AIBU to think correcting a slightly unusual name pronunciation is unnecessary?

didn't mean to quote you there @Purpletable

I'm still mystified by this whole "frohn" thing.

We naturally factor in local accents most of the time and that's fine. As a southerner I can introduce myself as Frarnces but if a northerner shortens the vowel, or an American turns it into an American "a" ("eha"?) then they are still saying it right.

However if someone needs to override that, that's up to them. For example I'm very much of the "barth, grarss" persuasion but that doesn't mean it would be correct for me to pronounce the name Sally as Sarly. If I did so, Sally WNBU to correct me.

Yes, I disagree with the conclusion too @MasterBeth and said as much upthread 😁

I’m still trying to figure out if the various pronunciations of Isabella as outlined by OP are different to ‘accent’ though. I think they probably are if English is your first language? That is, I’d say Ee-sa-bella if that was requested by the owner of the name. But would stick to my own pronunciation of Francis iyswim. Not sure where the line is drawn to be honest 🤔

Yes, she probably means bath/baath divide, but then I disagree with the conclusion.

If a London Francis is spoken to by an American, they're going to use an American-accented pronunciation of the name. It won't sound like how I would pronounce Francis. This doesn't matter at all.

A Yorkshire accent and a Cockney accent pronounce "Jane" very differently. If a London Jane goes to Leeds, they shouldn't get into a tizz because people pronounce their syllables differently there.

It depends for me. Is the correction a pair of sounds that aren't actually different in one of the languages?
So in English we distinguish Izz abella and Eeez abella but in Spanish there's only Eeez hence Spanish speakers saying Sheet for Shit.
But Eeeva Vs Eva is actually different in Spanish.
And English people can't say some sounds that other people can. We'd probably say Laklan because we can't say the ch sound in Lachlan very well.

It’s the bath/barth divide isn’t it?

I’m guessing Francis from London pronounces his name Frarn-cis as a non-rhotic speaker would pronounce it. (I know that extra r makes no sense if you’ve a rhotic accent…that’s probably why @YankSplaining transcribed it differently.) My friend from London says it like that anyway.

I say the first syllable of Francis to rhyme with man or pan, so I pronounce the first vowel quite differently to my London friend.

It's impossible to know what you mean from the way you have spelled those names.

What's FROHN supposed to rhyme with? Throne?

What's FRAN supposed to sound like? Like a southern English, northern English or American person saying it? Or someone else? South African?

Yes, good idea with the email footer.

People pronounce my name slightly wrong all the time, I certainly wouldn’t bother for a one off interaction (why, what is the utility, they won’t be saying it again?) and at work I let it go as well. In my personal life I gently correct the people I see on an ongoing basis but there are still some I haven’t bothered if it seems to much hassle. I think it’s precious to be that bothered especially if you have chosen a name knowing it will be an issue. I think people on this thread are being overly contrarian, I don’t think anyone believes it makes sense to correct someone who will never say the name again, it’s just a waste of everyone’s time.

I have an unusual name ie only met one other person in 50 plus years with the same name. So not surprisingly lots of people mispronounce it and I genuinely never care and never correct them because I don’t mind … but I also see nothing wrong with someone wanting their name pronounced correctly and I think it’s rather racist of you to think she should just put up and shut up with the English version of her name.

I have an Esme aged in her 30s and I never had to correct people because it was a very unusual name then …now I cringe if people refer to her as Esmay !! So yes I would correct if wrong pronunciation.

my nan couldnt pronoucne my name its not that unusual my dad kept correcting her she said she couldnt say it she just couldnt be bothered
its rude

I've had people mispronouncing my name for much of my life - I'm 66 - although not much now that I changed the spelling of it (now they think I'm male!). I can't say it has blighted my life, and I didn't bother correcting them. In the scheme of things it is really not that important.

Edited to say that I have learnt over recent years that I am much more laid back than the average MNer 😃

This isn't always the case. It really depends on what the differences are, if the sounds are even in their language, and to o some extent how often they will encounter it. There are languages with sounds and sound combinations that can be almost impossible for to Jose whose first language is from another language group.

I'm a long way from Brummie and I'd pronounce it Danyell too. How do you pronounce it?

Correcting Isabelle to Isabella is reasonable.
Correcting an accent difference such as a stronger Izabella to a softer Isabella can be unreasonable.

I can struggle as I have non-local vowels in my accent. They're not wrong. I'm not wrong. We're just different and I do my best.

I once had a James "correct" me to say "Jay ums". Natural in his accent, but sounds false and like I'm taking the piss to mangle my accent into two syllables to mimic the way he said it because it's not a natural flowing speech pattern to me and doesn't blend with the rest of my speech.
I don't "correct" people that put their natural glottal stop into my name and miss out letters.

Yeah, frankly I think it is really weird that anyone would expect this. It's like they don't understand what an accent is.

YABU.

My children have Yoruba names. My son’s name is often mispronounced, and for a long time, he didn’t even recognise that the mispronounced name was somebody attempting to say his name, so he didn’t respond. At an awards assembly in Reception, so when the Headteacher didn’t know him too well, she mispronounced it and my son didn’t stand up. One of the kids from his class shouted, “it’s X, not Y”, and only then did my son realise she meant him.

He will correct people now when he hears it. If people can learn how to pronounce Schwarzenegger, Schumacher, De Bruyne, Mbappe and others, they can learn how to say variations of names, too.

It's OK to not get it right if you're trying. In my experience, Welsh and Irish names can be quite tricky. It's not OK to not even bother.

I have friends who have called their DC a very common name but they have chosen to pronounce it differently. Not something I would do - must be a right pain for the child - but I wouldn't dream of pronouncing it 'the right way'. OP should get off her xenophobic high horse and show her niece some respect.

It's pronounced Sharn. Rhymes with Darn.

In Wales, anyway.

If it is something like Eleanor it could be the r causing confusion? For example, Eleanor is usually said El-uh-nore in the States, and they mostly wouldn’t be accustomed to El-uh-nuh said without the r being pronounced. So they might think someone is saying Elana not Eleanor when they say their name.

Of course she should correct it. I have a name which is often mispronounced and there is nothing worse than hearing it incorrectly repeatedly, even when you have corrected someone multiple times. I have worked at my current workplace for 9 years and some people still can’t be bothered to pronounce it correctly. (This is despite it being a classic name which is reasonably common, spelt normally and pronounced normally.)

For me to not bother correcting someone, it would have to be really irrelevant, so someone I would probably never see again, such as cafe staff calling out to let you know your order is ready. Otherwise, everyone else gets corrected.

DD’s friend has done this. In her home country her name , which begins with J, has a y sound, in this country a J sound. So she just tells people her name is one or the other depending on which country she is in.
My dd has a name that people mispronounce and it is annoying. In some European countries there is a similar well known name. It doesn’t have the same spelling but it sounds similar, the vowels are pronounced differently . She does correct people but sometimes just goes along with it as it’s easier.

You are SO unreasonable and actually rather xenophobic.

I have a name that people mispronounce, and by mispronounce, they call me a different name, one that is more common than mine but not mine. I correct them every single fucking time.

I've had a lifetime of people being too fucking lazy and ignorant to call me by my actual name, even replying to an email signed off with my name with my name in the fucking email address and they still reply stating the other name that isn't my name.

Because of experiencing this for my whole life, I am always very careful to pronounce other people's names correctly. It's just darned right rude and lazy not to.

We need to know the name to judge tbh 😄