Any Scots about ?

[brionon]

The woman leading the Golf on BBC TV at the moment is called Catriona Matthew. All the commentators leave the 'O' out of her name and call her Catrina. The sequal to R.L. Stephenson's novel 'Kidnapped' is 'Catriona' which I've always pronounced as it's written. was I wrong,please ?

[JeniPeni]

You CAN pronounce it as CatriOna. It just depends on the individual how they want their own name to be said.

[moonshadow]

Catrina is a varient of Catherine as is Catriona, but the later is a Celtic varient.

[Mr Veritas]

No, I think you may be right.
According to my Scottish neighbour,it is always pronounced Cat~Ree~Oh~Nah.

IF someone wants to pronounce THEIR name Catrina,then that's OK,but it doesn't alter the ACTUAL pronounciation!

[Beanmistriss]

Everyone I know with this name pronounces it Catrina. I used to work with a very well to do old lady and she pronounced her Catrina - she was very pernickity. You could pronounce the O but it's not common

[slinky.kate]

i have always pronounced the 'O',as everyone else i know

[heathfield]

Gaelic was first written phonetically when there were no rules on phonetics. Adjacent letters in Gaelic words can and do act as modifiers to other letters - which accounts for the strange-looking spelling in many of them. The combination 'io' shows the pronounciation of the letter 'i' to be as in the English word 'it'.

[albaqwerty]

Mhairi can be pronounced Varry or Marry, maybe it depends on which part of Scotland as well as the person in question

[swedeheart]

Question for you, Heathfield: When you say the i in Catriona is pronounced as in 'it', does that really mean that the i in Catriona is 'short'? (As if it were spelled Catrinna.) My ears have always heard Cat-ree-nah, is that wrong?

[barry1010]

Loving the way Heathfield says it is spelt phonetically. Just how would you pronounce Siobhan?

[Ankou]

the "correct" english pronunciation is "Ca-TREE-uh-nuh" or "Ca-TREE-nuh" not like fiona - fee-oh-nuh.

in irish gaelic it is spelt Caitriona. there is a sinead fada on the second i so it is accentuated. and always referred to as ca-tree-uh-na.

[TCL-MUMPING]

i would pronounce it as Cat-ri-u-na, as for Siobh�n, I have seen it as an Anglicized name, CHIVORN

[annie0000]

The correct pronounciation is Katrina - people do use the name for their kids and pronounce it Kat ree o na, that is obviously their perogative, but it not correct. The name does get spelled and used in a number of different variations e.g Katrona or Catrona with no "i" at all. I have even seen Kathreaghonagh which is a hell of a spelling to saddle a little girl with!

[hc4361]

The Anglicized name for Siobhan is Yvonne.

[Whickerman]

Everyone I know with that name here in Ireland pronounces it 'Catreena' (or more commonly "Treena").

That said, i work with a Catriona, and it's only our scottish callers that ask for "Catree-o-na"

[Whickerman]

Siobhan is pronounced "Shiv-on", or if spelled with a fada on the a (Siobh�n) it is pronounced 'Shiv-awn'.

[tamborine]

I Missed the end - did she win?

[heathfield]

As Jeniadams says in the very first answer, ''It just depends on the individual how they want their own name to be said''.
Barry - The monks who first wrote Gaelic had a problem. Their alphabet contained only 18 letters, yet the language held some 55 different sounds. Rather than invent new letters they added in existing ones to modify the pronunciation of adjacent letters. They had no precedent, yet made an excellent job of phonetics if their rules are followed. Unfortunately it left Gaelic with some of the most complex spelling of any language! Have a look here.
Swedeheart - Take the English name Catherine. It has a short 'i'. Even today, the word is often pronounced as 'Kath-rinn', so drop the first 'e', In Gaelic, 'th' is pronounced as the 'h' in 'happy', so the 'h' in Cathrine is dropped to become Catrine, This could be 'Kat-reen', so the monks stuck in a modifier 'o' to show it's 'Kat-rinn'. Next, think of the European name Katrina, or the French penchant for pronouncing the final 'e' on a word. Perhaps that's how it used to be voiced in Britain, and where the final 'a' comes from.
Maybe QM could provide an expert comment on this?
Anyway, The first answer's the best!

[swedeheart]

Excellent idea, heathfield. I've taken the liberty of summoning the Monster :)

[Clanad]

If memory serves, our inveterate Q, whose second occupation is a gastronomic oenophile specializing in little known purlieu of backwoods France, is off on another search for the perfect souffle - white wine combination. I'm sure we'll hear of it soon...