When speaking as Gaeilge,I know that it is very common and,by far,more correct to put 'a' before a person's name when saying it in a sentence,and the name slightly changes spelling and pronunciation.But sometimes,in all-Irish speaking programmes such as Ros na Rún,I've heard names being said in conversation without the 'a' being used,and the name stays the same.It just makes me wonder.Here's just a small example:

Jason,what time is it now?

A Shéasáin,cén t-am é anois?

Séasán,cén t-am é anois?

Cén t-am é anois,a Shéasáin?

Cén t-am é anois,Séasán?

I just want to know would it be correct to use either term as long as the spelling rules are followed.

Míle buoíchas libh.

I heard it on Ros na Rún first as well, when someone was calling out another person's name. There are two scenarios

1. At the start of a sentence:

--'Mháire, cá bhfuil an.... etc. (the name is séimhiúed and made caol as normal as the 'a' is understood to be there)

2. At the end of a sentence. This I'm not sure about. I *think* you hear the 'a' as in:

Cén t-am é, a Mháire.

Or maybe it's dropped here too. I'm just sure about the first one, not so much the second one.

Also, when I say 'dropped', I mean it's not pronounced. It is "there" so you must change the following name accordingly.

You have to use "a" everytime, have to write it, however in speech it may be dropped. It lenites the names (even when you drop the "a" itself) when they are lenitable - especially Irish names, because English names may not be lenited. You'd say "(a) Sarah" but "(a) Shorcha" for example.

In your sentences you should have "a Shéasáin" everytime.

Is Séasán an Irish name?

Is é an t-ainm "Séasán" an Gaeilge ar an t-ainm "Jason".

There is also "Iasan".

Also,just to mention (you probably know this already) that Séasán is pronounced "Shay-sawn".

But when saying 'a Shéasáin' in Irish conversation,it is pronounced "a Hay-sawin".