After actor Denis Quaid "butchered" the pronounciation of Saoirse Ronan's name at the Golden Globe nominations, TV host Ellen Degeneres clarified the matter for her audience.
“Everyone was saying, ‘how do you pronounce her name’,” said Degeneres, “It’s spelled S-A-O-I-R-S-E – which makes no sense.”
The Brooklyn star was a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show where she said she didn’t personally know anyone who shared her name but “there have been a few babies called Saoirse in the last few years”. It means freedom, she added, “so it holds a real importance for us”.
The pair then laughed over a clip of Quaid announcing Ronan's nomination for the Golden Globe best actress award where he pronounced her name as Sheesha.
“The day they came out I was in Dublin and I was getting my nails done,” said Ronan. “I had no idea that my name had been completely butchered on national television.”
She added: "I spent the next two hours doing phoners in the corner of this nail salon with like Justin Bieber playing in the background. It's called Tropical Popical so there's palm trees everywhere and flamingos and you feel like you're in Ibiza or something and you're just getting your nails done in Dublin."
After all this, Degeneres presented Ronan with a sandwich board to help people on the red carpet pronounce her name. “Hello,” it read. “My name is Sur-Sha”.