Saoirse Ronan was forced to explain the pronunciation of her name to Sharon Osbourne on a chat show recently.
The award-winning actress is a household name but many outside of Ireland struggle to pronounce the name.
The star appeared on US chat show The View to promote her new film.
One of the hosts, Sharon Osbourne, brought up the pronunciation and asked her to clarify.
“Ryan Gosling provided a handy hint for people that I just don’t get,” Sharon said.
“About a year and a half ago Ryan gave me an award at an awards show – it was funny because everyone came up to me afterwards and were like ‘how did you get Ryan Gosling to do that for you’, I don’t think anyone thought that we actually knew each other – but he directed me in his first film so I do actually know him,” she explained.
“This journalist years ago had written an article about me and nobody knew how to pronounce my name – so the journalist said ‘if you want to learn how to pronounce this girl’s name it’s Saoirse like inertia’, so ever since whenever anyone has been like ‘how do you… I don’t understand’ I just say it’s Saoirse like inertia and then they get it.”
So the next time you or someone you know has trouble remembering the pronunciation, remember ‘Saoirse like Inertia’.