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Baby names

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

Original poster

Names you aren't sure how to pronounce

387 replies

whatausername · 10/04/2020 20:22

Since we're all inside for the foreseeable future...

What are some names you're not quite sure how to pronounce? We'll see if we can help each other. But do take answers with a pinch of salt given the wide variety of accents we all have!

For me: Hebe (hee-bee?) and João leave me feeling uncertain.

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NannyR · 11/04/2020 08:47

I went to school with a Mairead who always joked that her parents should have given her "rhymes with parade" as a middle name.

Dilisk · 11/04/2020 08:44

But Bride was a Bettany, @PerditaProvokesEnmity -- the branch of the family that got hopelessly left behind in the reproduction stakes by the At It Like Rabbits Maynards. Grin

Dilisk · 11/04/2020 08:42

@beanaseireann, assuming we are of the same nationality, would you have had any objection to the Creamy Oirish Brogue of Stage-Irish Colleen-in-Chief Biddy O'Ryan, despite the fact that she left Ireland aged about eight and has lived the rest of her life in Europe, the UK and Australia, including about eight years at a school where her accent was criticised/punished every time she opened her mouth?

Or the Wild Irish Girl Deira O'Hagan who, despite presumably being Anglo-Irish, as she's presented at Court in London as a debutante when she leaves the CS, is still given to saying things like 'The curse of Cromwell be on you!' Grin Hmm

I agree they're bad, but I found them kind of compulsively bad as a child.

PerditaProvokesEnmity · 11/04/2020 08:42

I've always hoped it was 'Breed' - most appropriate for the Maynard family who majored in reproduction. Grin

missmouse101 · 11/04/2020 08:40

Ptolemy is Toll-uh-mee
No one helping me with Bodhi? (Beginning of thread.)

ColdTapwater · 11/04/2020 08:40

Joaquin
Genevieve

Dilisk · 11/04/2020 08:37

I'm absolutely certain that Elinor M Brent-Dyer had no idea about pronunciation of Irish-language names, and did not intend Bride to be pronounced as Brid (Breed or Breej) or Bridie-- she gets so many things about Irishness wrong throughout the series, that she can never have actually encountered an Irish person in real life!

I think the name was intended as a vague gesture towards Molly Bettany's Irishness, but the only clue to how EBD imagined the pronunciation was when a character says 'Weird name, I've never heard it before' and someone else (possibly the insufferable prig Peggy Bettany) 'Yes, you have, what about St Bride's Bay in Wales'?

So she clearly intends Bride's name to be pronounced the same as the bay -- perhaps a Welsh person can comment on whether that's pronounced like 'bride and groom'?

beanaseireann · 11/04/2020 08:34

I hated the Chalet School books.

LightACandleHoney · 11/04/2020 08:28

“Breej leads” or “Breed leads” definitely reads better than “Bride leads” (pronounced like bride and groom). I have never picked up on that before but we’ll just take it as further evidence that I’m pronouncing the name correctly Wink

PerditaProvokesEnmity · 11/04/2020 08:22

Thanks Lizzie and LightACandle!

I've been thinking lately that as the title of the book where she's the main character is:

Bride Leads The Chalet School

that Elinor Brent Dyer possibly intended Bride to rhyme with 'leads' ...?

LightACandleHoney · 11/04/2020 08:07

I know several Dougies (used to live in Scotland). Some pronounce it Duggie, some pronounce it Doogie.

LightACandleHoney · 11/04/2020 08:06

Bride in the CS books has always been pronounced Breej in this house. We’re N.Irish and my mum taught a pupil called Brid pronounced that way. I think we always just assumed it was short for Bridget and therefore pronounced it as the shortened version would be where we are!

Verily1 · 11/04/2020 07:43

Dougie

Verily1 · 11/04/2020 07:42

Ptlomy

Oakeyy · 11/04/2020 07:30

@wheresthebiffer2 thank you!

midsomermurderess · 11/04/2020 02:37

My mother was Mairead but it was pronounced Maraid.

Wolfgirrl · 11/04/2020 01:47

@Thefaceofboe

Ottilie shudder I've really got it in for that name

Wheresthebiffer2 · 11/04/2020 01:40

Duguld - doo- then gull like seagull

Clara could be Clah-rah or Claire- ah
Sara(h) could be Sah-rah or Say - rah

RainMinusBow · 11/04/2020 01:28

We've chosen Cerys for our baby girl due May (my OH is half Welsh). Just wondering if some people are going to struggle to pronounce it as we're in England. Not that it puts me off really.

For a boy I wanted Iestyn - now that would have been very interesting!!! Grin

LizzieAnt · 11/04/2020 01:19

@PerditaProvokesEnmity
I should add that Bríd may also be pronounced as Breej, instead of Breed. It depends on dialect.

mortforya · 11/04/2020 01:18

Saoirse is definitely pronounced Seer-sha.. And Ciara is Key-ra and Aoife is Eaf(as in leaf) - a

Zantedeschia · 11/04/2020 01:12

Evelyn = Ev - lin
Joachim = Jo-ak-im

I'm in Ireland...is there another pronunciation of Joachim?

I always get Mia and Miya mixed up Blush

LizzieAnt · 11/04/2020 01:05

@Lobsterquadrille2
With the accent on the a (Odhrán) it's Oh-rawn.

tabulahrasa · 11/04/2020 01:04

“Evelyn - is it pronounced Eve-lyn or Ever-lyn ?“

Or evlin, just to be awkward...

LizzieAnt · 11/04/2020 01:02

@Heygirlheyboy The dh isn't pronounced in Odhran. It's sometimes just spelt Oran, pronounced Oh-ran.