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Shelagh
What do you think of Shelagh. I know a woman with this name and she said it's the Irish form of Sheila.
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I'm in the U.S. So if a woman from Ireland says that Shelagh is a legitimate Irish spelling then who am I to contradict her? It does look very odd, though. Sile immediately popped to mind as the Irish form. If I just saw it written somewhere, without your info, I would have assumed someone in the U.S. with Irish roots got Sheila and a shillelagh mixed up.
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It really does look that way. Thanks for the giggle!
I did some research and it does seem to have originated in Ireland, for what it's worth. Doesn't exactly make it a 'legitimate Irish spelling' though :)
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Ha!Now there's a pretty name, Shillelagh. :P
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I've known a couple; also a Moiragh. Shelagh looks elegant and interesting, perhaps because where I live it's much less frequent that Sheila, which sounds better than it looks, somehow.
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It is a legitimate spelling of Sheila. I've also seen Sheelagh and Sheilagh (which I prefer). My favorite spellings are Sheila and Síle.
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I know it's pronounced like Sheila, but it makes me think of shellac. Outside Gaelic-speaking areas I think people would have difficulties to pronounce it.
Sheila is OK, a bit boring. I prefer Cecilia.
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I think the spelling is overblown and ugly. Sheila is ugly anyway, but at least it's easy enough to spell.
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I'm pretty sure Síle is the Irish version, but I could be wrong. My knowledge of Celtic names is rather new. To be honest it looks like an "Irish influenced" spelling. Like someone wanted the name to look more Irish. I think that is trendy over there. like Éimhear vs Emer. Both technically correct, but Éimhear the more modern look-at-me-I'm-Irish version. Which I don't mean in an insulting way at all.
As for the name. I just don't like Sheila. You'd think I would for the simple sound and vowel-heavy look, but I don't. I knew a poisonous Sheila and my opinion is skewed. Sheela and Susheela I still love. The similar Hindu names.
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The woman that has this name is Irish, accent and all, so I'm confused about whether it is an actual Irish name. She introduced herself as "I'm Shelagh, but, not spelled how it sounds."
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My take (as a non-Irish person) is that Shelagh is a more Irish-looking Anglicization of Síle, like Darragh vs. Dáire.To answer the original post, I have only seen Sheila spelled as Shelagh on the character in the show Call the Midwife. I think it looks much more appealing than Síle. I dislike the name Sheila in the first place, though, but would say it's my favorite spelling.

This message was edited 4/30/2015, 3:12 PM

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I don't like the name either. She said that the spelling was Irish but I want to get opinions on that.
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Well... it's pretty close to "she laughs".
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Unless one has the roots to go with it, I think using the Irish spelling is a bit odd.
Also, Shelagh does not visually appeal to me.
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