No one can pronounce my baby's name!

I have a Rowan, row-your-boat NOT have-a-row(argument).

I have gently corrected people over the years. 6 years old now, we’ve passed the mantle to him, “Sometimes people pronounce your name wrong...if it bothers you it’s ok to politely correct them”. He’s not bothered. And hearing it both ways doesn’t bother me at all anymore.

Hopefully. it's not Ellw.

My son has one of the most common boys names from 2018 and people still pronounce it wrong 🙄 even his own grandma

@Fallada, Alpha, Charlie, Mike, Oscar, Romeo and Victor are nice.

Is it really meant to be Ma'am to rhyme with ham?

Yes.

@Diverseopinions, not keen on Dilys. It's a dated virtue name and will be misspelled.

Buddug is nice but Buddud is a typo.

Not keen on Anwen but do like Alwen

@peanacat, Rhian is pronounced Ree-ann.

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

There is no R in it.

I just think of Fireman Sam with Dilys

Diverging rather, but have noticed some great Welsh names on the list.I think Dilys needs a revival as a Welsh girly name. Cadi is also cute. There are some great ones. Buddud ( short for Boudicca). Alwen is pretty.

I gave my daughter an unusual name and even my Dh really struggled with it. He added a cutsey ending and just introduced her as that. We didn't work out a 'rhymes with' for a few years but that made it infinitely easier to help people say it. She gets called all variants but her now dh likes her full name and we have all started to use it again which is quite frankly lovely

[quote MJMG2015]@StrawScarecrow

I had a friend who was . . .
Catrin like Patrick

I'm not usually dense, but I can't work out what you mean??

@JacobReesMogadishu.

I'd say Ryan? What should it be?

@Bewilderbeastie I'd give it another month or so, try to meet (difficult I know) a few more people & see how you feel. Is people being unable to make the sounds/hear the difference part of the issue?

If you still think it might cause her problems, I'd consider adding an easier first name, but you & DH still calling her by her original name. I know several people who do this and it causes occasional issues,but not often & far less frequent issues than names no one can say!![/quote]
Rhian is pronounced Ree-ann.

I grew up in Wales so seems such an easy name to pronounce to me, but I can see why you would think that looking at it now!

My daughters name is Cerys which I thought was an obvious pronunciation - apparently not. Loads of people don't know how to say it (we are in England which doesn't help)

I just correct them

My name is frequently misheard or mispronounced. I still love it. I just got expert at correcting people. I wouldn’t worry too much. Just make your peace with correcting people. It’s not the end of the world and it won’t hamper your child in later life

No one, not a single person, pronounces my name right first time because it's fairly long, weird and also weirdly spelled. I couldn't care less tbh and never have. I spell my name out before being asked to, S for Sierra etc, on the phone.

Don't stress, it makes your kid more interesting.

Talk about a friggin drip feed

Oh right

I'm still not sure I'd say it how you like but I'd give it a go 😊

@MJMG2015 the "atri" sound is the same and is the bit people struggle with.

@StrawScarecrow

I had a friend who was . . .
Catrin like Patrick

I'm not usually dense, but I can't work out what you mean??

@JacobReesMogadishu.

I'd say Ryan? What should it be?

@Bewilderbeastie I'd give it another month or so, try to meet (difficult I know) a few more people & see how you feel. Is people being unable to make the sounds/hear the difference part of the issue?

If you still think it might cause her problems, I'd consider adding an easier first name, but you & DH still calling her by her original name. I know several people who do this and it causes occasional issues,but not often & far less frequent issues than names no one can say!!

Anwen and Betsan are two cute pretty pronouncable Welsh girl names. OP, you could put one of these at the front and hyphenate: ' Betsan - ??', and it could even be shortened, in the teenage years to Bet.

Having options is liberating. Anwen could by 'Annie' or 'Ann'. Giving your daughter variations to choose would be cool.

I think changing the name would be such an OTT reaction. As I said, it's a pain but really not a huge deal to have a name where the spelling and pronunciation need clarifying a lot. Tbh, if it'll be your daughter's biggest trial in life then: a) lucky her! And b) this might be an opportunity to work on resilience and learning not to sweat the small stuff.

You can never predict entirely how problematic a name will be, anyway. The name might get popular, or just happen to be the name of one person who becomes famous, and the problem will go away. All the parents of 40 year old Harry Potters, Ian Huntleys, David Camerons - even the parents who gave their daughter the perfectly innocuous and easily spelt 'Karen' - thought they were giving names that would never raise an eyebrow or cause an issue; they were wrong!

DS is eight and has lived in two countries already, and I’d. be very surprised if he didn’t live in several more in adulthood. Would your suggestion be that he’s named in the International Phonetic Alphabet?

@steppemum, I think Eyra is a misspellng of Eira.
The Ei bit is like the ey in Hey! and the ra bit is like the ra in rabbit or rat.

It 's too hard to say unless you share the name

I don't think the name can be Eyra, because that doesn't shorten further. However, Megan does: 'Meg' - but people would know how to say that.

BertieBotts' explanation puts into words what can be sensed - when vowels aren't followed by a hard consonant it can be harder to remember the sounds.

If a name is natural to you and so you say it smoothly and quickly as it should be said, then it can be hard to differentiate those vowel sounds.

Gaia is Emma Thompson and Greg Wise's daughter.

It's a hard post to answer because there is something so beautiful about both parents choosing a name with love. However, this matter is about your daughter and her life. When you are not there with her to introduce and annunciate the name, if it is a case of being called from a room of people for interview, or something, a difficult name is going to make for difficult situations - so I would change it for a name which is going to help your daughter as she goes through life. Make a choice which will work for her and be unusual enough, but with a general appeal. That would be a loving thing to do for her. Keep the nice name as a middle name which she can opt to use later on when an adult.

If your daughter grows up picking up on your frustration, then she may be frustrated too, and develop a bullish attitude towards those mispronouncing her name, and that will not help her.

If you are annunciating the name clearly and people still mispronounce, it is probably a tricky name to hear because of the blurring of vowels or slightly unusual pronunciation of the vowels.

But, it is a shame, and a difficult one to call.