pronounciation of the name "Sean"

[codenamecharlie]

as we know, actor Sean Connery acted as 007 in the movies,
i just want to know how to pronounce the word "Sean",

I thought the pronounciation is the same as "Seen",
but somebody told me it sounds just the same as "Shawn" ?

strange :) which one is correct?

Thanks,

[Ouisch]

Yes, it's pronounced "Shawn."

(When I was a youngster, there was some actor who often appeared in the teen magazines I bought at the time whose first name was "Sean." For years I was pronouncing it "Seen" in my head.)

[rewboss]

To clarify: "Sean" is not an English name; it is Irish Gaelic (and originally spelled "Seán"), and Irish Gaelic has very different spelling and pronunciation rules. In fact, Seán is the Gaelic equivalent of "John".

Another famous person with an Irish Gaelic name is the singer Sinéad O'Connor; "Sinéad" is pronounced "shin-ade".

Also common in the English-speaking world is the girl's name Siobhán, pronounced "shi-vawn", and is the feminine version of "Seán".

As you can probably guess, spelling and pronunciation rules in Gaelic seem very complicated to English speakers.