Talk:Siobhan

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--Ynagar (talk) 10:18, 5 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Untitled[edit]

What is the pronunciation of Siobhan?--Gregalton 23:17, 31 January 2007 (UTC) Yes indeed i was wondering for very long how to pronounce that name. Maybe someone from Ireland would upload audio example of pronounciation of 'Siobhan'. --Doxent 18:14, 3 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

My understanding is that it is pronounced Shivon or Shivawn, but I'm not at all certain. Would be useful to have on the article page.--Gregalton 21:25, 3 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Siobhán is pronounced Shi-vaun.
It's not Irish for Joan [as it says on the wiki page], it's Irish for Hannah. My mother's name is Hannah and she went to school in the 1930s when they only spoke Irish in school and she was always called Siobhán

Lobelia Overhill 13:56, 1 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the clarification on pronunciation, much appreciated. While I don't know for certain, I think that Hannah is another variation on Joan (which is a variation on John, in the neutral sense that names that are now "gendered" often were used for both males and females). So the text may be accurate and still correspond to your mother's experience.--Gregalton 14:09, 1 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

pronounced [ʃɪˈvɔːn] in English? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 219.173.119.57 (talk • contribs) 06:42, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I believe the first vowel sound is a schwa (/ə/) rather than /ɪ/, but I welcome correction from experts. --Muchness 20:58, 15 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The Longman Pronunciation Dictionary by J.C. Wells lists both the ə and ɪ pronunciations as correct. Ausir (talk) 19:47, 10 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why on earth would an Irish name have the stress accent placed on the second syllable? Yes it might be pronounced with the second syllable stressed in ENGLISH. But I am sure this is not its original pronunciation in Irish. One thing I am not so clear: according to many Gaelic instructions, a "bh" bounded by non-front vowel letters should be pronounced "w". Only "bh" bounded by front vowel letters are pronounced as "v". But in real life, many people claiming to know Gaelic tell me there is no difference whether or not it is bounded by front letters or not. It should be invariably "v". How ever to me, ['ʃo-wəːn] makes the most sense, next to ['ʃi-wəːn]. ['ʃo-wəːn] does sound like a modern Gaelic approximation of the English name "Joan".

Stress is regularly shifted to the second (or even third) syllable in Munster Irish if it is long, as in this case, and the first is short. Also, both pre- and intervocalic broad "bh/mh" (flanked by non-front vowels) may be pronounced "v", particularly in Munster. So the most widespread pronunciation is basically that of Munster Irish.

Munster: /ʃə'vɑːn/
Connacht: /'ʃowɑːn/
Ulster: /'ʃuːwan/ Murchadh (talk) 03:15, 30 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Murchadh is right about the stress, though the bh / mh elided sounds vary from dialect to dialect. For instance, In Irish, mh is often "W" while in Scotland, it is usually "V" (as in the name Mary - the vocative form is "Mhaire" pron. roughly "Wire-reh" in Ireland, while in Scotland it is usually pron. "Var-ree."

