How to pronounce this name

[ForresterModern]

I really like the name, and I like the Gaelic spelling. I would echo the rest of Jeff's thought though. Even my own last name requires explanation every time I give it. My standard comment is, "Two Ls, like a hitman." It's worth the trouble in my opionon, and I am glad my kids (who are grown now) don't have trendy names; there must have been 4 Jasons in every class they ever had.

My own children have biblical names as well: Gabriel and Elizabeth followed by family names.

Thanks, Jim.

With respect to your "four Jasons" comment, I remember the first day of first grade (talking 1964 here) when the teacher discovered that we had 4 boys in the same class who were named Richard but went by the nickname Rick. The teacher arbitrarily and clearly in her own interest of diminishing effort and confusion in the classroom, decided that one of them would be Rick, one Ricky, one Rich, and one Richie, despite their parents request to not do so. I was friends with all of them all the way through high school, and unfortunately because we were all also expected in the classroom to use the assigned names rather than calling each Rick followed by their last name(or at least their last initial), the three who did not get called Rick by this first grade teacher went through 12 full grades of school labelled with Rich, Richie or Ricky in school while their families and really close friends were the only ones who called them by Rick. They were even listed with their inappropriate names in class pictures, yearbooks, etc.... all because of that first grade teacher (who was honestly a really nice person from what I remember and am told by my parents). Just an example of how a name or nickname can stick with you and effect your life for great lengths of time.

jeff

[Tobus]

It's funny... I've been having a similar conversation elsewhere about baby names. I'm a big fan of unique names, especially ones that have a long history. But I dislike "popular" names, or ones that are "over the top" in ethnicity. Most people tend to think of their child's name in the context of schoolyard bullying, but it's also important to think of the name that he/she will carry as an adult. Imagine them being a doctor, lawyer, politician, etc. Would they be taken seriously with the name, or would it be a hindrance to them?

That said, I like Declan. I even like the Gaelic spelling of it. Having to correct people is not that big of a deal if you only use it as a "legal" spelling. For common usage, the child could use an Anglicized spelling. It's no different than other nickname variants like John for Jonathan, or Mike for Michael, or Bill for William. Lots of people sign their names for unofficial/non-legal stuff using nicknames or alternate spellings. So that would always be an option, even if the legal name is Gaelic.

[LANCER1562]

When I was in the fourth grade I attended a French parochial school in San Francisco. There were four Roberts, two Davids, Three Marys and two Lisas in my class. This was not a major problem in the classroom, as the school policy was that all male students were addressed as Misior(sp?) and last name and all female students were addressed as Madamoiselle(sp?) and last name. On the school yard and in the cafeteria things got interesting though. My last name of Kerr has led to some pronounciation problems over the years, but nothing that couldn't be corrected by simply telling the person the proper way to pronounce it. Years later I dated a Filipino woman with an unusual last name whom I eventually married. It took me the better part of a week to learn how to pronounce her family name correctly. When our daughter was born we named her Elaisaid Marie, unfortunately so many people had problems pronouncing her name or couldn't be bothered with trying to pronounce it that we ultimately changed it to the anglisised Elizabeth. She has her mother's maiden name as one of her two middle names as is the Filipino culture. I hope in time she will change it back to her birth name.

Definitely use the gaelic spelling on the birth certificate but for everything else use an alternate spelling and pronounciation.

[Joshua]

Hating the fact that my name #12 on the list of baby names from the year of my birth, and that it was frequently mistaken for Jason (God only knows why...), the number #2 name on the list for that year, I decided to name my son a simple, Scottish, original yet pronounceable, Biblical name of "Ian" and I've been pretty happy with that... so far I've encountered 1 other "Ian" his age, amongst the seemingly countless Ethans, Aidens, Jaydens, Calebs, etc (the top 4 names for the year of his birth).

Thankfully we didn't have a girl, my wife was dead set on Isabel, which happens to be the #7 name on the list for that year. Of all the people we know who were pregnant at the same time, 4 of the 6 or so we knew had daughters and named all 4 Isabel (or Isabella).

[ehiker]

Hating the fact that my name #12 on the list of baby names from the year of my birth, and that it was frequently mistaken for Jason (God only knows why...), the number #2 name on the list for that year, I decided to name my son a simple, Scottish, original yet pronounceable, Biblical name of "Ian" and I've been pretty happy with that... so far I've encountered 1 other "Ian" his age, amongst the seemingly countless Ethans, Aidens, Jaydens, Calebs, etc (the top 4 names for the year of his birth).

Oi. Try seeing your name in the top four. I used to have a pretty uncommon name...

Ethan

[SeumasA]

I guess I don't need to worry about that.

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Seumas, it's pretty popular in Star Valley, WY actually. A lot of the Scottish handcart saints were sent to settle here and there are quite a few people that gave their children family names.
***Can't get too far into that discussion because it will break Rule #5***

[Tobus]

I had an uncle name Aloysius...

...my family tells the story of one of my great uncles whose name was Eurastus...

Those are the kinds of cool "old" names that you don't see any more. I wish they would see a resurgence in use.

I have ancestors with first and middle names like Weir Aurelius, Amos James, Lewis Felto, and Leweir Lovell. They are very unique and "old timey" to me, and I just think they're cool. I'm guessing that my grandfather, Leweir Lovell, didn't care for his name much, though, because he went by "Pat" (for his last name, Kilpatrick).

It's the same with my grandmother. She has a beautiful name, Ila Virginia, but she goes by "Janie".

[GoodGirlGonePlaid]

Congratulations!!!
I only know one child (a girl, but like you, I think it's more of a boys name) named Decklan <--not spelled in the gaelic.

I always wanted to name my child a really unique name, but all the unique names were taken by the time I bred.

My daughter (4) is Mary. She's the only Mary I know... under 37.

[ForresterModern]

Those are the kinds of cool "old" names that you don't see any more. I wish they would see a resurgence in use.

I have ancestors with first and middle names like Weir Aurelius, Amos James, Lewis Felto, and Leweir Lovell. They are very unique and "old timey" to me, and I just think they're cool. I'm guessing that my grandfather, Leweir Lovell, didn't care for his name much, though, because he went by "Pat" (for his last name, Kilpatrick).

It's the same with my grandmother. She has a beautiful name, Ila Virginia, but she goes by "Janie".

My grandfather was a Cecil, his wife Nina (pronounce Nine'-uh), my father Clinton, my other grandmother Isabelle (100 years before it was popular again), her sister Mabel, my other grandfather Howard with brothers Homer, Haskell and Cleo (among several others), my mother originally Willa Joan but she always went by Joan. We have all manner of interesting names in the relatively recent (last 200 years) geneology---Nimrod, Bedford Addison, Orestus Gilbert, Eurastus, Melvin, Ida Mae. It is only when you get back to around the Revolutionary war that the family names revert to more typical English William, Robert, James, John, George and the more traditional repetitive naming patterns of the day using father's father's name, then mother's father's name, etc...

There is nothing like a unique name to make you memorable and individually recognizable. I unfortunately was named after a semi-famous actor of the day Jeffrey Lynn (except my middle name is spelled with an "i" instead of "y"), which seemed to be fairly popular at the time as I have in my life met at least 20 other Jeffrey Lynn xxxxxx's that are right around my age. Still, not a lot of Jeff's in general despite that.

But hey, the OP was looking for the Gaelic pronunciation of the English Declan, that is spelled (if I get it right) Deaglan'. So do any of our gaelic speakers have an answer for her, or for the name origin and meaning? I am now as interested as Squeaky was when she posted.