (next year…)

yup, i googled how to spell it to. hi from australia!

i simply googled siobhan and it prompted with ‘siobhan pronounciation’!

lol thanks for the clearing up, another hi from australia

Hey, I used to read a boog to my pregnant girl friend and it wasn’t till I got to the end that she told me the lead character wasn’t called ‘SEE-OH-BAN’
What a dumb ass I felt! :o(

I used to hate my name cos no one could pronounce it, but now i’m beginning to like it.
I’m also Australian with Irish parents. A lot of Irish people i meet pronounce it Shevaughn, but most Australian’s say it, basically, as “shove-on”
And Siobhan B is right.
In Gealic, ‘B’ and ‘H’ are pronounced as ‘V’

Dunno if anyone else has said it, but the English equivalent is Joan / Joanne.
Just a bit of trivia for you :p

I too am a fellow “how do you pronounce siobhan?” googler! I’ve always wonder because it looks like such a pretty name and I’ve also read it in a book. Thanks for the info!

Thanks from Arizona, USA. I was another that would read “See-O-Bahn” when I would see the name. Was it Canterberry’s Tales that was written in Gaelic? It’s been a looooong time since high school.

Gee…. two years since the first post and people are still googling Siobhan… Like me!! I love the name. If I have a girl I want to call her Siobhan. Its beautiful! Maybe I can change my name by deed poll??

siobhan is pronounced – seeeee von

siobhan is pronounced – see von.

my name is siobhan and i pronounced it shu-von

my name is siobhan and i am so happy that people will actully know how to spell and pronounce my name… love SIOBHAN

Hi THere!
My name is also Siobhan!
I pronounce it : Sh-vorn or Sh-von and i hav had sooooo many people say it wrong or not even attempt to say it!!!! My friend’s name is also Gaelic and is spelt Brighde and pronounced Bridie!
luv,
Siobhan

Greetings All,

My name was Siobhan prounouced and spelled the American was of Shevawn (Sha-Von). After living in the UK for two years (where regardless of the spelling EVERYONE still knew how to say it) I recently (Monday May 5th) changed it to the Gaelic spelling while maintaining the American prounouciation because that’s how everyone said it in the UK too. It is lovely so many people research this though I had to pull up Google to PROVE to people how to say my name (so annoying).

beautiful kisses
Siobhan

I always pronounced it how its written like si-ob-han, now i feel incredibly stupid but also intelligent lol
thanks a lot
x

Yeah… name is Siobhan and I have heard so many pronunciations of my name like Sio-bin, Sio-ba-han, Soy-bin, Seo-ban, See-von and also Soy-bean. I pronounce my name Sha-von but my nick name is Shivvy. I am impressed by the number of people here that can actually spell my name . WOW!!

Hehe my name is Siobhan and a teacher at my school calls me autobarn and siobarn!

yet another from google. You should put a few banner ads up. you’ll make a killing!

Another guilty googler.

Useful post though

another googler

I googled too! You could make a fortune!

my wife just walked into the room and asked how would i pronounce siobhan…. she reads a lot and, unlike me (who went for years pronouncing chaos as chay-ose), has a need to pronounce things correctly… so i googled it… the first hit used audio, but i have no speakers, so this is the one i used… thanks

I guess this makes me #174.
Thanks for the info! (I got here via google, too.)

Yup, I googled it too after meeting a girl on facebook called Siobhan… i didnt have a clue how to say it but it’s too easy… only thing i’d change about this site is i’d mabe add an mp3 of how to say it ;-)

i thought it was but now i know -ta! was looking
up ’bout Dave Stewart’s ex = Shakespeare’s sister – her name :-)

Cheery kev, i knew a persons name then read it and forgot the name. haha legend!

My name is Siobhan you say that Sha-von

Another google-er! :-)
Thanks, i was unsure how to proceed, i have a meeting with a Siobhan tomorrow and i had to make sure i said her name correctly. Cheers!

i love my name!! i never did as a kid but everyone loves it and compliments me. its also a great icebreaker when takin 2 guys when im out!!!

My name is Chivon, i pronounce it (Sha-von) after reading this, i want to begin saying (Sha-vorn) i kind of like that… to all you Shavon’s, Chivon’s, Siobhan’s, or whatever variation you are — “you rock”!!!!

My Daughter is called Siobhán. We pronounce it Shi-vorn, which is also how most of the Irish we’ve met are saying it. But, if you don’t spell it with the fada (accent) on the a, it should be read Shi-van.

Another “Siobhan” here! One of the good things about having a gaelic name, you know when a telemarketer is trying to call you because they butcher my name!

Hi Everyone

I am also a Siobhan. Growing up I have been called everything Si-o-ban, SIO-BA-HAN, shboyn
Everything and i never get a birthday card or a xmas card with my name spelt right on it. I pronounce my name sh-vawn but never get called by friends or fammily as they all have there own nicknames for me xx

Hello to all the other Siobhans out there. I’m 57 and when my parents decided to call the baby (me) Siobhan if it was a girl they didn’t know how to pronounce it either – fortunately they did discover the correct way. I hated it at primary school because I was the only Siobhan. In senior school there was another who had a distinctive look so the heat was off.
Come on all you who allow nicknames – make people use the name your parents gave you.

