Everyone pronounces our daughter's name wrong

That isn’t always possible.

my friends son is John. Couldn’t really be any easier, could it?

until he went to uni in the US. No one could pronounce it or had an idea what he was saying.
eventually they’d see it written and say “oh you mean Jaaahn”.

like pp pointed out, a difficult name here maybe easy in another language. And presumably if you have that heritage, your child might want to spend time there.

unless you have no ambition for you child except to stay in the area they were born so people can pronounce and spell their name, there’s no such thing as choosing a name that is pronounced the same everywhere. In the Uk especially you can go three miles down the road and it will sound completely different!

YABU. Stick to the name you chose, and correct people. Why on earth would you change her name? That’s extremely confusing and she likely knows her name by now.

Don’t let things like this bother you. My LO has a somewhat unisex name, in that there’s a spelling for F and M, but people (not all) will pronounce it in the male version form so now when I introduce her, I place emphasis on the part that makes the name femme. You’ll need to do this. Be assertive!

We also have a family friend that is insisting on abbreviating my LO name, ultimately trying to give her a nickname we have never introduced her as. The nickname is ALSO the male version of her name, which does get annoying but I’ll correct this person when I see them in person.

When you introduce your child, pronounce her name assertively.

Sadly this is what happens choosing a ‘different’ name.

It isn't about choosing to be 'different' for the sake of being different, it is about celebrating family and friends from other heritages.

I'd guess it's Maria, pronounced like a Black Maria police van rather than Ma-ree-a.

I just accept everyone pronouncing my name "wrong". I considered changing my name, but in the end kept it. I would not give a name to a child where the pronunciation was different to the usual, especially if the difference was subtle.

It is slightly different, as DD's name is not common here, but is constantly mispronounced e.g. Sipho (the ph is 'p' not 'f')

She is used to correcting people, no-one has taken offence and she doesn't see it as any big deal. There have been times she has preferred to use her English middle name, but now she is proud of that aspect of her heritage, and also realises that it isn't widely known in the UK.

I think either option a or b (change your own pronunciation, or correct other people) is fine, so do which you prefer until she's old enough to decide for herself.

I wouldn't change her name legally as it is a hassle, and presumably you wanted to honour the person you named her after - although, as I said, at time DD chose to use her middle name, and that may be another option.

Phishy, you're wrong about the first name on your list. See above.

I thought I'd turned up at the wrong wedding once. We all knew the bridegroom as Chris and his family were talking about Mark. Mark was his middle name but he'd been called that from day 1 because " Mark Christopher didn't sound right". He got fed up of explaining once he got to school so decided to be Chris apart from in the family.
Not sure if that had any bearing on the later divorce!

My middle name is Chantal, but as soon as I say it or write it, literally everyone says Chantelle. I just politely tell them it's Chantal (don't tell likely it, but it's part of my name). My parents chose the French pronounciation, but even the English pronouncation isn't Chantelle.

@Wel , Kiran is unisex - I know male and female ones.

I'm not British born, I have a name that is very uncommon for women of my age, but more common for girls now, although my spelling of it remains uncommon.

I love my name, its spelling, its pronunciation, its history. I feel very special with it.

The only way you will teach your daughter to be proud of her name is to keep correcting people, as you see appropriate.

People can spell and pronounce Penelope, Savannah, Delilah etc, so they can spell and pronounce your dd's name as well.

Sadly this is what happens choosing a ‘different’ name. I’d do everything to make my child’s name as easy as possible for her. I have a friend (now mid 50s) with an unusual name, she has to spell or pronounce it every single day to someone.

Good guess. And I am still fuming over the bishop who decided to confirm me as the short coinage related nickname. I don't feel properly 'done'. They had seen my baptism certificate. There's a whole layer of meaning about the long form that has been disregarded. As, presumably, inappropriate.
I get rhymes with envelope, and antelope...

I used to work in a primary school - we had loads of girls called Aleysha, Alisha, Aleesha, Elicia, Elysha, Alicia - most of them were all pronounced the same by the kids and famillies. I used to try and use nuanced pronounciations (eg Al-ic-ea) but I was usually corrected. It's a minefield!
My own name can be pronounced 2 ways - after 60 years I've stopped noticing tbh 😂

My dad is Indian. Mum is Irish. They thought naming my sister Kiran (an Indian girls name and Irish boy’s name) would be a good idea.

My mum and dad pronounce it Kih-run - rhymes with Helen Mirren. But most people go with the Irish version of Keer-un. Even people with Indian backgrounds! Including her best friend who is British Indian (friends since 11).

I know my sister prefers the former but just puts up with it. Never heard her correct it.

@Treaclewell ,is Deanna pronounced Dee-na or Dee-anna?

You could use her middle name with people outside the family and use the preferred name within the family. My sibling is known as Olivia by strangers and Elizabeth by family

My parents chose my name with a different spelling to the usual spelling.
I love it spelt this way and I’ve never wished it was the more usual way.
However, it’s meant that I’ve spent my whole life telling people how I spell I name/getting it spelt incorrectly.

Do I wish my parents had chosen the more usual form of spelling it?
No.
I’d rather correct people than have the more usual spelling.

Gaia? Or Penelope?

God no!!!! 😂

I hate Youneek spellings 😂

Its a perfectly normal spelling, the same way you can have Claire, Clair or Clare, but the spelling we use is the less common one.

Not the original poster but I know one white French Guy and one Ivorian-French Guy both pronounced Ghee.

I have a not very common name, that people who grew up with classical mythology stories, or know a certain actress's name get right. But people I come across in the NHS of foreign extraction struggle with it and go by what it looks as though it rhymes with. Think Percyfone - which it is not. I correct them gently. They will meet others, particularly of my sort of age because there was a film with Deanna Durbin in, and three of us in a class of 14 as a result.

We have this with one of my kids (we use the European pronounciation of a name rather than English to reflect family background). It is absolutely a pain because we get quite ugly pronunciations from people sometimes, but we've learnt to roll with it. Was more careful with subsequent DC though.

Did you use a yooneek spelling?

I was christened Caoimhe ( Kee-va ) , after my maternal grandmother but it became a pain in the backside so I quietly dropped it in preference to my middle name. Only my mother uses my given name these days.