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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Everyone will pronounce it wrong 'Ophelia'

42 replies

pinksodabubbles · 14/04/2019 20:12

Hi all,

So I'm due in 2 weeks and want to name my daughter Ophelia. I'm from England and speak fluent Spanish, having studied it and lived there for a year.

The Spanish pronounciation is Oh-fell-ee-ah, which is what I want but I don't like the Spanish spelling (Ofelia, like in El Labarinto del fauno). Everywhere else seems to pronounce it Oh-feel-ya which I don't want.

Is there a way to get everyone to pronounce her name the way I like it (Spanish style) without changing to the Spanish spelling? (I have synaesthesia and mild autism if that helps explain why I'm picky on the spelling and the colours of the spelling put me off).

Would 'Ophélia' be better? With the accent on the e to show emphasis?

OP posts:
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borntobequiet · 14/04/2019 20:34

Oops misread your phonetics. Amended advice: if you don’t like the English pronounciation, choose a different name.

borntobequiet · 14/04/2019 20:32

AFAIK the correct pronunciation in English is as you describe the Spanish pronounciation. It’s certainly how I’d pronounce it.
You can’t do anything about lazy pronounciation, so if you think that’s what will happen, choose a different name.

Tartyflette · 14/04/2019 20:31

I don't think putting the accent on the 'e' will help much as many people will think it's an acute accent (à la Français) rather than a stress accent in the Spanish manner. And é tends to be pronounced as 'ay' (long 'a') as in répondre so you'd have people saying o-phay-lia not o-fell-ia.

vanitythynameisnotwoman · 14/04/2019 20:30

If you put an é I think you'll get the French pronunciation O- fey- lia. Nicer than the anglicised version but not what you want.
It's a shame as you love it - you might control it as a baby but it's harder once they get to school and onwards

IgnoranceIsStrength · 14/04/2019 20:30

I liked this name...dh knew one at school..nickname was peodophilia. Just a heads up.

Original poster
pinksodabubbles · 14/04/2019 20:25

Eeek! Seems like it's not going to be a good idea. Thanks for the input guys.

I know about the Hamlet asociations but a lot of Shakespeare women were quite mad lol so I'm not too fussed about that. Thanks for the heads up though, I realise it was incase I wasn't aware x

Re: Why I wrote El Labarinto, I just forgot that they changed the name to an English version, sorry.

Cheers all x

OP posts:
museumum · 14/04/2019 20:24

I doubt you’ll ever get an e for egg rather than ee sound if that’s what you want. It’s just too unusual in English.

Wheresmyvagina · 14/04/2019 20:22

It was a pretentious and weird thing to do.

selavy · 14/04/2019 20:22

wheresmyvagina shock horror, the OP chose to use the original name of the film rather than the English translation of it, let’s kick her off this “English website”
Ophelia is a beautiful name OP and I would pronounce it like you would, but I can see a lot people using the other pronunciation I’m afraid

DramaAlpaca · 14/04/2019 20:19

No way will people in the UK pronounce it how you want, and as a pp says the associations aren't great.

Wheresmyvagina · 14/04/2019 20:17

No, sorry
Ophelia will be pronounced O fee lia
Ofelia will also be pronounces O fee lia by a lot of people.
Why did you write El labarinto del fauno instead of pan's labyrinth? You know you're posting on an English website right?

BertrandRussell · 14/04/2019 20:17

Nope. Everyone will get it “wrong”.

It’s a name with horrid associations anyway, op. I would choose something else.

DonnaDarko · 14/04/2019 20:16

Are you sure people always pronounce it wrong?

I knew straight away how it should be pronounced, and it's a beautiful name.

daisypond · 14/04/2019 20:15

But the accent doesn’t show emphasis, does it? It changes how that vowel is pronounced and it’s not pronounced like fell.

Smumzo · 14/04/2019 20:15

Nope. If you care about the pronunciation I wouldn't choose that name. People will slaughter that one and you'll mostly get Oh-feel-ya.

PotteringAlong · 14/04/2019 20:14

You can’t spell it one way and expect if to be pronounced another.

YouBumder · 14/04/2019 20:14

I think you’re just setting yourself up for a lifetime of correcting pronunciation. I doubt the accent will make much difference. Lovely name though.