Read this name in the “In Death” series by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts). Roarke’s deceased mother is named Siobhan.

Saw an article on Google News written by a Siobhan and decided to “Google” it. I can’t believe the number of comments. Glad to know we are all so interested!

I would guess that about 5 people in the entire world share my entire name
I have never met another Siobhan though i’d imagine it to be like meeting my doppleganger – scary thought!

This is hilarious, i thought my name is actually kind of ugly and harsh sounding!
My name is spellt with an extra i at the end.

I would say its shovawn by the way! i know at least 10 people named it as well :D

Thanks. Good to know that you’ve been providing this service (of how to pronounce the name) for over two years now.

when people hear my name pronounced before meeting me, they always think i will be black hahahah

used to hate the name but now i love it :)

Hmm, could there be another alternate pronunciation (Anglicized) SHAWBAAN? http://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Siobhan

Hahaha Google Rules….But also I like seeing all the other cool names here too!

~Ansley

I’ve always known how to say that name since it’s my moms.

I’m another Googler. XD

I have no clue who you are, but thanks for the pronunciation. I feel accomplished now that I know how to pronounce Siobhan… who knew it was so different from the spelling?

Yep hahaha!

I also googled it. :P
I knew how to pronounce it, I was just wondering the origins and meaning of it.

Thanks for your enlightenment! :D

great, now i’m not pronouncing it “See Obban”. :D

My name is Siobhan and all throughout school only one teacher could pronounce my name.. in preschool my teacher thought it was see oh ba han

heyyyy been reading some maeve binchy books and i too wondered how to pronounce this!!!

i only just learnt dunlaoghaire is pronounced dunleary after watching P.S I love you too… i didn’t realise the reason for all this was in gaelic they used the h’s to signal different pronunciations of consonants!

I’ve got a Siobhan in the class I’m teaching Thursday, so I’m very glad I didn’t look like an idiot pronouncing it completely wrong Thursday! Thanks so much :)

I have a sister and I’ll tell you for free that it is said like this…. SHIVON

I constantly have people call me up at work to find out how to pronounce Irish names. Siobhan is just the tip of the iceberg. Try Tadhg(tie-g as in bow tie with a g on the end), Ruairdhi (roary/ruuree), Caoimhe (cweeva), Laobhaise (Leesha), Beibhinn (Bayveen). Tons of fun to be had !

that’s a very interesting name and you might find some similarly popular Irish names at http://www.quickbabynames.com

awesome

Ughhh- my middle name’s Siobhan, and sooo many people say “Sighobon”! It’s very annoying.

Teehee i used to not like my name (siobhan) but now because all of you are saying how lovely it is im happy :) thnks mum!

Like many, I came across this info searching for the correct pronounciation of Siobhan. Well, at least I was a little closer than some before looking it up. It helped that I knew how to pronounce sibh.

I also have a name, although in my case it’s my surname, that people mangle. I’ve been called Monchew, Monsox, etc., etc. Log before I was born, after moving from Louisiana to Texas, my parents gave up on the truly correct pronounciation. We usually pronounce it like Mon + so. The on in the first syllable should be pronounced with the French nasil n sound that most Texans just don’t get.

Thank you thank you!! I also googled “Siobhan pronunciation”. I always thought I was pronouncing it properly…She-von, since I have asked people who have the name and that is what they told me. But was recently challenged and told it was Sha-bon….so I had to double check and I was right! I love love love the name!! Thanks!

haha, just learned how to pronounce Siobhan, thanks to you :)
i’ve been saying it as “Sib-oh-an” haha…

haha. i googled it too!
i had no idea how to pronounce it after i read it in breaking dawn.

Another googler! Cheers

Googly googly googly

well my names Siobhan i just wantd to see if there was anything on google about me n i found this, lol but c’mon its nt that hard.. is it?

My friend’s 3 yr old daughter is named Siobhan and I just wanted to find out how to pronounce that in case of embarassing situations in the future. Seems like 200++ people are just like me, haha!

I used to think it must be a chinese dialect name, and I pronounced it as “see-ob-han”. Sounds like a tongue twister.

D’uh
it’s irish…. bh-gives a V sound.
i guess non-irish peeps wouldn’t know that.
and there should be a fada on the a-á
it broadens the vowel. ie awn sounding instead of A.

i stoped writtin the fada in p2 cause the way i drew it just looked retarded lol but settle down.. its not there fault they don’t no how to pronounce it.. =)*

I finally remembered to google “how to pronounce siobhan” X)

my name is siobahn but it is spelled shavon and its pronounced how its spelled.
so, its sha-von

the name siobhan is gaelic, and it means god is gracious. i love that name

Wow, good thing I googled this before she gets off the plane! I guess it wouldn’t be great mispronouncing your bride’s name.

This site is quite the phenomenon. Turns out you’ve become the number four (non-porn) site in the world. All for us “See-O-Ban” saying mofos.

Thanks. And by the way, the proper pronounciation of Mark is “More-On” .

aha!
i like my name but hate it when people say it wrong, so thanks for letting people know how to say it.

Thanks Kev from sunny Sydney! I needed to know how to pronounce it and you are number one when i google “siobhan pronunciation”!

