Talk:Sean

John
This article is more about John than it is Sean. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.191.211.54 (talk) 13:51, 3 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Do you want to come over to my birthday party for Deep Sea Fishing tomorrow? 2600:1700:4A40:36E0:8009:77AA:D869:EAC0 (talk) 02:25, 15 April 2024 (UTC)

I agree. I made a few changes, most particularly to the common misconception that Seán is from the English John; it is not. The Normans brought it to Ireland. Donnchadh Ó Corráin and Fidelma Maguire, Irish Names (Baile Átha Cliath: Lilliput Press, 1990) point this out. 86.42.119.12 (talk) 03:03, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Eòin is Gaelic for John.

Accent
Shouldn't this article be Sean without the accent? Emperor001 (talk) 02:09, 21 June 2008 (UTC)
 * No, because then it would be the Irish word for 'old', or sound like most of ASEAN in English. The forename sounds different because of that fada over the 'a'. 86.42.119.12 (talk) 02:49, 30 August 2008 (UTC)
 * But I've never seen it with an accent and since this is the article about a name, it is most commonly put as Sean without it. Emperor001 (talk) 20:19, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The article is mostly about the history/origin (etymology) of the name Seán/Sean. The name just about never spelled "Seán" in America, but it is a very common way of spelling it in Ireland. ~ TheSun (talk) 04:46, 25 February 2009 (UTC) ~

If the Irish name Seán is ever spelled without the accent then it in spelled incorrectly. "Sean" means only one thing in Irish: it is the prefix meaning "old". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.79.188.106 (talk) 00:29, 7 February 2015 (UTC)

"Shayn" reference to Northern Irish pronounciation
As a northerner can I just say I am surprised to see that "shayn" is quoted as a common form of pronounciation in the horth of ireland: it is the first I have heard of it, so can you double-check the source/accuracy? Sean41 (talk) 13:16, 2 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I think that this refers to Donegal gaeilge rather than the way the name is pronounced in English in Northern Ireland. I've been called what sounded like Shen by my manager (from south Donegal) while speaking Irish. Stanstaple (talk) 18:51, 7 September 2010 (UTC


 * In Donegal Gaelic (or in any of the old Ulster Gaelic dialects )"Seán" is never ever spelled "Séan" (which sounds somewhat like Shane, an American pronunciation). I have looked for it in Donegal Irish texts from the pre-1950s Dublin standardization and that form is nowhere to be found. You only ever find "Seaghán", the same spelling as elsewhere in Ireland, or in post-standardization "Seán". The pronunciation in Donegal (and in Ulster Irish in general) is as 'Shaan', and the as the "á" in Munster Irish sometimes is pronounced as "aw", in the Southern dialects the same spellings "Seán" or "Seaghán" will sound more like "Shawn".

Well there was a leader named Shane O'Neill from the Tyrone O'Neills and then there were McShanes as offshoots. Obviously this was a British English phonetic spellings and nothing at all to do with America although one later O'Neill McShanes whose name had been changed to Johnson was important in British North America. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.20.150.79 (talk) 15:54, 3 June 2023 (UTC)

Origin
Sean is from Gaelic and it means something close to the word "ancient" not John. It is pre Christian. Feel free to look it up in a Gaelic book. Wiki is not a credible source in education because of these ubiquitous errors and some of the questionable Wiki admin monitors. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.72.17.69 (talk) 07:43, 14 May 2015 (UTC)

Lack of IPA
Article currently has the text: "The Irish adapted the name to their own pronunciation and spelling, producing the name Seán. Sean is commonly pronounced Shawn (Seán), but in the northern parts of Ireland (owing to a northern dialect), it is pronounced "Shan", "Shen" or "Shayn" (Séan, with the accent on the e instead of the a), thus leading to the variant Shane." Without an IPA template, all this is useless. "Commonly pronounced..."??? If you are going to tell us how it is commonly pronounced, and not provide a citation to support this claim, you had better at least actually tell us how it is pronounced using the standardized tools readily available on Wikipedia, yes? KDS 4444 Talk  10:47, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Or you could just look up the pronunciation via YouTube or a TV series from those regions where the name comes up. That description of variations is accurate, although the first sentence is a bit rough. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.112.140.132 (talk) 08:38, 20 May 2016 (UTC)

