Meaning of the Irish name Ciara. Listen and learn how to pronounce Ciara so you can get the correct pronunciation for this Irish girl name.
MEANING: The feminine form of Ciaran, from the Irish ciar meaning “dark” and implies “dark hair and brown eyes.” St. Ciara was a distinguished seventh-century figure who established a monastery at Kilkeary in County Tipperary. It was the fourth most popular baby girl name in Ireland in 2003.
GENDER: Girl | Female
IRISH NAME: Ciara
PRONUNCIATION: kee + ra”
ENGLISH: Keera, Keira, Kira
Back to Irish Girl Names
We named our daughter Kiera 18 years ago. We chose Bryn (also Irish) for a middle name. We changed the spelling to something more phonetic as we happened to have a waitress named Ciara one day about 2 months before she was born. The waitress complained that everyone called her “see air ah” and it drive her crazy. Bryn, by the way means hill i believe.
My oldest grandchild is named Kiera, pronounced as Frank pronounces Ciara. Her middle name is Bryn. She and we all love her name. Very neat to hear Frank say it and give the information on that name!
How about Eileen?
My daughter was born in 2002 and I decided on naming her Ciara. I have always pronounced it KEER-AH and call her Ciar for short. She is always correcting people at school who use different pronunciations, teachers included. This is especially so since the singer Ciara (see-ar-rah) became popular.
My sisters name is Ciara as we’ll and we pronounce it care-ah too! We are from the states and most people pronoun it as ” see-air-ah”. Here everyone just assumes she’s trying to be different but we swear our mother named here Ciara “care-ah” !
Americans pronounce it as SEE-AIR-RAH
I called my little girl Ciara, and i’m a lover of the Irish language so we settled on Aoibh for her middle name. Aoibh translated to English is Eve and it’s pronounced as Eve in Irish too.
Hope that helps. Good luck with the arrival of your little bundle.
My middle name is Sinéad, though its not a very common middle name, if that’s any help 🙂
My name is Ciara and my middle name is Bridget 🙂
I named my baby girl Ciara. and everyone here in the U.S. says it like that dang singer…. im just like ppl learn something other then your own back yard…. its Kee-rah…. most though say it like Key-ra the eastern form posted for it (kira) it makes me mad but o’well.
Don’t worry – no need to feel bad. But image how a French person would feel, if someone called their child Francois and then pronounced it Fran-coys rather than Fran-swah. Ciara is an Irish name and the only correct pronunciation is Kee-rah. Sierra is a nice name too… if you want to do right by the Irish language and still pronounce your name the way you’re used to, why don’t you just explain the situation to new people you meet?
My name has an ‘h’ on the end (as you can see) and it’s pronounced see-AIR-ah, not KEE-air-ah. Does the ‘h’ make a difference in the pronunciation or should it still be KEE-air-ah? Also, does that make it Irish with a new/wrong pronunciation, Spanish with a respelling, or a different language altogether?
Louise is a very common middle name in Ireland.
I am due in Oct and decided on naming our baby Ciara if it is a girl, what are some common Irish middle names? My husbands family originated from Ireland and are wanting an Irish name
Hi,
Well, my name is Deirdre. In London & Britain generallt, everyone calls me ‘Dear-dree’. So fed up as in Irelabd I am called ‘Dur-drah’ which is correct Irisg Gaelic pronunciation. Some have called me ‘Dee-drah’ ! Problem solved as I now call myself ‘Dee’ & don’t tell people what my real name is !! It’s simpler that way & I like the name ‘Dee’ !
My name is Ciara, I’m from limerick, Ireland and I pronounce my name as ‘care-ah’. Slightly different to ‘kee-rah’. Each to their own 🙂
Good evening.
Just saying, kee-rah is the correct way to say it. It’s a beautiful name, though, see-ah-rah is also a nice way to pronounce it, though. There are others I’d prefer, but I’m stuck with this one, so I’ve grown to like it. But, agreeing with the other person who said this, if you want to respect the Irish language, don’t go “butchering” the pronunciation.
My name’s Ciara too. In Irish, though, Ciara is still pronounced “kee-rah”. It’s also still written “C-i-a-r-a”.
You should add my spelling of the name,It is pronounced the same as all the other names and most people don’t have a problem pronouncing it!It is spelled Cirah and I think its very unique because most people don’t spell it like that but I do and that’s how I pronounce it!