And now I’m one of the many who googled how to pronounce it!!! LOL

Thanks! I too googled the pronunciation and now know the correct way to say it, who knew I was not alone out there. This chain is incredible.

Woo this chain is awesome! I have the best name. It’s amazing. Love it.

Yes, it’s pronounced Shiv-awn.By the way, it means “God is gracious” and it’s actually spelled “Siobhán”.

P.S. I don’t really know how to do the accent mark on the computer, I just copied and pasted it because I know that’s the way it’s spelled beforehand.

LOL. I too needed to learn how to pronounce….do i see a sitcom starting?

Now when you read book 4 of the “Twilight’ series, you’ll know how to pronounce Siobhan! Enjoy!!!!

YEAH THE NAME IS IRISH IT HAS MANY WAS OF SPELLING BUT HAVE ONLY EVERY HEARD ONE PRONUNCIATION ‘SHOVE ON’

i’m trying to finish on essay on Kant. and there was a reason why i googled my name but i can’t remember what it was now. anyways, i’m english but have been living in ireland for almost 15 years. So i’ve never had a problem with people being able to pronounce my name. I like it to be pronounced shuh-vawn :) there are some people i know that pronounce it shuh-von but i don’t really like the way that sounds. i much prefer the elongated -vawn ending. it just sounds a lot nicer. my friend call me sibh/shiv. and sometimes sigh-o-bann because of a woman in a hotel one of my friends works in who couldn’t pronounce siobhán properly. it’s cool the way so many people don’t know to pronounce it and have all ended up on this page hehe ugh…back to the essay i should go me thinx-enough pointless rambling for one night, not to do some rambling with a point :)

@Michaela Siobhán

pressing a + alt gr will give you the accent mark ááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááá :)
and that last post shoud read
“*NOW* to do some rambling with a point” lol

i know how to say it :D

Heyy i love some of your attempts, but the way i pronounce it anyways, its sha-von
:D

I found a letter just the other day that my great grandmother wrote to my mom that said she hoped she would name her daughter ‘Siobhan’ after HER mother. My mother had often said she wanted to name me ‘Shavon’ (well, that’s how I thought it was spelled.) Anyway, I decided to google the pronunciation of Siobhan and thank you for the clarity because ‘See-oh-bahn’ seemed like a very silly name!

Ok here is my attempt…
‘Sio’ is pronounced Sha /Sho
‘bhán’is pronounced vawn(rhymes with yawn,stress this part)
= Sha VAWN
The á is important, it gives it the awh sound at the end.
I’m Irish and a fluent Irish speaker and have NEVER heard of an ‘r’ sound pronounced at the end. Sounds like a British pronounciation like you hear people saying Dear-dree for the name Deirdre (Dear/Dare-dra)
Also Aoife is pronounced EE-fa as in EE rhymes with see.
Hope that helps someone…

That’s been bugging me for years! I finally had to gooooogle, b/c it’s raining and I’m procrastinating, and lo and behold, I was SO wrong! I too thought that it was “See o bon”.

Thanks for the help!

Hey. (:

Thank you so much for this post.
I’ve been reading ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’.
A character in the book has this name so I thought I’d look it up because I had no idea how to pronounce it. x3

I notice a few other people looked up Siobhan for the same reason. *smiles*

ok it’s actually sha-wawn, bh does make a v sound but only if the next letter is i or e or a constonant, if it is followed by a, o , u, then it’s a W sound.

mark… you are a fool. not everyones a bloody effing american….. different cultures spell and pronounce things A LOT differently.
accept it.

My name is Siobhan. It is suppose to be pronounced Shi-von, but my mother americanized it and pronounces Shi-bon. I don’t really think it matters. Just as long as you don’t call me S-i-o bon

Its an ok name and all but i hate the nicknames !
si-o-b-han
sibbon
shit-von
s-i-o-bot
shivy

its just simple.. sha-von
-.-’ i hate my faggot friends lol

Ah, thank you.
I was wondering after reading Breaking Dawn.

I was actually about to google how to pronounce a different name, but the drop down list showed “how to pronounce siobhan” and I couldn’t pass it up.

You gotta love google.

What a lovely name!

What a beautiful…I wish I could have another baby girl…she would be called Siobhan…just lovely…

What a beautiful name…I wish I could have another baby girl…she would be called Siobhan…just lovely…

LOL, googled it, of course. It looks like you get googled fairly reguarly! Just thought it would be funny to add that I mispronounced the name ‘Sean’ until I was twelve and my mother told me it wasn’t pronounced “seen”… to this day I still think SEEN and have to remember that its not. LOL.

Needed to google to double check I was pronouncing it correctly. Got a note from someone at school and I don’t want to maul their name when I call them back. Thanks!

I used to hate my name when I was little because no one knew how to pronounce it! When my mom sent out her notices, or whatever they’re to be called, she attached an article from a newspaper about my name and pronounciation- it can be pronounced pretty much however the reader wants it to be pronounced, but I personally hate being called Shabon. I prefer my name to be pronounced with the V sound, instead of the B. I get a lot of people wanting to call me Sigh-O-Ba-Hawn, though I correct them every time. It’s a beautiful name, but I personally hate when I have to go to school with other Siobhan’s- yuck! We’re all confused for one another, and I’m thankful I’m the only Siobhan at my high school now!

i’m reading ‘the curious incident…’ too. it’s good and i recommend it to all 247 of you.

kev, you are a legend amongst siobhans.

