Conor Hourihane

Because that is the correct pronunciation! I do find 'Whorihane' a little grating, but that's because all the Hourihanes I was familiar with(including Conor's cousins) pronounce it as such. I didn't realise there was another way to pronounce it. 

 In reality though, we all get far too precious about these pronunciations in Ireland, especially as there always has been regional variations. In Cork city you have Coughlans who pronounce their name as 'Cawlan', in West Cork they would be 'Cocklan'. In West Cork you have Minihane, pronounced Mine-a-hen, thirty miles up the road that becomes 'Men-a-hane'. In Kerry it becomes f**king Moynihane!

We give out about the way the English pronounce  Cahill/Kayhill and Moran/Mow-ran, but we have similar variations throughout Ireland and it seems we did long before the English even arrived. Listen to the same  names being pronounced in the Munster, Connaught and Ulster dialects of Irish, for example.

Hu-ban does get on my tits, but it is the Anglicised form of Ó Húbáin, so it is probably the spelling that needs to change if anything!