Gender Feminine | Meaning "light", "brightness" | |
Pronunciation Irish: [ˈsˠɔɾˠəxə]
English /ˈsɒrʃə/, /ˈsɒrkə/ Language(s) 1. Irish
2. Scottish Gaelic | ||
Sorcha is a Gaelic feminine given name. It is common to both the Irish and Scottish Gaelic languages, and is derived from a Gaelic word meaning "brightness".
In Ireland, the name is often mistakenly considered as a Gaelic form of the etymologically unrelated name Sarah (a Biblical name, meaning "princess") due to the superficial similarity in pronunciation, especially in the common Anglophone pronunciation that approximates the Irish sound [x] (ch) consonant not found in English with [ʃ] (sh) or [k] (k), just like Dorcha, which means "dark". Sorcha is also commonly Anglicised as Sally, the diminutive of Sarah.
In Scotland, Sorcha has been Anglicised as Clara, which retains the name's Gaelic meaning: the English Clara is derived from the Latin clarus, meaning "bright", "famous".
The variant pronunciation of this name as /ˈsɜːrʃə/ is commonly confused by English-speakers with both the masculine Seóirse (pronounced [ˈʃoːɾˠʃə], equivalent to George) and the feminine Saoirse (pronounced [sˠiːɾˠɕə], a modern repurposing of the Irish vocabulary word saoirse which means "freedom").