My daughter’s name is Siobhan…to me the most beautiful name for a beautiful girl. I love that you have to question the person to know more about the name and then you get to meet someone special. The first day of school was always a funny experience since NO ONE had seen her name before….A fiend of mind once said that you meet the person before you know the person’s name…Thanks have a great day…..Bette..Siobhan’s MOM

Thanks! I learned the pronunciation a few months ago and then completely forgot and so found myself here.

Most of these people read that in Breaking Dawn (my life)…

THANKS!!! for the pronounciation.

Me, too, I read the name in Breaking Dawn, and I knew it was Irish but I didn’t know I had been pronouncing it wrong. I read Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, and I didn’t notice the name until now, though I remember not knowing how to pronounce it. It’s a pretty name.

my name is xiavan and its pronounce shivan too like siobhan (which i always thought was pronounced seeyobawn lol) weird huh

my name is also shavon you would think that since its spelled how it souds, it would be eaisier for people to spell it, but, no, whenever people see my name, they call me a number of things,
shave-on, sharon, shaven…etc.
by the way i pronounce it,
sh-uh-von

Sorry its not pronounced “Shivon” its “Shivahn” its like you awwwn your drag the last part out, atleast thats how you pronounce it with an Irish accent :)

i mean like not ahn but Sh-a-vorn, you really have to drag the end or else you sound like you dont know how to say the name correctly.

It’s a lovely name. I have a few friends named Siobhan and I once worked with a young lady from Pennsylvania who was named…Shivaughn. I guess her mother’s Gaelic was a bit rusty.

I live in an Irish area and am well used to the variety of gaelic names so how to pronounce Siobhan has made me giggle a bit. I’d like to see you lot get to grips with Riognha, Grainne, Aoife, Niamh, Fiachra, Raghnailt, Roisin.

I googled it, too! I read bog child by Siobhan Dowd and needed to present it and didnt want to say wrong! I sure would have without this!

We are considering this name for our daughter, who is due in June. We absolutely love this name, but wonder if it’s torture for the poor girl who will likely have to correct everyone she meets for years to come. It’s a lovely name, but maybe is too difficult for most Americans to pronounce.

To all the Siobhan’s out there – is it worth it?

YES IT IS DEFINATLY WORTH IT I LOVE MY NAME!!!!!!!

Thankyou, I need that for my speech on a book~~!

I love my name!!

Wow I never knew anyone would google search the name. Similar to the other Siobhans I have stories that could go on forever. I have a personalized license plate, so I always get asked how to say my name. What is up with the R in the pronunciation from the other posts? Very interesting. I pronounce it Shavon and often spell it out that way so people don’t pronounce the B in the name. That bothers me above all else. But I would rather someone ask me a zillion times how to pronounce it instead of saying it wrong. Hello to the other Siobhans out there. There aren’t too many of us, I have only ever met 2 Siobhans in person.

It’s a good thing I googled how to say the name of the person that will be interviewing me for internship. You saved me from embarrassment!

gosh..i cant beleieve how many people dont no how 2 pronounce shiobhan/siobhan as you can see my name is spelt shiobhan but siobhan is lot more popular (i think) yh its pronounced sh-vorn so many people av called me sio-ban grrr gets on my nerves lol hehe.
im half irish but love my name i thinks its great thanx mummy lol :-)

p.s any shiobhans out there do u av nicknames i av been called shubi since i was like 12 ha ha ha dont ask why its silly (i no)lol

Sh-vorn? huh? it’s not pronounced with an “r” it’s pronounced “shiv-awn” or “shivon”

I love my name. I feel it makes me different from all the Kate’s or Jen’s in the world, though those are great names, too. For those Siobhan’s who want a nickname (I have always been called my my entire name with the exception of my little nieces and nephews) Von works well – easy to spell and a simple reminder that its a V sound as opposed to a B. The R is not the proper Gaelic pronounciation. :-)

Oh my god!! Never knew there was so much interest in my name!!

Its a nightmare trying to tell people how to spell it!!

They say whats your name – you say Siobhan (shove – on) – they ask you to spell it so you do and then they say shiv aun.

I hate it when people pronounce the name poshly!!

I do love having Siobhan as my name though!! I have an irish background and it is lovely telling people who ask where i got the name from about it!!

My main nickname was “bon” on “vonny” or Sio-O-Ban

I have been called shit – on at times aswell!!

Thanks for this Kev!!

I personally think THe name SIobhan Suck ASS, Who ever has this name should get bit by a black man and get aids!!!!!!!

the bh is a W sound, not a Vsound, its sha-wawn

haha, I online googled it because of The twilight series, there’s a chick named siobhan and i didn’t know how to say it LOL

Hahhaaa, I wondered how to say this :D

im not sure that is write

I’m not sure that’s the way you pronounce Siobhan, but yet what do I know? you know that lots of other countries spell things one way when they are pronounced a whole different way. I got Siobhan from the 4th book of twilight. Have any of you read the twilight books?

