Author Topic: Pronunciation of "Sinah"  (Read 1573 times)

Offline Genealiza

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Pronunciation of "Sinah"
« on: Friday 17 April 20 13:23 BST (UK) »
I have a family group of 8 children born in Llanfyllin from 1811-1823.  They are all named after maternal and paternal parents, grand and great grandparents.  They emigrated to the US in 1823 and have 2 more children.  The last child is named Sarah, which doesn't appear in any of the parents' families.  My question is, could "Sinah" be misconstrued in the American dialect as Sarah when spoken with a Welsh accent?

Offline Gadget

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Re: Pronunciation of "Sinah"
« Reply #1 on: Friday 17 April 20 13:26 BST (UK) »
Sigh-nuh
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Offline Gadget

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Re: Pronunciation of "Sinah"
« Reply #2 on: Friday 17 April 20 13:30 BST (UK) »
Thinking more about it, It could be mistaken if it was written down. 

I have a few Sinahs in my tree, many from that area.
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Offline Genealiza

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Re: Pronunciation of "Sinah"
« Reply #3 on: Friday 17 April 20 16:37 BST (UK) »
Thank you for your quick responses.  I've run across some transcriptions of Welsh documents that do erroneously put Sinah down as Sarah.  But, since the original documents definitely name her as "Sinah", I've written it off as a transcriber error.  Maybe Sarah is the name of her maternal grandmother, whom I have yet to find.  Thank you again for your input.


Offline Ian Nelson

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Re: Pronunciation of "Sinah"
« Reply #4 on: Friday 17 April 20 17:00 BST (UK) »
can't find the origins of that version of the name but in Scots and Western Isles Gaelic the S would take the Sh sounding, so sounds like Sheena, think Celtic and pronounce Sinead as in Sinead O'Connor, the singer.   Sounds like Shin- ade
The Sheenas I know had the given name Jean, maybe Sinah is the Welsh equivalent
Norfolk, Nelsons of Gt Ryburgh, Gooch, Howman, COLLISONS,  Ainger, Couzens, Batrick (Norfolk & Dorset), Tubby ( also of Yorkshire) Cathcarts of Ireland, Lancashire & Isle of Wight) Dickinsons of Morecambe and Lancaster, Wilson of Poulton-le-Sands and Broughton.  Wilson - Ffrance of Rawcliffe,  Mitchells of Isle of Wight. Hair of Ayrshire, Williamson of Tradeston, Glasgow. Nelsons in Australia with Haywards Heath connections.

Offline Gadget

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Re: Pronunciation of "Sinah"
« Reply #5 on: Friday 17 April 20 17:33 BST (UK) »
Ian - It is pronounced as I gave in my first reply. It is very common in the N Wales border counties*. As I said, I have 3 in my line.  I even knew of a couple when I was growing up there.

It is not related to the names that you refer to.  I did quite a lot of research on it when I first found an ancestor with that name.

Gadget


* just put Sinah in the RC search facility and see where the posts are. To my knowledge it is not a traditional 'Welsh' name
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