No one can pronounce my baby's name!

I've said a few times that Carys is like the welsh Karen - both popular a the same time.
Rhian and Ian.

From my attempts to find a reasonable pronunciation of Rhian online, I can only assume that the correct pronunciation is almost lost, cf Dylan, Rhys, Rhiannon and Sian.

Rhianna is a bit .

I lnow a Dafydd who goes by Dai as no-one can pronounce Dafydd. Its a shame as its lovely

Yes, ma'am should rhyme with ham.
Don't say marm

It isn't the same @peanacat.
What point is there in teaching someone the wrong pronunciation?

By your argument, Feo would be how to say Theo, and it's close enough.

[quote MikeUniformMike]@peanacat, I disagree with you R and Rh are distinctly different letters and sounds. They might be pronounced as Ree-ann where you are from but that's like saying Clare is pronounced Clurr because it sounds like that in Merseyside.[/quote]
Ffs it is literally so similar to say Ree and ‘Rhee’ esp if you aren’t a welsh speaker and haven’t grown up hearing it. I was only giving an opinion on how I know it to be said. Particularly as my area of Wales actually doesn’t have a strong accent of anywhere in particular I’ve been told. It’s so irritating saying one thing on MN and several people just picking you apart, though normally its the OP that gets it.

@peanacat, I disagree with you R and Rh are distinctly different letters and sounds. They might be pronounced as Ree-ann where you are from but that's like saying Clare is pronounced Clurr because it sounds like that in Merseyside.

Gwenllian is Gwen LLEE-ann
The LL is almost impossible to say unless you have learnt it at a young age.
The shortened form is Llio not Gwen.

Llio is LLEE-o' (o like in of)

[quote ArseyWelshNameBore]**@peanacat, Rhian is pronounced Ree-ann.

It isn't.
It is pronounced RH-EE-ann.

There is no R in it.[/quote]
I am welsh, grew up in Wales and had several friends named Rhian, Rhiannon and Rhianna. So yes, it is said Ree-ann clearly in some dialects because that’s how we said it. I wouldn’t comment on a post if I didn’t know how it is said (at least in one area of Wales)

I would definitely keep the name, having a common name is so boring! My middle name is Irish and I’m constantly asked how to pronounce it before people even attempt it, then people give it their best shot, it’s a conversation starter. My first name is a boring, common name (Spelt differently so I constantly get Aine). I would have far preferred a nice Irish name like Aoife, Saoirse, Eabha etc.

In my experience Nia is mispronounced as Near as the 'A for apple' sound in the letter a tends to become 'uh' in a lot of English accents.

I'm half Welsh/English, born and raised in England and I have to work hard not to slip into Near for Nia and into Ei-ruh for Eira.

Adelaide - Rhian is pronounced Rhee-Anne. There is no R in Rhian as Rh is a letter in Welsh.
www.bbc.co.uk/wales/livinginwales/sites/howdoisay/names/index.shtml?rh

Welsh has a different alphabet to English, it doesn't contain the letter K for example. It has letters with don't exist in English - Ll, Ch, Rh, Ng, Ph, Ff. Ff is pronounced like F in English and the letter F in Welsh is pronounced like the English letter V.

So Hefin is pronounced Hevin, not Heffin, for example.

Nia gets mispronounced as Nigh-ah

My friend has one and that's how she pronounces it. I supposed it could be Knee-ah (is that how you say it?), but I've always thought of it as Nigh-ah because of my friend's child.

I get called Ell-ay-nah, Ellen-or, even Helen. I don't mind. My friends say it right. I love my name and its slightly unusual spelling. Don't change your daughter's name. I bet she'll love it as she grows up.

I suppose ffion could conceivably be Fy-on rather than fee-on.

I know a Lauren who gets Lau-on (to rhyme with moron) rather then lo-ren.

My name is sometimes mispronounced. It's a minor irritation at best.

Is Rhian pronounced Ree-ann then? I assumed it was like Ian but with an R in front.

I'd say Danyell not Dannyelle.

Nia gets mispronounced as Nigh-ah.

Just 3 letters and they f**k it up. This was on Radio 4.

It also gets Nai.

@Diverseopinions, Tessny

I thought it was impossible to mispronounce Ffion!

Out of interest, how would Tesni be pronounced authentically? Gwenllian?

I pronounce Danielle as Dan-yell and Daniel as Dan-yull. Everyone I know with those names where I grew up pronounced them the same way.

I would love to know OP's DD's name but it's probably sufficiently unusual enough in England as to out her if anyone she knows sees this thread.

I also suspect it's something like Nia being mispronounced as Near, Tesni as Tez-nee, Bethan as Bethun, Megan as Megun, or Gwenllian as Gwenleeun. The last four could be shortened to Tess, Beth, Meg and Gwen respectively.

@LunaLula83, if OP said something like "DD's name is Carys and we live in Derbyshire (or wherever)". it would pretty much out her.

Lol at the people saying you should only have to correct people once. If only this were true...

I think the answer is to ask close family members to be completely truthful. '"Are we loving the roots of the name and unconsciously pronouncing it with a soft Welsh inflection and lilt which makes it difficult for the listener to catch certain sounds?". And: "Is the wrong way people try to say this name completely awful, or should we just put up with the mangling and be cool about DD having to put up with mispronunciation? And: " Is the mispronunciation actually virtually the same - and we are being precious?"

I've got a totally different view of naming to what I had years ago. I now think that a name is a tool for getting through life; it's for easy identification. Of course if people are going to say a person's name differently to how it will be written down, it's going a pain at the least and potentially more negative if confusion and misidentification results.

Parents spend much of their child's life being told, rightly, that what matters is what is best for the child, and the child's choice is what is important. Therefore, I think it's useful to give a name which the recipient can play around with and shorten or add a 'y' to suit themselves. Among friends, nick-names are given, partners use pet names, kids say 'mum'. It's the official identification aspect of naming which needs the careful thought -IMO.

Is it Lowri? A beautiful name.