Siobhan Ryan is that our real name? Because some people fake it.

ive read twilight so glad to see my name in it i dont see it many places but i love my name! anyway im also looking for a nickname any ideas?

yay thank you for telling people how to pronounce my name sometimes peoples guess on how to pronounce my name can be soooooo far away from the real thing by the way i pronounce my name like sh-uh-von

This is so funny. I was just telling some folks about the spelling and the pronunciation of this name and for some reason decided to google it today. I had read a book when I was young with a character named Siobhan and throughout the entire story I read it as see-oh-ban. It wasn’t until years later I learned the correct pronunciation. Maybe I should post something on how to pronounce MY full name!

I’ve known how to pronounce this since the mid 70s when I first heard the name. I think it is one of the most beautiful names I’ve ever heard. My daughter plans to name her daughter this. BEAUTIFUL Irish name! Thanks

I too am googling the pronounciation. I wanted to name my daughter this, but didn’t know the pronounciation (where were you in 1997?)

thanks for the help!

i always wondered how the correctly pronounce that name and it started when i met a friend online who’s name is “Siobhan” and i was always afraid to say it wrong when i have a chance of meeting her in person and be embarrassed about it. googling was the last thing i do to find out, but it paid off. thanks.

Ha I always thought it was pronounced Sib-han :D thanks for teaching me how to spell it even it wsnt the aim of this post

over the years I’ve been called all sorts of things
Sob-Hand
Se-ob-han
Si-han
See-ban
Sigh-o-han!

My favourite though was an Australian maths teacher i had when i was about 14, he pronounced my name Sib-hone (rhyming with phone). He had the memory of a goldfish i swear. Each week i’d be like “Sir its pronounced Sho-vone”. he’d be like “Show-van, sorry what did I call ya?”
I was like “You called me Sib-hone, The B is pronounced v and its a Sh sound.”
He’d be like “Sorry Show-van”

Its quite funny though, how many people can’t pronounce it. No one seems to have a problem with Sophie not being pronounced Sop-Hi-Eh or Christiphor not being pronounced Ch-ris-tip-hore.
maybe someday it will become “fashionable” and every will say it right!!

i sure hope it will be “fashionable” like you say cause even with my easier spelling people still cant pronounce it. it gets annoying but i abbsolutely love my name. the only thing that sucks is that i never meet people that share my name :( and finding a nickname is really hard but other than that i really do love my name

I think it’s pretty but it sounds like a black name.

Hello from the Philippines! Yet another googler here… =)
I got interested in this name because of an actress I saw on TV, Siobhan McCarthy. I thought it was pronounced as Shoban. How wrong I was! Thanks for the help with the pronunciation. Not a lot of Siobhans here in the Philippines =)

Anyway, its a really beautiful name. I am thinking of naming my daughter as Siobhan =)

I found this page both educating and entertaining.

happy days !

ill just keep saying it like Sy – O – Ban i sounds much more exotic that way lol

hi, im called siobhan an you pronounce it sh-vorn

Wow, Kev! I am another Siobhan here thanks to google. I am American but live in Ireland & have never heard the “Shavorn” pronunciation. Also, there is no American way of spelling the name, the name IS Siobhan and pronounced “Shavon”.

A big shout out to the other Siobhans. We rock!!

another googler! Thanks! Fun reading, more than I bargained for!

There is some girl at my work with the name “Siobhan”..just never knew how to actually pronounce it, don’t want to say it wrong and look silly..thanks for the help ;D

NO No NO YOU ALL HAVE IT WRONG IT’S STI-ON-BLE

hi my name is siobhan, and it is pronounced “shivaughn”

in irish gaelic, the “si” is pronounced “sh” and the “bh” is pronounced “v”

I have a client w/this name and wanted to double check my pronunciation, so I GOOGLEd it :)

Thanks for the web page; the person I once met years ago pronounced it w/out the “r” so I’ll go for that one.

Amazing how long this little blurb of your blog has lasted, huh?!

Wow, I don’t know how long I have wondered how to say Siobhan. I had though about it and said so many different and was not even close! Eowyn is another and finally received my pronunciation from Lord of the Rings. Thank you very much.

Wow, every now and then I have wondered how to say Siobhan. I had thought about it in my mind and said so many different ways and was not even close! Eowyn is another and finally received my pronunciation from Lord of the Rings. Thank you very much.

The name Siobhan is actually gaelic. There pronunciation is quite strange but it isn’t stupid for it to be pronounced shavon. Sio is like sha. and bh makes the v sound. so you have shavan XD

Considering the fact that it is MY name, everyone always tells me I say it wrong. Most people pronounce the name ‘shee-van’ for a female, but I am male and I say it differently. I say it seeb-on, because that is the way my father says it. Saying it that way allows for the awesome nickname of Seb, although it makes most people think my name is Sebastien.

haha im kinda glad my parents named me this i love it! my parents also changed it from the original irish spelling so that people could pronounce/spell it although i still do get called the occasional shave-on sharon you name it ive probably been called it! but i dont really mind because my name is unique and its cool to be different!

