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I think it's a common enough Irish name that should be pronounced/familiar enough to people but then again Irish names can be butchered in unusual ways sometimes...

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I like it as a name

I like Seamus a lot. I'd never use it as I have no Irish connection, but it's a lovely name.

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I don't know about Harry Potter but I think it's a well enough known name for spelling/pronunciation not to be much of a problem

Who needs Harry Potter? See something you can't pronounce, and look it up.

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I don't like Seamus, simply because of the pronunciation. "Shame us" just isn't encouraging.

It's okay. It seems a little bland to me, and I don't like how it sounds like the word "shame," but that doesn't bother me too much.

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I do feel like a lot more people will know how to pronounce it due to Harry Potter. I had never heard of it before, so when reading the books my family and I pronounced it "SEE-mus" until the movies came out :)

I like it. I think people can pronounce it, especially because most people can pronounce Sean.

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Some combos because why not:
Seamus Christopher
Seamus Bastian
Seamus Nathaniel
Seamus Donovan
Seamus Callum
Seamus Declan
Seamus Michael
Seamus Finn (maybe too close to Finnegan?)
Seamus Gavin
Seamus William
Seamus Leofric
Seamus Conor
Seamus Roderick

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My brain also kept trying to say "Seamus Lillian" which doesn't make sense because Lillian is so feminine, but maybe as a sibset?

I love it, I think it's very handsome. I'd use it if I identified as Irish at all (I do have Irish ancestors, but have never thought of myself as Irish).

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I don't think pronunciation would be too much of an issue, and I don't think anyone who wouldn't know it before Harry Potter would know it now. Minor character. It's one of the most well-known Irish names. I've heard it on a handful of little boys too.

This message was edited 12/13/2016, 11:36 AM

I know a little boy (aged 6) named Seamus. I don't think most people have trouble pronouncing his name (he lives in rural, central Kentucky).

I don't think that pronunciation would ever have been a problem, Harry Potter or no. It's an Irish name that, unlike most Irish names, became well-known enough in the US (if that's the country that you're thinking of) that Americans have known for a long time how to pronounce it despite the counter-intuitive spelling.

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My sister named her Irish Setter Seamus way back in the early 1970s and the pronunciation was known then. Unfortunately, that Irish Setter is all I can think of when I hear the name. I don't like it because, although I certainly didn't dislike the dog and he was beautiful, he was goofy and hyperactive so it's a goofy, hyperactive name to me.