But the name Siobhan is neither "Joan" nor "Hannah" in fact (though often used for the former) but actually means "Fair (or White) Fairy" - being a native Irish Gaelic name, and NOT introduced by the Normans or anyone else, as I am sure Murchadh knows. See my current revision for the facts. This is one of the greatest problems with Wikipedia and things like it - copying of egregious errata, the blind leading the blind, and no proper vetting or peer review by anyone who actually knows what they are talking about, as in this case. To make matters even worse, I have rectified articles like this only to come back later and see the whole thing turned back by one of the Wiki mavens or just some random user who thinks they know better - or who have an agenda, as in the case of the Christian vid games article. (For the record, I am a Gaelic (Irish and Scottish) speaker, and hold a BA in Celtic Studies. (My M. Sc.is in Ed.) I have lived and studied extensively in Ireland and Scotland.) Mise le meas, Seamus —Preceding unsigned comment added by Seamus45 (talk • contribs) 02:02, 10 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, your edits are an example of one of the problems of Wikipedia. People 'knowing the truth' but not citing any sources for the 'truth'. Do you realise you are the "random user who thinks they know better - or who have an agenda" you mentioned? It is easy to find reliable sources that give the derivation form the Anglo-Norman name. That's why the article should give that etymology. Please do not remove these sources, or add unsourced information. If you've got sources that give the derivation you think is the 'truth', use them; but do not remove the other information. The more information the better, but unsourced stuff needs to be removed.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 05:58, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
And Lies need to be removed. Its an Irish name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.122.98.90 (talk) 01:42, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The article makes that clear. It's an Irish form of an Anglo-Norman name.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 05:18, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I'd like to point out that the name which is usually found translated as "Fair/White Phantom/Fairy" or something similar is really Modern Irish Fionnabhair < Old Irish Findabair < Proto-Celtic *windā seibarī or something like that. Seamus seems to have confused both in his mind. Lesson: never trust your memory too much, check the sources. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 17:57, 25 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, I see now that Seamus actually gave a pseudoetymology for Siobhán, namely siodhe bhan (really (bean-)shídhe bhán), and even claimed that Seán was really sean, namely "(the) old (one)", without accounting for the fada (seems he doesn't care much for such inconvenient details). Nice spinning of the facts, obviously out of Celtophilia and nationalistic fervour. (BA in Celtic Studies? More like Spin-PhD, hehe. A man on a mission indeed, trying to deflect criticism by accusing the opposite side of having an anti-Gaelic agenda.) I'm curious what his Gaelic derivation of Séamus is. ;-) --Florian Blaschke (talk) 18:32, 25 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

So will this article be changed to reflect both so-called meanings: White Fairy and God is Gracious? I'm thinking of using this name when I have a daughter. Clarification would be appreciated. Beautiful1749 (talk) 16:43, 9 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I think it's a great name, but the 'white fairy' stuff is bogus.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 08:46, 10 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I was always taught that Sidhe means “fairy” and Bhan means “white" so Siobhan = white fairy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.233.191.109 (talk) 03:26, 16 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

● Could someone who has an idea why Siobhán/Siobhan is pronounced using Munster Irish-like stress (i.e., the second syllable is given primary stress) add to the article? Is the name only pronounced this way in English and Munster Irish (i.e., do native speakers of other Irish dialects and Scottish Gaelic stress the first or second syllable). Off-hand the name Conchúr seems to follow this pattern too (at least among Irish speakers) as it's pronounced as if it is written Cnochúr. It would be interesting to know if there are historical reasons for these pronunciations or even if the pronunciations are arbitrary but people just like them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gortaleen (talk • contribs) 10:04, 1 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 28 February 2016[edit]

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Moved to Siobhan - Consensus lies with Siobhan being the most common spelling in English language sources--books plus several scholarly searches, thus moved per WP:COMMONNAME Mike Cline (talk) 13:41, 8 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]


Siobhán → Siobhan – Usage of the spelling of this name without an accent is much larger than usage with the accent, in reliable sources. See ngram for evidence: [1]. Furthermore, of the 30 Siobhans listed at Siobhán#People, only two apparently used the á in their Wikipedia article title.  — Amakuru (talk) 19:22, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