Yeah to repeat what’s already been said: in gaelic ‘Sio-’ is ‘sha/shi’ and ‘bh’ is ‘v’. Also, I live in Ireland (alot of Siobháns) and we allll have ‘á’ instead of ‘a’… Explaining how the ‘-bhan’ is pronounced as an elongated ‘a’ or as an ‘o’. Maybe the accented ‘a’ just didn’t make it out of Ireland? Poor thing… :P

Ah, for ages it bugged me how to pronounce Siobhan. I always thought it was “Sigh-oh-ban” Pretty, but now that I know it “Shivon” I feel much better!
I’m learning a heap about Irish/Gaelic pronounciation. I met a girl called Caiomhe, and her name was actually pronounced “Kwee-Vah”. It’s a whole great new pronunciation experience when you go to Ireland!

Wow! I googled how to pronounce it and came here too. That is so funny!

geez little things hey lol i have lived with this name for 23 years so far and boy does it get messy!!!!
got called sabrina the other day wat a bunch of fools ;p

x

all my friends call me shiv it works for me i guess!!!

we have a lot of irish names in our family just not irish blood lol

my sister is called roisin now that is a funny thing when ppl try that one!!!

Haha, I’m another person who just googled how to pronounce Siobhann! I was challenged to try and pronounce the name, so now that I know I’LL WIN! HAR HAR! It was very helpful, thank you! <3

Well, might as well add myself to the list!! I am in fact of Iish nationality but a British citizen so i feel i have a right to present my views that NOT ALL OF US WISH TO BE CALLED ‘SHA-VORN/SHI-VORN/SHU-VAWN’ whatever variation i MUCH prefer ‘SHA-VON’ Simple, suits my southern british accent and that of my friends (my mother is irish and was brought up in Dublin/county wicklow as well as my father who is a true dubliner and they both pronounce it the same as me!!!) so PLEEEASE don’t ‘stress’ the ‘awwwwn’ importance of pronouncition–it annoys me!! Thanks x x x

Haha I enjoy reading that people had to look it up because that is my name except I spell it “Shavawn”
lots of my friends just call my Vawny or Vawn vawn or Vonski etc
wow alot of people google it haha.

My daughter’s 1st name is Siobhan….it is a family name pronounced SHA’ von. We call her Bashi (Bash e). This is because her cousin could not seem to pronounce her name (in her defence she WAS only 2). she kept pronouncing is BASH sha von. So Bash…Bashi just stuck.

As to the sometimes-r at the end, the Irish Bostonians here in the states love to say Cuber instead of Cuba. The ‘r’ has to be a regional thing.
The other interesting thing is that the Bh being pronounced as ‘v’ is the opposite of the Spanish ‘v’ being pronounced as ‘b’. At least in Mexico. So veinte (twenty) is pronounced “baint-ay.”
It’s a wonder we can communicate at all!

hahahaa i googled how to pronounce siobhan too.

My friend is named Shavon and she pronounces it Sha-Vone (but doesn’t mind if folks call her “Sha-vahn” since she has no basis of comparison). Her father heard the name on the radio some 40 years ago and insisted that she name their next daughter “Shavon.” [Her mother spelled it phonetically since she had never seen the name in writing.] My friend was very surprised to hear that the name was Celtic and the original spelling was Siobhan.

I also have a new doctor named Siobhan and when I saw her name tag and said that I just LOVED the name “Sha-von” she beamed at someone knowing how to properly pronounce her name.

I’ve loved reading this. I too spent my childhood with my name being mispronounced. I don’t find it as much of a problem now.
I remember the first time I figured out how to put the accent over the a like this: á. I was so excited because that is truly the correct way to spell my name. The accent is important, it draws out the a to an “awe” as opposed to an “anne”. Thus: Shevaun ( the e is a short one as well).

I googled this 2, i never knew how it was pronounced, i feel good now :D

i have a friend who spells her name Seobahn. She says it is pronounced si (as in “*si*p”) and bawn (as in lawn). ?? Hope this helped!

Hey im called Siobhan too. Most of my friends call me Shiv, Vourney, or Shivorney. However where im from it is pronounced Shivorne. Over the years tho iv had some very ‘interesting’ spellings and pronunciations of it especially when i began work, most being men haha

I love this thread ! I’ve lived my life having my name mispronounced & mocked. I’ve come to accept mangled versions, ( it’s hard to educate ignorants) & therefore it is a joy to hear it said correctly. I have come to really love my Gaelic name. It pronounces my heritage.

Hey! I’m married to a Siobhan. She also got the soybean nickname in high school among many others. I was looking for evidence that the traditional spelling includes an accent over the a, like Siobhán. Guess I got my evidence from Siobhán from Ireland a few posts back. Thanks!

thanks from Down Under for the clarification noobs :)

Hi from Melbourne… I too Googled the pronunciation of Siobhan after seeing the name quite a few places and latest in the series Outrageous Fortune from NZ which if any of you want to watch is the BEST series ever :) Anyway thanks again for the Website I feel quite clever again now as the way I thought it was pronounced was right :) Thanks !!

Another google hit — seeking pronunciation! Read it years ago pre-google, now just found out I will be working with a Siobhan so thought I should know how to say it! THANKS Kev!

Thanks Google

I did not look up this name because of Twilight thank you very much

my name is siobhan and i hate HATE it does anyone like it but people call sighohbhahan pronounce sigh as in ahh oh as in ohhhhhh bha as in baaaa ans han = han that didnt make any sense oh well.but o well bye :p

I hope Google is paying you for this…thanks for the pronunciation help. I think it’s sort of an obnoxious, pretentious name.

