Do you have a name that is often mispronounced?

yes. My name is also that of a well known margarine. I get called Fiona, Lorna, Laura, Phoebe(?!) as well as other variants such as Florence. DH has a forrin name which nobody can spell or pronounce, and our surname is impossible. Hence DS and DC2 getting very common names that cannot be mis-spelled or mispronounced.

Oh, except apparently Oliver can be spelled Oliever, or Olliver, and can sometimes be mistaken for Roland. Seriously...

People put the emphasis on the wrong syllable of my surname, which annoys me.

My name has a S in it and it infuriates me when it's pronounced with a Z, think tarbuck. My gran did it my whole life but she was the only one I would let get away with it.

My eldest is called Jessie, she has a slight lisp.

I find it hilarious that on several occasions when she has been asked her name (especially on the phone) people have said "Jeffie?"!

FFS.

She doesn't find it as funny as I do BTW.

One of my DDs has a name that can be pronounced in 2 ways, (we chose the less popular one) another DD's name has 3 pronunciations, (again we chose the least popular one.) We didn't do it on purpose to be distinctive we just really liked the versions we chose as they held particular significance to us.

Anyway it doesn't make much difference now as they are teenagers and both go solely by the abbreviated forms of their names. All our original thought and effort seems a bit wasted now,

Louis is definitely Lou-ee these days so I'd go for that spelling.

Yes, and it drives me mad. I have a name that has 3 different pronounciations, and unfortuantely mine is the least common pronounciation, the Irish way. 99% of the time people assume it is the most common pronounciation and use that, which doesn't bother me too much as I guess that's what you'd think, but I hate correcting people as it feels awkward. The really annoying thing though is when people try to correct me on how to pronounce my own name (I once had an argument with the school librarian about it who insisted I was wrong) or think that I've decided to invent my own pronounciation to be different. It would be better if my name was really obscure so people would be more likely to ask how to say it rather than making their own assumptions.

Having said all that though OP, I do think the vast majority of people would pronounce Louis as "Lou-ee", and you would have much more of an issue if you wanted to spell it that way but pronounce the s.

My DS often gets eye-dris rather than id-ris (he's an Idris)

My maiden name becomes much more common if you change the first letter.

Joyous in a world of scatty typists and alphabetic filling.

yes, it's always mispronounced and spelled incorrectly too. But then it's not English, so I guess it's to be expected. It doesn't bother me too much to be honest, most people like it when I tell them how it's really pronounced. And usually they make very nice comments about how lovely it is, so I can't be too worked up about it.

I have a friend who is married to a Louis, and he's always been Looeee. I would never pronounce Louis as Lewis.

I also have a Russian name that is always mispronounced and/or mis-spelled. It really annoys me when people say to me "Why do you pronounce/spell your name that way." Because that's the correct way. (And I NEVER use the long version - that would just be asking for trouble!)

I also have a long English surname that no-one can spell.

It gets quite wearing.

HugeFurry: this is a shame, I absolutely love your name!!! (one of my all times fav also vetoed by DH because he cannot stand the nn Toni)

We're up in Scotland and our 2DD have Scottish names spelt the gaelic way. They are always pronounced the correct way but we get weird and wonderful spellings on party invites and such like! Doesn't bother me and the girls are always amused by this.

Yup, people end my name with an 'o' instead of an 'a' - I have a name beginning with A, the masculine version of it ends with 'o', think Mr Banderas! I'm fairly obviously not a chap, I think.

Everyone calls me Joanna or Joanne. I'm Josephine. It annoys me, but I just correct them. At scholol the Assistant Head used to tell me off for not replying, but if someone's shouting the wrong name across the playground how the fairydust are you supposed to know it's you they want?

Anyway, lots of my friends like using my full name because they think it's pretty and I like my name, so I'd rather be correcting people than be called a different name. Louis is definately pretty obviously pronounced 'Lou-ee', I really like it, go with it!

Louis should be pronounced Looey as the French do. I'd imagine most European people would pronounce it this way.

In America they will definitely pronounce it Lewis. The American city St Louis is pronounced St Lewis.

It?s all a bit odd, the USA and UK seem to cherry pick which French words are pronounced in the French manner. The Americans pronounce fillet steak as fillAY, but we pronounce the T. We say valET, they say valAY.

Good name though!

My surname is mispronounced ALL the sodding time.
It is an easy to pronounce name.
Think Mr Wedgwood.

People call me Mrs Josini, joshi, josiana, joshie.....
What is WRONG with people.

Just say it like it looks you dumbasses.

Not mispronounced at all, but always shortened even by people I have just met: no English speaking person is apparently willing to say the 4 syllables, they always stop after the first two. Funny thing is that Magdalena is already a shortened version of the awfully long hyphenated name my parents have given me.
Alec sometimes gets "Al-eeeck"..

Louie is a bit weird to me, I think it is always better to use the "regular" spelling.

Yes - it's annoying but I wouldn't change it. Agree with everyone who has said that Louis should be without the s sound and Lewis with.

Yes AND it's a 4 letter really simple, quite boringly normal name!

Which lead me to conclude when naming the DCs, that if people can't pronounce the most straightforward of names, there's no point even taking it into consideration

I am French and people don't pronounce my name correctly and I don't mind. It's an unusual name (Josee) and it's pronounced Jo-sey but most people say Josie. I don't mind at all and never ask for it to be pronounced correctly. It doesn't bother me (I quite like Josie!)

Yep I have a Welsh name and now live in England..I am asked every single day if i have spelt my own name wrong and dont get me started on having my name called out in the dr's etc.

Yes I have this problem....frustrating as my name is unusual, but really not difficult to pronounce - it's said exactly as it's spelt, but I still get called Caroline/Carly/Charlene/Colleen on a regular basis. Stood in Starbucks for 10mins once whilst they shouted for "Colin" to collect a drink!

On the OP though Louis is definitely "Looee", not "Lewis"

Yes.. Both my name and my DDs name seem to be unpronounceable to people at times. Can't say it bothers me much. I like having an unusual name and just politely correct people. It also means I rarely need use my surname which I dislike intensely :o

I don't but my son does. His name gets pronounced differently all the time. It's my fault though

I named him Kailum which is pronounced as Kay-Lum. But as the name Kai is now popular he is often called Kai-Lum.

At the time of naming him I though spelling it like that would work as Kaitlin does. If had known Kai was going to become popular I wouldn't have named him this

He also gets called Callum a lot.

Yes and it is hugely irritating after a while. I am a Carolyn - pronounced Carol-in. Not Caroline. I am ok with strangers etc but I have one brother in law who has known me for 17 years and still insists on calling me Caroline