Thoughts on Schuyler?

Your Dutch is very rusty I think becayse I think The loch sound you refer to is not ch. it's g that is pronounced like that.

Aw, poor OP, I think you've been treated rather harshly on this post! Usually people are saying how they hate phonetic spellings of "forrin" names and people should always use the orginal, and here you are doing just that and getting dog's abuse for it! And the usual comforting statements that you "only need to tell people once and they'll get it" seem rather short in supply too.

As for those who picked you up on how you say it's pronounced, I'd just ignore them. My Dutch is a bit rusty but I recall that "ch" is pronounced like the "ch" in Scottish "loch" and most English can't say that anyway, they usually just say "lock", so using a "k" sound in this name is just fine.

I suppose it shows how bad things have got with the name that people think the "younneick" spellings are right and the correct spelling is wrong. I'm not a fan of the name particularly, but I am a fan of spelling things the correct way, so I'd stick with Schulyer if you really like it.

I like it, OP .

I also thought of the actress Schuyler Grant, who played Diana Barry in Anne of Green Gables, and I know how to pronounce it because of that.

I think that if you have friends and colleagues from international backgrounds, they won't find the pronunciation as difficult as it seems on this thread at times!

We're British/German and discounted a lot of names of which the other language would mangle the pronunciation - not even in a beyond-recognition kind of way, as here, but in a way that one or other of us thought would sound unpleasant (e.g. we couldn't have called a dd Rosalind, although I love the name, as in Germany she would be called Rohza Lint, which just sounds horrid IMHO - we discounted all J names for similar reasons). There are going to be very few people who will not struggle with Schuyler initially - I still struggle with it now I know how to say it, as it is counter-intuitive for a native English speaker - and it could become very tiresome indeed for your child. Honestly, I'd find another name.

I really like Bram.

Ooh dizzy I don't know, I didn't see it! Four kids?

I have to actually cross my fingers and steel myself to yell for any of hers in a crowd. It's embarrassing.

Although to be fair you wouldn't have that with Schulyer (or whatever it was, sorry am on phone) as it wouldn't sound weird iyswim.

I just hate that "dying to be different" schtick. My DC are bicultural and I chose names which worked in both languages.

Ooh doing is your friend that lady from 3 day nanny? And so I don't totally derail the thread - I would
have pronounced it shoo-ler, but I don't really like the name Skylar anyway.

I like it.

But I have a ds with a name from our (non British) ethnic origin. it is spelled correctly in the original language but those letters are pronounced differently in English.

It is the bane of poor ds's life and we bitterly regret not spelling it phonetically in English, so much so that now adult ds is thinking of changing it by deed poll.

Imagine, every single new teacher reads it wrongly as his classmates giggle. Every single time his name is called out by a GP or dentist it's wrong and he has to correct them or put up with being called the wrong thing for evermore. Every time someone sees it written down he has to explain that it's not a spelling mistake.

I'd advise you not to.

I would have pronounced it Sky-lar as I would assume sch to be so like in school etc.

Personally although I quite like the name Skyla I'm not so keen on the spelling Schuyler, I haven't come across it before and it looks a bit clunky to my English-reading eyes, but if that's the original Dutch spelling and you're a Dutch family then go for it. People will quickly get used to the spelling/ pronounciation, so many children have names from other countries with names that aren't familiar or phonetic in English.

I don't like it. I think it's harsh sounding. I think I'd actually prefer it if it was pronounced "shooler".

Also, your child will spend their entire life spelling their name for people. Perhaps you're happy to live with that but they might feel differently!

You haven't said how Dutch you all are.

My friends kids are 1/4 Spanish and all have massively "out there" Spanish names.

It sounds ridiculous when you have to call for them at the park in Leeds.

You haven't said how Dutch you all are.

My friends kids are 1/4 Spanish and all have massively "out there" Spanish names.

It sounds ridiculous when you have to call for them at the park in Leeds.

I know how to pronounce it but only because of Hamilton.

I also see many people on here say to go for the French spelling/Irish spelling, etc.

Most people in the UK have at least very basic schoolchild French. Most people know someone with Irish heritage and many have Irish blood themselves. Dutch pronunciation conventions are not well known in the UK. I'm afraid that your child will have to teach virtually every new acquaintance how to pronounce it. I can also assure you that people will spell it wrong - they will try to spell it Schyuler rather than Schuyler.

"Skyler" is an anglicised pronunciation, so you might as well spell it in the anglicised way too, right?

Or spell it Schuylar and pronounce it sxœylər .

Do you speak Dutch OP?
I can well imagine that Skyler comes from Schuyler anglicised over the centuries, but pronouncing Schuyler in Dutch sounds absolutely nothing like skyler.

Ok I have checked and sch is definitely not a hard "sk" sound in Dutch.

The ability to pronounce the sch beginning of words was used, in WWII to test whether the person was Dutch or German. We don't really have an equivalent sound in English. But in Dutch sch is much much softer than the sch at the beginning of school for instance.

pennyunwise I didn't find any of the characters in BB to be very sympathetic to be honest.

Bitoutofpractice What was unpleasant about Skyler White? Her husband was a power-mad drug lord, who basically forced her to stay with him. She had to put up with a lot of shit.

The commentators on the olympics pronounce Dafne Schippers as Skippers, that is easy enough. It is the 'ul' in Schulyer that will throw more people.

If this is for real then no I don't like it. You will forever be pronouncing it, correcting people, and having to correct spelling.

Skyler was a character in Breaking Bad, as an aside, a not very pleasant character. That was my first thought - just to throw that int the mix.

As far as a know Sch is not exactly pronounced sk in Dutch either - it's a slightly softer sound than the sk sound in English

Skylar is a girls name to me

Schuyler to me is 'skool-ler', not skylar anyway. And I have lived in Holland.

To be honest OP, I have an "English" surname and my first name is not unusual at all. Yet I get called something similar (think Ella but get called Bella for example) all the time and nobody has ever spelt my surname right without me telling them. On the one hand, it is very annoying to correct people and I have pretty much given up doing it. OTOH, it may well happen whatever name you choose, so if you love it then go for it. I do really like Bram!

DropYourSword Well it sounds like they were being intentionally ignorant (if he did actually bother to correct them, that is. Often people will just accept mispronounciations.)

No one pronounces Michael as "Mish-ay-el", but as soon as they see a name that looks "foreign" they don't bother trying.