Thanks! I have a friend named Shivaun and she often spells it Siobhan. I just wondered if you say it the same, and I didn’t want to ask her and sound s-t-u-p-i-d.

my name is siobhan and i am still in high school and for every teacher i have they stuff up my name. it is soo frustrating i like yell at them and then they threaten me wit a detention. so i say there name wrong and they yell at me. so im like WTF.
the ways they say my name r like wtf i get,
Sa-bean?
Si-oh-ban?
Si-Si-Si-i give up.
SSSSSSSSSSs *stares at name untill i say my name*
its so frustrating

I saw it in an Inspector Rebus novel (Ian Rankin)
Always wondered how to pronounce it. Thanks

My baby cousin is called Siobhan so I when i found out her name my mum said it then told me how it was spelt. And to this day she constantly asks me how to spell it. Just sent me a txt a few minutes ago asking actually. It’s 2am.

How funny, I too am a googler on this name! I met someone named Soibhan (in writing) and I have been avoiding her(in person) for fear of pronunciation! My name is also different. It is Symea (pron: Simia) a combination if Symphony and medea……it was the 60′s so i didn’t ask many questions!thanks all!

no one ever gets my name right when they try and pronounce it! but my name is sioban without the h :)

My name is Siobhan and I am always called “Sio-bahn” even though it is really “Shavon” but the S is like the s in “vision” not “fish.”

Heehee, I searched how Siobhan is pronounced too. It’s a pretty name!

I was googling how to pronounce tazo, and “how to pronounce siobhan” was a popular search so, out of curiosity I searched it. This was the first site to come up. I always thought it was SEE YO BUH HAN due to my ignorance. Well, now I know!

It’s so nice to see how many Siobhán’s are out there. I was born in England,(my Mom named me after the Irish actress Siobhan McKenna)and I grew up in the states. There were no other Siobhán’s in school with me but I ended up working with two women who had my name and same spelling. I couldn’t believe how many people have been called “Soybean” just like me! Glad to see so many people “googling” to educate themselves on the pronunciation instead of slaughtering the name…

ditto on why im here, trying to figure out the proper pronouncation for siobhan. some audio of it would really help tho… thanks!

My name is also Siobhán (I pronounce it sha-von) and I love my name. Some people have problems pronouncing it but it doesn’t bother me at all. I am an Irish girl living in the U.S and I love that my name shows my Irish roots. I think of my name as a gift that my parents gave me and I cherish it, I love not being ‘Jenny/Sara/Jessica/everyone else!

Watch the movie ‘Rory O’Shea Was Here’ (also called ‘Inside I’m Dancing’) the lead girl is named Siobhán and you can hear the name said again and again.

hear it pronounced:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l39fyFE2kI#t=02m46s

My name too is Siobhan and it does my head in when people tell me I don’t know how to spell my name. How ignorant? It’s an Irish name, obviously it’s not going to be spelt the way it sounds in the English accent.

I have always loved this name. I am of Irish heritage, but live in the US. I am expecting, and have been considering naming my child Siobhan if it is a girl. My husband is reluctant because he thinks nobody will know how to pronounce it, and honestly, he is probably right.

Siobhán Maher, who posted here on 22 November 2008, is right about the Irish pronounciation. It is what she says it is pronounced: shuh-vawn. I have family in Ireland, and that is how they all say it (also, I Googled a Website with Irish names, and the voice is an Irish-accented voice, and this is how he pronounced it, as well).

I have to say seeing a few people here write about the “shove-on” pronunciation is giving me pause about using this name!

Thanks! :)

Reminds me of my own situation, living in an english-speaking milieu with a french name that offers three challenges to an english-speaker…

Oh, and by the way, I just love those gaelic names!

lol

You should really consider putting up some adsense on this post to make money on all of us that find you through google’s “how to pronounce Siobhan”

hi in am shevaun and i spell my name like >shevaun like that thats how my name is spelt ! you prononce it like
SH – VORN
its the same but spelt differntly there are loads of ways to spell shevaun-sioban-Shivaun-shivawn-

my friends call me shevi , shavan

thanks shevaun x

I love my nameXD

I read through about half of these responses (I’m another googler) and I found an interesting website that has an audio bit that will pronounce Siobhan, and all the other Gaelic names mentioned here, out loud so you can hear them. So I thought I would add this to the amazingly long comment section. lol

http://inogolo.com/query.php?qstr=siobhan&search=Search+Names

i used to get so sad at christmas time at school when none of my cards had the right spelling on :(
But this is awesome, so many people sharing the love for our awesome name :)

Yup Yup, also googled it! And thanks for sharing.

I google this name about one a year…I always forget how to pronounce it….I look at it and KNOW it not said the way I want to say it….so google it every 12 months or so….

New at work and someone called Siobhan sent in an email request and now I have to call her on the phone. Had no idea how to pronounce the name but didn’t want to ask her. So google to the rescue and voila! I too think it’s a beautiful name. Thanks Kev!

I first heard the name on an old soap.Then 4 got.Then heard it somewhere again asked again&no one knew.The last time I was reading in the local paper about the activities in the local park,& a little girl has the same name,well that got me going again,I even asked my Irish neighbors,she thought that I made the name up,Well thank u very much now I can finally put it 2 rest.

