Pronouncing baby's name wrong

My Dad, many years ago, once met someone, a young adult, who introduced himself as 'seen'. "Seen? that's an unusual name." says Dad. . .

"Seen as in Sean Connery" says Sean, oblivious. My dad was too shocked to say anything. I'm not sure how Sean would have reacted when he eventually discovered the usual pronunciation of his name, but I can't imagine he'd feel great about it.

So, yeah, I'd say tell the parents, for the child's sake. Just to let them know. What they decide to do is up to them, but someone should explain to them, as soon as possible, how the name is originally pronounced.
Then maybe they can tell the child 'this is how you spell/say Anaïs, and we call you Annay for short, a nick name'.
Like Tommy an Thomas. It's a normal thing to do and I don't think anyone would be confused if little Anaïs grew up understanding it this way.

If they are insisting on using the ï , they should pronounce accordingly - Anna-eess.
Anaïs Anaïs was my first grown-up perfume when I was about 16, I was never sure about the pronunciation until a few years later when I was living in Paris. We did a function/cocktail for Cacherel and all got a free sample of Anaïs Anaïs and i learnt it was definitely pronounced Anna-eesss.

In parts of eastern Europe, Lucia is pronounced Loot-see-a. That is also not wrong. I can't believe anyone would think there was only one correct way to pronounce this name.

DiegoMadonna interesting, my experience is the opposite. I know about 8 Lúcias. All the Lúcias I know are Brazilian or Portuguese, so that maybe why. Maybe the Lucia that the poster judged for being a Lucy-a not Lutchia had a Portuguese background.

Sank you! I asked because DD2 has a friend Lucia (with one Spanish parent) whose name is pronounced with the lisp.

mathanxiety only in certain parts of Spain, and not in any parts of South America and never in Portuguese.

So I'd say no, in general :P

To be really accurate, shouldn't the S sound be more of a lisp?

LinoleumBlownapart

In Spanish and Portuguese if there is no accent, the stress falls on the penultimate syllable, which is why the name is almost always Loo-SEE-uh (although you're right that some parents do change it to Lúcia, but in my experience that's not so common)

Depends with Lúcia the tonic stress is on the LU like the English name Lucy so it is LOO -see-a, Lucía is Loo-SEE-uh though, true. When there is no accent wouldn't the stress be on the first syllable or is there some rule that makes that not the case?

Couldn’t give a damn anymore. If she wants to change her name when she older that up to her

Although let's also remember that it is Loo-SEE-uh, not LOO-see-uh,as the spelling "Lucy-a" implies.

I say Anaïs as anay-IS. Using accents in names is never a good idea for English speakers as there are no accents in English and therefore the rules for accentuation are often unknown or ignored. Also for those who don't speak French there is a belief that French words must be sort of left handing in midair and must never, under any circumstances be finished with hard vowel sounds I have to admit as a non French speaker I can see where they are coming from.

As I live abroad I butcher names on a daily basis, but foreigners butcher English names just as much. So it's all tit for tat on a global scale and I'm sure little Annay will be fine.

They pronounce it Lucy-a, not Lewchia. I know its so wrong and perhaps I am a pedant but I would never correct them as however it is spelled or pronounced, that is the name they chose for their child. But it is wrong!

Lucia is only Lewchia in Italian because ci makes a ch sound, like ciao. Ciao is spelt tchao in Portuguese and Spanish as they don't have the ci dipthong . Therefore the name Lucia, which is common in Portuguese and Spanish is pronounced lucy-a. Think all the nations that say Lucia as Lucy-a wrong if you like but as they are not Italians, they won't agree with you.

I would say Ann-eye-is

Housemum
Any Irish people around to comment on different pronunciations? I've always pronounced Siobhan as she-vaughan, but last week met a show-ban. Is that another Irish pronunciation or just another pronunciation altogether?

There is just one pronunciation for Siobhán - Shuh-vawn.

Anything else is wrong.

BH is always V verging on W in Irish (a soft V sound made using the lips and front teeth, not the front teeth and lower lip only as in an English V) so pronouncing it as a B is always going to be incorrect.

The O would have to have a fada (ó) to make the first syllable 'Show'.

(There is no letter V in Irish).

Meg Matthews was on Lorraine yesterday she mentioned her daughter a couple of times and called her Annay-iss.

I don’t know how to pronounce anything any more.

But the thing is, you do know how to pronounce lots of names and probably you would choose one of them! The weird thing is when people who have no understanding of how a language works then choose a name from that language.

I’m so glad I’m not having any more kids. I don’t know how to pronounce anything any more.

On a not very helpful note, but as someone who has never been thought a word of French I would guess anay. Now I know this is wrong, but without any understanding of the language I would make my best guess with English rules. Could this be the case? If this was the reason, and only if this was the reason I would explain to them. Otherwise leave it.

If not then maybe fair enough to pronounce it Annay

It's not though. If you take off the diaresis it's no longer the French name. It's an English word and as such would be pronounced Annace.

Nothing can get away from the fact it's an incorrect pronunciation by someone who doesn't speak French according to a vague idea of what it might be without bothering to check.

Maybe someone should discretely suggest to the parents that if they want to pronounce it Annay then they should lose the diaeresis?

I'm an English teacher and this "we pronounce it like this in defiance of all logical rules of spelling and pronunciation" attitude really, really annoys me.

Its on a par with pronouncing Siobhan See-oh-ban rather than She-vorn. Or Seen Connery.
Yes, it's from another language but if you can't cope with the correct pronunciation you should choose a different name.
Also, if you live in an English speaking country, obey the rules of English pronunciation when you make up a name!
Do not call your daughter Lilley pronounced Lie-lee, for instance!

PandoraXbox

Yes it is pronounced like the girls name Lauren. His surname used to be Lipchitz I think not sure about the spelling, but him and his brothers got fed up of not being able to get jobs when they moved to America.
One of his brothers changed his name to Lauren after a girl he knew. So the rest of the brothers followed to have the same surname

We have a Lucretzia in the family.Not Lucreeshia. And no not Borgia as second name, DS!

even