  • Oppose. If the article is to be about the Irish name, then it should be called Siobhán (with the fada). If not, it should be moved to List of people named Siobhan. —  AjaxSmack  03:44, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support if this is about the Irish name on English Wikipedia, it should use the common English language spelling, since English Wikipedia is not Gaelic Wikipedia. -- 70.51.46.39 (talk) 06:34, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose this is an English encyclopedia, English articles about Irish names include full Irish spelling. "Common spelling" above seems to have been read as "lazy spelling in non reliable sources" - which of course outnumber reliable sources.
Patrick Hanks, ‎Kate Hardcastle, ‎Flavia Hodges A Dictionary of First Names 2006 0198610602 "The Irish name Siobhán (Scottish Gaelic Siubhan), related to English Jane, has in recent years been Anglicized as Shevaun and Chevonne; its cognate Síne is found in the Anglicized form Sheena. "
Gerry Coughlan, ‎Martin Hughes Irish Language & Culture 1740595777- 2007 Page 23 "Many Irish words are incorporated into Irish English and their pronunciation may well be baffling to anyone unfamiliar with the idiosyncracies of Irish spelling. The name Siobhán (pronounced shiv·awn) is a well-known illustration."
In ictu oculi (talk) 16:23, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@In ictu oculi: yes, this is an Irish name, but it has since become a commonly used given name for many people who speak English as their main language, (perhaps with no knowledge of Gaelic at all), both in Ireland and across the rest of the English speaking world. And in the clear majority of people with that name, as attested by reliable sources, the accent on the a is omitted. It's not inaccurate, or, as you say, "lazy spelling in non reliable sources", because that is the proper given name for those people, in their passports and elsewhere. Thanks  — Amakuru (talk) 11:53, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
That's not how WP:RS works: please read WP:RS about sources fit for purposes, and also please surf through the entire Wikipedia anthroponymy corpus. If we move this on the basis of technically limited junk sources like passport machines we'd have to remove accents from every article. In ictu oculi (talk) 17:31, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Passport machines are well capable of reading accented letters, but you're missing my point. I wasn't saying that a passport is a reliable source, that was just an example to emphasise my point that the majority of people with this name style it Siobhan, not Siobhán. That's not an inaccuracy or laziness, it's simply how they and others style their own name. Now this article is about a name; a name which is Gaelic in origin, and was presumably originally styled Siobhán in Gaelic, but is now held by thousands of people around the world, and is predominantly styled in English as Siobhan. And reliable sources of all hues predominantly use that form because it's the predominant form out there in the real world.  — Amakuru (talk) 18:12, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Siobhan is the most common form, so there is no reason why Siobhán can't be a redirect with the Irish origin listed in the lede of Siobhan. Mabuska (talk) 21:27, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support - I never had any idea Siobhan was spelled with the "á".... Anyway none of the people listed at Siobhán#People have it so we should probably ditch it as well, If the Gaelic encyclopedia wants to use it then they can knock themselves out but IMHO we're not the Gaelic encyclopedia so we should use actual English words .... If that makes any sense at all!. –Davey2010Talk 00:06, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Davey2010, "we should use actual English words" is not support by WP:COMMONNAME that supports this one and others (Bréhain for example) as it is used in Engish, is you just check over that list you linked, and linking to Scottish wiki, where the usage would be Siubhan isn't really a point for keeping it or changing it here. Murry1975 (talk) 11:23, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
No I know but as most of the people listed don't really use it it kinda supports my point in that no one really ever uses it, Yeah my bad I for some reason thought it was gaelic so I've struck that part, If most people in the world spell it without the a then so should we. –Davey2010Talk 16:02, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
LOL, yeah different types of Gaelic bud. It Could be considered WP:ENGVAR, yogurt and yoghurt, but as an Irish language name, I don't know about that. Still undecided meself. Will read more. Thanks User:Davey2010. Murry1975 (talk) 09:10, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
