Dermot Kennedy teaches Theo Von how to pronounce Irish names

Dermot Kennedy was a guest on Comedian Theo Von’s podcast this week. The Irish singer taught him how to pronounce some of the most common Irish names.

Kennedy sat down with Von on his This Past Weekend podcast. The unlikely duo discussed a number of topics including Dermot’s career, being away from his home country, and even his partner Aisling, who he is rumored to have secretly married last year.

The two also touched on the hilarity of Irish names being mispronounced by Americans. Von tried his best to sound out some examples and was corrected by Kennedy who laughed as he explained the silent letters in the Irish alphabet.

“That’s nice, it’s Ruaidhri,” Kennedy explained after Von botched the pronunciation of the name, which is the Irish version of Rory. The original meaning of the word is Red King, or the King with red hair. “DH is like, silent.”

Von also attempted pronouncing Tadgh which he called, “Ta-da,” earning a hearty laugh from Kennedy.

“Some of the names… y’know I feel like people are trying to have the ‘most Irish' name,” Von added.

Fans criticized Von’s terrible attempt at pronouncing the names, one user @meg writing: “Does no one here know Saoirse Ronan ?” in response to his inability to pronounce Saoirse.

Some users expressed their own confusion about Irish names, @Bubbly887 writing: “How do the letters N I A M H make the sound Neee-ve?” to which @hellohowareya wrote: “Because in their language, the letters make different sounds.”

Theo Von visited Ireland for a show earlier this year and said that he was shocked at how deeply ingrained drinking is in Irish culture. He earned a laugh from his guest Ed Sheeran by explaining the sight when he entered a bar with “no furniture” and just “people holding each other up.”

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