OPINION: People have either heard of Sinead O'Connor or they haven't, and if they haven't then they will probably call me "Sineed".

The story goes that my mum wanted to name me Tuesday or Willow, but my Irish dad wanted an Irish name - so while having a hard-to-pronounce moniker can be niggly, at least I'm not trying to pull off Willow as a not-willowy-at-all, quite short, size-12 woman, or worse still, an any-height-any-sized-person called TUESDAY.

This weekend, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and partner Clarke Gayford revealed their daughter's name: Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford. They reportedly chose to spell the Irish name 'Niamh' as 'Neve' for simplicity's sake. I can relate.

I was born in 1992, so while mums and dads 'got' my name, kids at school thought it was hella weird that I was named after some random bald gal and not Mel B or Mel C, and to be fair so did I. 

When I think back on my childhood, I don't think I was ever traumatised by not being able to find my name on a tacky keyring or pen in a souvenir shop. I do, however, remember being drenched in stress sweat whenever we had a new teacher reading the class roll, just in case they'd never heard Nothing Compares 2 U and butchered my name in front of the entire class.

As if being called Sinead wasn't enough, my last name is Corcoran which means my name is close enough to Sinead O'Connor's that it constantly throws people.

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My only saving grace was that there was another girl in my class called Siobhan, so if the poor teacher stumbled on Sinead, she would be in an absolute state when she got to Shav.

As an adult, I quite like that I don't know anyone else with the same name as me, except when it comes to dating. I'm very easily Googleable, which means that horrifically embarrassing stories I wrote when I was smugly shacked up in a relationship are coming back to haunt me as a single saddo, because they can very quickly be located by any of my Tinder matches.

I'm also the kind of person that hates making people feel uncomfortable, so I've always just gone along with it, smiling and nodding, whenever someone says my name wrong. I once dated someone who I realised had never heard my name said aloud before, when he introduced me to his friends for the first time as "Sineed". I was so mortified for him that I just rolled with it, and quickly threw out a "Yup correct, I'm Sineed - great to meet ya."

I'm also so conflict-averse that rather than quietly take him aside and explain how to pronounce my name like a normal human being, I just deleted his number and never talked to him again.

My advice for people with hard-to-pronouncers? Get a job where the CEO has the same name as you. Not only is it bloody cool working for a company where our big boss is a woman, but now everyone in my office knows how to say my name, and I get called Little Sinead which makes me feel very cute and petite.

STUFF

Stuff chief executive Sinead Boucher.

 - Stuff