True, Weeeellll it looks like consensus is going towards oppose so you might aswell jump on that bandwagon lol, Anyway thanks Thanks Murry1975 :) –Davey2010Talk 14:50, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. The ngrams for names like François and Ramón also show the name without the accent mark strongly outdoing the name with it, but the articles on those names do have the accent marks. Most of the people on the list of Siobháns appear to not be from Ireland, so would be a less than perfect indicator of the correct spelling of an Irish name. Egsan Bacon (talk) 02:07, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. Per AjaxSmack Egsan Bacon and In ictu oculi. This is an English-language, English Wikipedia article about the Irish-language name, Siobhán, not a List of people name Siobhán, Siobhan, Shevaun or some other variant thereof. It would therefore seem obtuse to name the article incorrectly. BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 12:54, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    Actually it's not about the *Irish-language* name Siobhán. It's simply about the name Siobhan, as held by thousands of non-Irish English speaking people around the world, which is Irish in origin. Now we could have separate articles on the English name and the Irish name, but that would be probably overkill, given that they share a common history and etymology. So given that the accentless name and the name with the accent are sharing a page, it makes sense to go with WP:COMMONNAME, which shows it without an accent.  — Amakuru (talk) 14:21, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    If that is indeed the case ((u|Bastun}} then why are almost all the names in the article spelt without the fada? Mabuska (talk) 22:49, 6 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Almost all"? Really?! I suggest you check again. In many cases, the fada was/is omitted in error. In any case, lists of names are incomplete, pretty much by definition. BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 23:51, 6 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • I would appreciate a bit more evidence than that, Bastun. As I said above, the NGRAM suggests that the form without the accent is more common than the one with it. Are all the sources incorrect? If most people with the name actually use the fada in their name, please provide some evidence for that.  — Amakuru (talk) 10:54, 7 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • A bit more evidence than what? Above, you claim there are only two entries on the list using the fada (there are currently eleven). Do you dispute that user-contributed lists of this nature are, by definition, incomplete? Some of the people on the list do spell their name with a fada, and I've corrected them. Some don't. The article is about the name. The name is properly spelt with an accent. C.f. François and Ramón. BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 18:21, 7 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    Derry is properly spelt Londonderry but we go with WP:COMMONAME on that so the properly argument doesn't stand much ground, especially when the article lede can easily state the proper Irish spelling. Most people spell it the English way. Mabuska (talk) 21:46, 7 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    You really want to compare this to the Derry/Londonderry naming dispute?! Which has little to do with WP:COMMONNAME, as you should know! BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 22:50, 7 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    @Bastun: well congratulations. You've gone in and added in or corrected a number of entries on the list.[2] (at least one of which appears to be erroneous - Siobhan Coady doesn't seem to be usually referred to with a fada [3][4]). I congratulate you on making WP better by adding more names to the list (honestly). But none of that is really relevant. My point about the names on the list was just meant to add a bit of weight to what I thought was a fairly open and shut move request. It's the NGRAM that really sells the case for this move, as well as usage in the news media. Siobhan is the WP:COMMONNAME for this name in English, as its usage in reliable sources exceeds that of Siobhán by quite some margin. I agree with you that the list of names is an incomplete list and it doesn't change the fundamentals.  — Amakuru (talk) 22:07, 7 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose, the article is about the name, which has the accent. Irrelevant of whether people can be bothered to use it or not. --Midas02 (talk) 03:31, 5 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support - Siobhan is more common in English. Genealogizer (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 06:18, 5 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks for your contribution, Genealogizer. You've one mainspace edit, ever. Did you edit under another name? BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 23:51, 6 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose, for reasons given by others, accents are frequently omitted from non-English words, that's no reason for us to have an article about an Irish name and not bother to spell it correctly! Yes, I would probably omit the fada if typing, that doesn't mean I don't know it should be there. I agree with Bastun, it would be perverse to spell it incorrectly. Pincrete (talk) 18:57, 7 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Improper move?[edit]