My names Siobhan, and it actually makes sense if you use phonograms:
si makes sh
o is obvious
bh makes a “v” sound
and an is also obvious
:) tada!

Thank you for this post! I read the name in The Twilight Saga and I was WAY off on pronouncement!

I’ve always wondered how to prounce Siobhan, and since the lead singer in one of my favorite bands name is Siobhan, I’d thought I’d Google it. It’s a very pretty name :)
I wonder just how many people Google how to prounce Siobhan a year….

I named my daughter Siobhan, 25yrs ago and had only ever heard the name once before, but was aware that it was gaelic for Joan. the most annoying pronounciation that someone insisted on was calling her sio-bhan and there was no telling her. I’ve always loved the name though my daughter does get it shortened to shiv or shivvie which Iam not so keen on either.

You’re still Google’s Number One! Thanks for the explanation, and posting the actual people named Siobhan, good to know!

My old art teacher called me “so how you been” the first day of school , and someone else called me ” soybon”. It’s ridiculous. But still, entertaining watching teachers make a fool of themselves because they can’t pronouce my name.

I absolutely love the name. I first saw it when I went to watch Lord of the Dance (which is amazing) and the lead dancer’s name was Siobhan. I was like Sa-Ban thats weird. lol She was so talented and if I have a daughter one day I will name her that after her.

i googled it too thanks for clearing it up!

Hi everybody! ;)

Im Siobhán & im from South Africa. We pronounce my name the Irish way- Sha-vorn.

I HATE!! it when people try and correct me when i introduce myself! I’ll be like, “Hi, im Siobhán” and they’ll be like “Chevonne??” AND THEN I’LL BE LIKE” WHO THE F*CK GETS THEIR OWN NAME WRONG?!?!? i said sherrr-vorrrrn!!!” idiots…

I was the only Siobhan throughout my whole school life and currently at my places of work, although i’ve met a couple of others with the same spelling and pronunciation.

My family is of irish descent, so my father wanted an irish name for me, Siobhán(and i ALWAYS insist on the accent-its just not Sioán without it! :) hehehe) He looked in book shops and libraries for Irish and Gaelic names just to get the correct pronunciation.

Btw…im i the ONLY Siobhán, thats nickname is vorn??? like Vaughan…. I love it, hate shivvie or shivvy, or shiv or anything else. My mom sometimes calls me vorny, And my friends sometimes joke “vornys horny” lol, what losers! haha! and my sister calls me chevonne when she irritates me becos i hate that name! and she calls me sean (shawn).

I love my name and i love telling people where it comes from and what it means. I just hate having to correct people who refuse to pronounce my name correctly, and to spell it correctly…but i make them do it!!! even if it’s 50 times a day!

IM PROUD TO BE ONE OF THE VERY FEW SIOBHANS IN SOUTH AFRICA!!! hope you guys are enjoying the world cup!!

xxx

btw its 4:54pm by me, not 10am lol.

I LOVE CAPE TOWN, MY HOME TOWN!!!

AND WASSUP TO ALLLLL THE OTHER SIOBHáNS!!!

You really have a beautiful name ?

oh and my LASTTT comment :) for the accent it alt 160=á.

Oh and my pronunciation has been confirmed from irish friends. who are from the north (Might be accent related but oh well.)

I have just completed a deportment and grooming course with another lady named ‘siobhan’. i never once used her name i did not know how to pronounce it. In Breaking Dawn (#4 in the “Twilight” Series by Stephenie Meyer) there is a vampire named ‘Siobhan’. Today, my best guy friend introduced me to his sister… Her name being ‘Siobhan’. it seems such a rare name, then you hear it once and 70 kazillion pop out at you!!! Its a unique yet graceful name. I like it.

To keep fit, I row, and one of the ladies in my crew is named Siobhan, nicknamed ‘Von’ or ‘Vonny’. If you are form Australia you will know what I mean when I say her nickname is pronounced the same way as Von from All Saints.

My name is siobain ,spelled in old Irish before an H was introduced to Irish Alphabet. I have the dictionary from the 1800′s as proof my ma born in Kerry picked it out because she did not car for the ending sound of Siobhan, Sha Vonn. My name is pronounced Sha-Vaughn, not shi-von. The book atatyes trhe definition as a dubious welcome,talk about having the odds stacked against u from birth. Growing up in Long Island NY there R far & few Siobhan’s let alone Siobain. There is (Fada Shava) a dot and a slash in the name tha changes the sounds. The h was introdused to language and one of the marks was done away with.
Slan
Siobain From Long Island NY

Hah! I would like to note that you are the second-to-the-top Google result right now for “How do you pronounce Siobhan”! Very amusing, considering your post. Thank you, and cheers!

(And I was Googling because of Siobhan in Marr’s “Wicked Lovely” series, as opposed to Twilight. I knew it was either Irish or Gaelic, and therefore highly unlikely to be pronounced the way it appears spelled to an American like me.)

I donno I mean I haven’t got any friends with the name Siobahn but I have a girl called Prwingay which is pronounced “perninay”

I am twe;ve and called Siobhan and I love it. My name totally rocks.