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I've met a Siobhan (about 11 or 12) and at first I didn't know how to pronounce it. She mostly goes by Vonnie. I also recently saw a Chervonne. It makes pronunciation easier I suppose but it's not as nice written. I think most people would have trouble pronoucing Siobhan but I suppose it could work.

People can learn. All it takes is exposure for them to become familiar with an unusual name (for example, American Idol recently had a contestant named Siobhan). People spelled her name wrong all over the blogs and various fan sites but the point is, they all know how to pronounce it now!

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I love Siobhan.

I know a Siobhan Kia and a Grace Siobhan. If people see their names on paper they have trouble, but once they have introduced themselves, there doesn't seem to be any problem.

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And I do like Siobhan. :)

I love it. The only thing that turns me off is that terrible trashy misspellings of this name are really common with complete bogans here in Australia, right along with misspellings of Cheyenne.

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I know quite a few Siobhans here in Australia and they haven't had pronunciation problems. It seems to be common enough that people have taken notice of the weird spelling and gone "oh yeah, that is shiv-vaun". I imagine it is somewhat similar in the US, especially seeing as you guys at a Siobhan on American Idol this year.

Yeah, I think th prn would be a problem. I prefer it spelled Shavonne anyway. I don't like the B in Siobhan.

I love Siobhan. I think it's getting better known here in the U.S. I was just at a graduation ceremony of a small, northwestern college. There were two Siobhans (fn) and one Siobhan (mn).

I think it's pretty. I'm guessing that there are a good number of people in the U.S. who are at least familiar with the name Siobhan, but I'm sure that some people would mispronounce and misspell it. The good thing is that it would be more familiar in the U.S. than, say, Caoimhe or Saoirse though. More obscure names tend to be butchered more easily.

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I've met people named Sinead and Niamh, and they seemed to get by okay. Another person I used to know had Siobhan as a middle name, but I haven't met anyone in the U.S. with Siobhan as a first name, so I can't really comment on their experience. I also knew a Saoirse, and it seemed like other people had a harder time with that one than Sinead. I'm sure that once people around them become more accustomed to the name, things get easier, but initially, pronunciation and spelling issues tend to arise.

Weird, I'm like a mix between you and Shannon. I think it's one of the ugliest names ever, spelling and sound. If I were to use it I'd really just spell it Chevonne. When I first saw it I burst out laughing, and then when I heard it was pronounced Chevonne (it was through the context of the internet) I burst out laughing again.

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It would cause a TON of pronunciation problems, but so do a lot of names. I just do not think it's necessary to keep the original spelling, it's so counterintuitive. Then again, I don't like the name, so I don't have any attachment to the Irish spelling.

I like the look of it, but I'm not a huge fan of the sound. It's just okay for me.

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I think it would cause some pronunciation problems in the US, sure. But it is probably the most commonly used Irish-spelling Irish name I've seen here. And it definitely helps that there was a Siobhan on American Idol and there's a Siobhan on Hell's Kitchen this season, so more people have now seen the name.