As it is Gaelic I doubt you will find it so easily on YouTube. I suspect that you will mostly find the Englishized versions. "Shay-en" is the closest I can offer to the correct pronunciation. In Scots Gaelic it means "Ancient", Gaelic is a language that predates Latin so "john" is absolute nonsense. "Shane" comes from the days when people could not spell so they wrote what they herd. "Shane" came from a North East Irish pronunciation of Seán (not sure of the exact location in NE Ireland, possibly Belfast). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.240.244.2 (talk) 04:38, 24 October 2017 (UTC)

Requested move 5 December 2016

 * 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 Fuortu (talk) 12:10, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

Seán → Sean – Basically the same rationale as at Talk:Siobhan. While it may be correct to put a diacritic on the a in the Irish language, this name is now used by millions of people worldwide who do not speak Irish, and the. We can verify this through an ngram comparison: as well as a look at List of people named Sean (for existing Wikipedia articles) and also a "Sean was" search on Google books. &mdash; Amakuru (talk) 10:58, 5 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Support per nom MrStoofer (talk) 13:05, 5 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Oppose - there was a majority opposing the move at Talk:Siobhan. In addition to the fact that is is an article on an Irish name we have guidelines Manual of Style/Ireland-related articles regarding de-Irishing article titles. In ictu oculi (talk) 14:27, 5 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Looking at that requested move, there was no "majority opposing the move", it was 7-6 in favour of the move, so the page was moved from Siobhán to Siobhan - Arjayay (talk) 15:51, 5 December 2016 (UTC)
 * A good point, although as in any other case we don't use vote counting as the primary means of determining consensus. The proper explanation from the closer of the other move, as to why they saw a consensus, can be found at User talk:Mike Cline. Thanks &mdash; Amakuru (talk) 16:01, 5 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Support per nom. Well spotted, well reasoned. Dohn joe (talk) 15:19, 5 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Support per nom. Unreal7 (talk) 18:51, 5 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Oppose per WP:TIES / WP:ENGVAR. The Irish English form of the name is "Seán" with the fada and the name has strong ties to Ireland, being an Irish name.  —  AjaxSmack   23:45, 7 December 2016 (UTC)
 * This is incorrect. Irish English does not use a Fada on this name. See the examples in The Irish Times newspaper. It is only the Irish language itself that uses the fada. &mdash; Amakuru (talk) 13:04, 9 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. WP:UE applies here.  Calidum   ¤   03:54, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Support per nom - I'd been waiting to see if there were any good arguments for keeping it - but only see incorrect claims - Arjayay (talk) 08:36, 12 December 2016 (UTC)


 * 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.

Origin
Why is this page still insisting on keeping misinformation about the origins of the name ? The Gaelic language predates modern or romantic era language. The word translates as Ancient not john. John is a Christian word and has nothing to do with Gaelic. Go learn Gaelic and stop spreading misinformation Wiki. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.121.18.62 (talk) 23:00, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for constant misinformation
'''Sean is not John, it is in fact a Gaelic word that predates the Christian name "John". Sean means Ancient/Old etc. Sean is the same in Irish Gaelic as it is in Scots Gaelic :''' Ref : https://learngaelic.net/dictionary/index.jsp?abairt=sean&slang=both&wholeword=false https://medievalscotland.org/problem/names/iain.shtml

Semi-protected edit request on 28 March 2021
My understanding is that the name Seán is derived from the Irish word for "old" of the same spelling and placement of the fada on the "e". 142.167.150.37 (talk) 12:26, 28 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. &mdash; KuyaBriBri Talk 16:54, 28 March 2021 (UTC)