Being named Ciara and having grown up abroad, I know all the mistakes people make when first seeing my name. I agree with many other people here. If you are proud of your name “Ciara” due to its irish origins, you really shouldn’t be pronouncing any other way than kee-rah. I love my name and I really don’t have a problem with constantly correcting people (I grew up with it, I suppose), but it does annoy me when someone mispronounces their own name. Ciara is an irish name, as far as I know there are no equivilants and it only exists in the irish language, so there can only be one correct pronounciation – the irish pronounciation. I dont know an alternative for see-ah-ra, but for kee-ah-ra there is the italian name Chiara.
It makes me sad that people are against my name apparently….my mom has pronounced it see-air-rah since the day I was born and have always loved my name dearly. It represents my deep Irish and Scottish origins, yet to hear people say ‘there is no variation to it’ crushes me. I have no disrespect to the Irish language…I believe it is a beautiful name however it is pronounced.
Can you add my spelling also please? It’s spelled Ceire, but is also pronounced Kee Rah. I know it’s not common, but it is a much older version of the name and there are several ‘Ceire’s in the world. It would be great to get it a bit more recognisable so I didn’t have to correct people ALL the time
Hey my name is ciara in Irish its CÌARA
I loved the spelling of Ciara, but misread it to be pronounced ‘ Ki-rah’ so that is what my daughter is called. People just accept it when I pronounce her name so think she will forgive me.
I was on a few sites for my name Ciara, and it really hurt me when I found out my parents pronounced it SEE – AR – AH and it was actually KEE-AR-AH . Does it really matter how you say it ?
Kee rah is the correct way to pronounce it. It might seem petty but it annoys me when people say it wrongly. It is an Irish name, and although other languages and countires may all speak differently, I think if you are going to chose a name fromIreland, then you should respect their pronounceation. If I was going to use a name from France, Spain or anywhere else, I would use their way of saying it. Accents are one thing, but when you ignore a languages rules on how to use the language, then you are just butchering it. Ciara is such a nice name (altough extremley common in Ireland). There are names out there from other countries which are pronounced KIRA, SEE-AR-RAH and every other which name. SO if you want to be called, or call your child a name which is pronounced in this way, then I would recommend looking at those countries (sorry, I dont know what they are. Although I think Italy has a see-ar-rah name).
If you are using Ciara because of its links to Ireland, then respect the Irish language.
I actually hate my name trying to find what it is in English so I will get my name said right
My name is Ciara and I used to depise my name so much. Every where I went I would get called ‘Sierra’ or ‘Key-a-ra’, it frustrated me alot! But as I’ve grown older I can see the beauty in my name. I think Ciara is a beautiful name and very graceful. I love the meaning ”dark”, because it also means “dark hair and dark eyes”, which describes me very well. I love this name!
My name is Ciara and I pronounce it similar to the R&B singer. Moreover, I was born in the early 80’s and therefore pronounce it similar to the Revlon Perfume. Furthermore, I am Hispanic and was born with the Spanish pronunciation of the word Cia-ra. I am very proud of my name because of the connection to the Irish Saint. I feel that the pronunciation of a proper noun is based on the origin of the individual who is being named. Although it is a Irish name, I am a very successful Colombian-American teacher and have graciously corrected anyone who is referring to me by my name. I strongly believe in diversity and acceptance of individuality. I feel we should accept one another instead of being hurtful to each others’ culture and language. 🙂
No, it is pronounced KEE-RA. There is no other variation on the pronunciation of the name.
Frank pronounced it correctly, I am Irish and my sister is called Ciara and that Keerah is the correct way to say it. It is a common name in Ireland and unfortunately a singer’s mom spelled her name wrong and people think it should Sierra like the mountains, So either you spell her like the mountains or the Spanish word, or learn to say it the proper Irish way. People are butchering names and since Ciara has been around since the 6th Century I think the Irish way is the only way. Sorry
Hi,
I would love to seek your expertise here, see, i just named my newborn baby girl as Ciara, and I pronounce it as SEE AR RAH. im pretty surprise when i read the late author Frank McCourt pronounced it as KEE RAH. May i know, in this case what would be the most proper way of pronouncing this name or, i would say it merely depends on where this people from. i know the origin of this name is from Irish, which is why Irish pronounced it as KEE RAH based on the Irish tone but if we are looking at worldwide perspective, ‘generally’ what would be best described the pronunciation of this name Ciara? Kindly enlighten me..as i dont want to be ended up calling my daughter name wrongly for the rest of her life. in Malaysia, KEE RAH sounds like KIRA, which means ‘count’. Hence i dont think this name is useable generally if its called KEE RAH in Malaysia and Indonesia. Can i say its wrong to read it as SEE AR RAH? Thanks