Talk:Sian Gibson

Siân?

The Welsh spelling of her first name is Siân. But we have no sources that directly support it. I see that even cy:Sian Gibson spells it without the hirnod (circumflex). Martinevans123 (talk) 17:20, 20 June 2016 (UTC)

In the text of the Welsh article, it's given as Sîan, with the circumflex on the i, though in the title it's Sian, with no circumflex. What's going on there? TRiG (talk) 13:35, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

Not sure. There's nothing on the Talk page there, so we'd need to ask. I know there are some limits on allowable characters in article titles. But there's Siân Phillips, so not an issue? Martinevans123 (talk) 14:16, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

In Welsh it is always spelt Siân whereas Sian is simply an anglicised form because English-only speakers like to drop diacritics. I can't account for the spelling Sîan on the Welsh page, which would be read as ˈsiː.an instead of the correct ʃaːn. Regardless, the name ought to be spelt consistently throughout the article and I don't see why the title would read Sian but the article use Siân. – Dyolf87 (talk) 10:06, 26 December 2024 (UTC)

Why does the cy.wiki article give it (in the text) as Sîan? Also there is no hirnod at the agent sites here and here. If the Anglicised version is without any diacritics, and this is en.wiki, then we should remove? Or does WP:MoS somewhere require native language diacritics for names to always be preserved? Martinevans123 (talk) 14:07, 26 December 2024 (UTC)

p.s. she also doesn't use it herself for her X account. Martinevans123 (talk) 14:10, 26 December 2024 (UTC)

I don't think it particularly matters whether it's used or not, but it should be consistent: all or nothing. – Dyolf87 (talk) 18:44, 26 December 2024 (UTC)

Then Occam's razor suggests we should shave it off. Martinevans123 (talk) 18:47, 26 December 2024 (UTC)

We could argue that it is a Welsh name and that its spelling is Siân and the spelling Sian is a common misspelling primarily due to the difficulty in writing â on older technology like typewriters and even modern keyboards which are primarily set up for use of English. But this argument could go on forever and so I would say just get rid of it unless we can categorically say that she spells it with the circumflex. – Dyolf87 (talk) 08:53, 28 December 2024 (UTC)

Unable to find any examples online. She doed not appear to have her own website. And she is not described as a Welsh speaker? Martinevans123 (talk) 09:59, 28 December 2024 (UTC)

Whether or not she speaks Welsh is irrelevant. – Dyolf87 (talk) 09:14, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

The circumflex (or hirnod) is a standard diacritic in Welsh orothography. If Gibson was a Welsh speaker, I'd suggest she would be more likely to use it. I don't see that her own use and her own views are necessarily irrelevant here. Some people insist on calling themselves all sorts of strange things? Martinevans123 (talk) 09:38, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

And people, regardless of their views, will often just go with the easiest option. Like I said, â is a difficult character to keep reproducing on a computer. Maybe she does use Siân when the need to be precise is called for, maybe she doesn't care one way or the other. Speculation will get us nowhere. As I have already said, it should be Sian or Siân consistently throughout the article if no definitive answer can be sourced. Ideally this should be Siân because I see no need to anglicise a name by default, which doesn't happen with any other names from other languages: we would never remove a diaeresis from a German name, or an acute from a French one, or a tilde from a Spanish ñ just because this is the English language Wikipedia. No indeed – even the articles on Hebrew insist on not even transliterating to the Latin alphabet! So why is the Welsh â being debated? – Dyolf87 (talk) 15:00, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

I quite agree about the commonality with names in other languages which use diaeresis. But you suggest that removing the â would be to "anglicise" it? I'm not sure we have evidence that Gibson herself has ever spelled it like this. What's the convention for birth certificates? I do hope they don't still use old fashioned typewriters... Martinevans123 (talk) 15:07, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

We're going in circles. – Dyolf87 (talk) 15:10, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

It's called "an extenstive discussion." Martinevans123 (talk) 15:15, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

The decision made here should be reflected in the title.

Has Gibson referred to herself written as "Siân" anywhere? or "Sîan" as was used here too?

Siân Lloyd uses a circumflex on her name on X (Twitter) so it is possible to use the character. Therefore, is Gibson's omission of it on her account intentional? Surely she isn't lazy with her own name.

While we shouldn't automatically anglicise names, neither should we automatically cymricise them (note the cy article was recently moved), as the anglicised form is also common in Wales which Gibson may use, so just use what she uses. And all we have evidence so far that she uses is "Sian"? DankJae 21:47, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Tend to agree. (Oooh, cymricise. I'll hang on to that one thanks, even if it sounds a bit painful). Martinevans123 (talk) 22:32, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Did Sian Gibson ever actually do stand up?

Hi Septrillion thanks for re editing as I made a mistake on that one :)

I'm unsure who made the edit that she did stand up? I have looked on the internet and can't find any proof anywhere that she ever performed stand up. Is there a video link online of this? Just a big fan (talk) 17:40, 15 February 2018 (UTC) Just a big fan (talk) 17:47, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

She confirmed on the Taskmaster podcast that she is neither a stand-up comedian nor an impressionist. Those categories should probably be removed. 73.117.43.76 (talk) 18:30, 1 March 2021 (UTC)

Thank IP 73. But that podcast is over an hour long, so perhaps you could tell us when she says this? Martinevans123 (talk) 18:34, 1 March 2021 (UTC)

It's about 4:07. She actually states that the Wikipedia article is incorrect. 73.117.43.76 (talk) 18:39, 1 March 2021 (UTC)

 Done Thanks. Sorry to disappoint her. She'll having nothing left to "live up to" now. Martinevans123 (talk) 18:47, 1 March 2021 (UTC)

References

Date of birth

The date of birth was "corrected", in 2017, with no supporting sources, here by User:Riverside72, who has made no other edits. This looks highly unreliable. IMDb gives 30 July, so I'd suggest that we either go with that (even though IMDb is deemed "unreliable"), or remove the date altogether. Martinevans123 (talk) 00:04, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

The original edit [1] has 30 July. Would seem more likely that IMDb took their date from Wikipedia prior to the 2017 edit. The WP correction to 15 could be valid. Gareth Griffith-Jones (contribs) (talk) 11:31, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

That's a very fair point. It's a shame that User:Riverside72, in their one single edit at Wikipedia, 18 months ago, did not provide any source. Nor did the IP who changed it again here yesterday. I guess a search of the birth registers might help. Martinevans123 (talk) 12:18, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

The date of birth has been changed again (from 30 back to 15). Maybe it should be removed altogether? --Mondo Beer (talk) 08:22, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

A search at FreeBMD, for any Siân Foulkes born between 1975 and 1977 returns only one result here for Siân Elizabeth Foulkes, mother's name Jones, registered in Rhuddlan district, in first quarter 1977. So it seems very unlikely that she was born in July 1976, regardless of any claim at IMDb. Martinevans123 (talk) 06:58, 10 July 2021 (UTC)