Um, shouldn't the move have been halted as no consensus? I'm counting 5 in favour, 6 opposed, not counting the IP address and editor who has only ever made one mainspace edit. Even counting both of those, it's still only 7:6 in favour of a move. BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 22:54, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

RMs are not closed based on vote counting, but on consensus and policy based rationale. Please see a more detailed explanation at: [5]. --Mike Cline (talk) 23:48, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Exactly - there is no consensus in the above discussion. You - at least in part - based your decision on an Irish name on a catalogue maintained by an American university. That seems... perhaps not entirely impartial. "Generally preferred" does not mean "must be universally applied", and when titling articles about names, there are plenty of examples where the original non-English language spelling is maintained - because it's a) the correct, original name (upon which derived spellings are based and yes, may have become more popular than the orginal); and b) it imparts knowledge. I can feel that horrible phrase "check your privilege" approaching, and would point out that making everything generic American English would be appear to be at odds with "the inclusionist desire to change Wikipedia only when no knowledge would be lost as a result." ;-) Thanks for your time. BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 10:49, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Bastun: even if your assertion that we should defer exclusively to Irish usage rather than WP:WORLDWIDE usage was correct (I don't believe it is, since a whole load of non-Irish people use this name), even within Ireland use of the fada is very much split. A very simple Google search across Irish websites seems to show about a 50/50 split between those with and those without. For example, Siobhan Mullaly of University College, Cork, and Siobhan Phillips, mentioned in Irish Independent newspaper, to name a couple. Thanks  — Amakuru (talk) 11:36, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Which, again, proves nothing, except that sometimes some people are lazy and/or imprecise and/or inconsistent. The Amazon and Barnes & Noble pages for Siobhán Creaton's book, "Ryanair: How a Small Irish Airline Conquered Europe", for example, list "Siobhan Creaton" as the author, sans fada, but the accompanying image of the book in question clearly shows the author is "Siobhán Creaton", with fada. The example you use, of Siobhán Phillips, rather proves the point - both the Irish Times (a much more respected newspaper than the tabloidy Independent) and the Irish Examiner spell Ms. Phillips' name correctly. BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 13:26, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
P.S. - click on the plus sign next to Siobhán Mullally's Biography heading and you'll see that she does indeed spell her name with a fada, too. It appears to have been omitted from the page heading in error. Possibly a HTML thing. I know I omit fadas when setting up email accounts, too. BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 13:30, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 5 December 2016[edit]

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: No move. After over 2 weeks, we'are effectively in the same position as we were several months ago when the article was moved to the version without the diacritic. The relevant guidelines such as WP:DIACRITIC, WP:UE, and WP:Manual of Style/Ireland-related articles all indicate that titles both with and without diacritics are acceptable, and advise us to abide by WP:COMMONNAME. The evidence presented at both RMs has suggested that "Siobhan" is more common than "Siobhán". One compelling point brought up by a few supporters here, which evidently wasn't a factor in the last RM, is WP:TIES. This guideline does ask us to put more weight on Irish English sources, as this is an Irish name in origin. However, we've seen little evidence that "Siobhán" is more common in Irish sources. In fact, the evidence presented by the Trinity College author search shows that "Siobhan" is more common. As such, I'm closing this discussion as no move. Cúchullain t/c 18:16, 19 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]


Siobhan → Siobhán – Article was moved despite majority opposing move. Restore to stable title WP:CONSISTENT with all other Category:Irish-language feminine given names, and consistent with Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Ireland-related articles. See also the definition of WP:RS sources as sources reliable for purpose: all name dictionaries and reference works able to display the síneadh fada do display the fada. ......Or alternatively as per previous discussion if this is no longer a name article then move to List of people called Siobhan. In ictu oculi (talk) 14:41, 5 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

  • Oppose. As IIO certainly knows, we don't count votes in move discussions, we examine the supports and opposes through the lens of policy/guideline. Opposing for all the same reasons cited above, principally WP:COMMONNAME and WP:UE regarding the spelling used by the vast majority of *English* language speakers who have this name, on what is still the *English* Wikipedia. See also the above move's closer's excellent explanation at User talk:Mike Cline#RM close at Talk:Siobhan  — Amakuru (talk) 14:56, 5 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
But Amakuru I also know that WP:COMMONNAME and WP:UE relate to the subject of the article. The common name for the Irish name Siobhán is Siobhán - just as François is common name for François. Please provide one reliable source which uses the fada for other Irish names but makes an exception for this one. Check out A Dictionary of First Names Oxford University Press, 2006. Are blogs and baby name websites more of a reliable sources than Oxford University Press? These sources belong to the Internet of Crap, and are not WP:RS. In ictu oculi (talk) 15:33, 5 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
My assertion, though, is that this is not exclusively an Irish name any more. Thousands of English speaking people around the world including in the UK, USA, Canada etc, use this as a given name despite only having loose connections to Ireland, or even none at all in some cases. And they overwhelmingly do not include a fada on the a. You can't compare this to François or other Irish-origin names such as Órlaith, because those others don't have large numbers of English speaking people who omit the diacritic, while Siobhan and Sean clearly do.  — Amakuru (talk) 15:42, 5 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Would that assertion be true of Sinéad too? Or what about René? People use those names too without a connection to Ireland or France. Yet WP:RS still give the full spelling of the name. Irrespective of the above view, can you please supply one reliable relevant source - a name dictionary for example - which is enabled for Irish names but treats Siobhan/Siobhán different from Sinead/Sinéad, if you're arguing that it is no longer an Irish name. In ictu oculi (talk) 15:47, 5 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose This is an article about all variations of the name. In which case the most common (by far) spelling is the article title per WP:COMMONNAME. If there were separate articles on Siobhan and Siobhán then each would be titled accordingly. But there is one article on both variants so the commonest one is the title. --MrStoofer (talk) 16:47, 5 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Strong support incorrect spelling makes Wikipedia look lazy at best and ignorant at worst. We also have articles such as François, so the fear of correct grammar in names doesn't really wash. The English version of Siobhán already has it's own article at Joan (given name); this is about the Irish name. Claíomh Solais (talk) 23:05, 5 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

:*I've struck your !vote as you can't !vote. –Davey2010Talk 23:19, 5 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

  • @Davey2010: why do you say this user can't !vote? Is there some sanction in place? Thanks  — Amakuru (talk) 10:04, 6 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Amakuru Ah damn sorry!, As he was the one that moved the article I assumed he was the nominator aswell, My apologies. –Davey2010Talk 11:01, 6 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

*Oppose - RM was only closed a few weeks ago and consensus was to move, I see no valid reason to move back. –Davey2010Talk 23:19, 5 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support - Well my !vote in the previous RM made no sense at all and at the time of writing it It apparently never occurred to me that there is something called the irish language, Anyway although there's various spellings of it the main spelling is in Irish and so IMHO we shouldn't get rid of it. –Davey2010Talk 14:53, 6 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Well yes, Irish is a language. It is the same thing as Gaelic, which you were referring to above. Your point in the previous RM seems to make more sense than this one here. The "main spelling" is not in Irish, it is the one used by thousands of Siobhans in the USA, UK and Australia who are not Irish speakers. The original name in Irish was Siobhán, and that's no doubt what they'd call it at Irish Wikipedia, but here at English Wikipedia, we go with the English version. As indeed you rightly said in the last RM.  — Amakuru (talk) 20:53, 6 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Strong support - yes, the RM was closed almost 9 months ago (not a few weeks), but consensus, numerically, wasn't to move. Rather, the closer based his decision on the WP:COMMONNAME argument used by move supporters, which in my opinion, while in good faith, was in error. WP:DIACRITICS applies, as does the Irish Manual of Style. To quote Diacritics: "The use of modified letters (such as accents or other diacritics) in article titles is neither encouraged nor discouraged; when deciding between versions of a word which differ in the use or non-use of modified letters, follow the general usage in reliable sources that are written in the English language (including other encyclopedias and reference works). The policy on using common names and on foreign names does not prohibit the use of modified letters, if they are used in the common name as verified by reliable sources."... "either form will normally be acceptable as a title." and more importantly and very relevantly "Beware of over-dramatising these issues: as an example Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Ireland-related articles) may be mentioned, which, as a side-effect, regulated use of diacritics regarding Ireland-related articles – peacefully – before, during and after an extensive dispute on the question of diacritics in 2005." (My emphasis added, except for the "peacefully" bit, which was already there ;-)
Rather than using a search of the University of Montana as a base, using the library of Trinity College, Dublin (which is a copyright library for both Ireland and the United Kingdom), one can see that both forms, Siobhán and Siobhan, are in common use - 247 results for author search "Siobhán" as opposed to 375 for "Siobhan".
It does also need to be pointed out that newspapers, web pages and even author catalogues quite often omit diacritics, even when a person uses them in their name. For evidence of this, see my comments from 11 March in the section titled "Improper move?", above.
As this is an article about the name, Siobhán, it's etymology, derivation and origin, and not a List of people named Siobhán, Siobhan, Shevaun or some other variant thereof, it would therefore seem obtuse to name the article incorrectly. BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 13:07, 6 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support, per editor's comments above. They make sense and present a strong case for the change. Randy Kryn 20:02, 6 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose; as per nominator hints about the move possibility, this article is 80% "List of people named Siobhan" and 20% "Siobhán (name and history)". I guess a split is possible, but both articles would be pretty short then, so I don't think there's any harm in combining them - and if they are combined, see previous RM's nominator for evidence that most people don't use the fada. Wikipedia is / should be more of a descriptivist than a prescriptivist, so it really doesn't matter what is "right", what matters is usage and self-identification, both of which seem to favor Siobhan. SnowFire (talk) 20:28, 6 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. I think there are a couple things to consider. Which form of the name is most common in reliable secondary sources that pertain to its origins/derivatives/use/etc. Which form of the name is most common on Wikipedia, and which form of the name is most common out in the real world. I suspect Siobhán is the most common form of the name in reliable secondary sources. For example, OUP's A Dictionary of First Names doesn't even list Siobhan (as far as I can see neither does Gaelic Personal Names, and these are the only two books cited by the article). That's why I prefer Siobhán as the title—it's the form actually dealt with in our sources. It seems to me that the two forms are borne roughly equally by peeps listed on Wikipedia, so either way it's not a big deal. The important thing is for the article's content to accurately represent our sources.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 02:01, 8 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
No they aren't borne roughly equally, that's the whole point. Almost nobody uses the fada on the name except perhaps for some who are actually Irish, and even then it's not universal. The original request was based on that fact, and a review of Wikipedia articles was part of it.  — Amakuru (talk) 11:46, 8 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
To give another example, the Serbian politician Slobodan Milošević has his Wikipedia article under the correct spelling of his name, despite the fact that many English media articles[6][7][8] spell it as just "Milosevic". Some Anglophones (and others) including journalists do not know how to type acute accents on a keyboard and indeed some computing systems cannot functionally handle them, which is fair enough because it does not feature in their language, but the general common practice on Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedias seems to be to spell them correctly. Claíomh Solais (talk) 16:44, 8 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. The most correct and most common form found in reliable sources about the name. Neodop (talk) 10:45, 8 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. If the article is to be about the Irish name, then it should be called Siobhán per WP:TIES as the fada is used in Irish English as well as in Irish.[9][10] If not, it should be moved to List of people named Siobhan. —  AjaxSmack  02:56, 9 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose as a rehash of a prior move request with no new reason for the proposed title change given. Calidum ¤ 03:55, 12 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    You missed the points about WP:TIES and WP:DIACRITICS, so. BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 10:40, 12 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    This article has no ties. The name is used across the English speaking world. And even in Ireland it is more commonly used by English speakers without the fada than with.  — Amakuru (talk) 16:57, 13 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    [citation needed] BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 17:26, 13 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
    And furthermore, the reasoning behind the original close has never been refuted. Mike Cline's words (on his talk page, in response to a query about this) "And there is overwhelming evidence from books, scholarly sources and such that “Siobhan” is the most common spelling, a position I validated by doing some extensive searches on JSTOR and within the Montana State University Library Online catalog. If the opposers had been arguing that “Siobhan” was not the most common name in English language sources and had backed that up with sound data, I would not have moved the article title." This new move request has not provided any data to refute the strong WP:COMMONNAME evidence, and nor is it likely to, therefore it is correct to say that nothing has changed.  — Amakuru (talk) 17:04, 13 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Restore Lead[edit]

Irrespective of success or not in reverting the minority move above, the lead should be reverted to give the correct full spelling of the name first. Not sure who changed it to put the English before the Irish, that's unique on en.wp. "also spelled Siobhán", seriously? In ictu oculi (talk) 08:20, 6 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

This is English Wikipedia, so it's logical to list the English most common version first. Also, as noted, there are a very large number of different spellings, all of which are mentioned further down.  — Amakuru (talk) 10:00, 6 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Per WP:TIES, it should be Siobhán as the fada is used in Irish English and not only in Irish. —  AjaxSmack  02:58, 9 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
This article has no ties. The name is used across the English speaking world. And even in Ireland it is more commonly used by English speakers without the fada than with.  — Amakuru (talk) 16:57, 13 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
[citation needed] BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 17:26, 13 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
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