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Baby names

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

Everyone pronounces our daughter's name wrong

570 replies

StarShine23 · 13/02/2024 09:09

Hi all, advice needed please.

We named our daughter after someone we know from abroad. Its a pretty simple name but we had never heard it in the UK before. Baby is now 1 and the name has become more popular here, but it has a different pronunciation than we use. The problem we have is we don't like way its pronounced here, but everyone we meet now calls her by the UK version rather than her name, even though we correct them.

Do we:
(a) stick to our original pronunciation, even though it will be a battle for her growing up when other people with the same name all pronounce it the UK way
(b) accept the UK version, even though we dont like it and to us, doesn't suit her
(c) change her name

Has anyone else been through this? What did you do / wish you had done?

We feel awful that we have unwillingly picked something that is going to be tricky for her now all her life, but we love the name.

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solongandthanksforallthedish · 13/02/2024 14:07

DuchessOfSausage · 13/02/2024 13:40

@solongandthanksforallthedish , I wouldn't tell Pheobe nor Feebee that her name was spelt wrongly.

I know someone who had the baby's name registered with characters transposed. That was something like Cleo registered as Cloe.
If you want to think that Cloe pronounced Cleo is ok then think what you like.
The parents had the BC changed to the correct spelling.

Obviously, if the parents or child think there is a mistake, then there's a mistake. Feebee is not a name I would choose, but I wouldn't say anyone was wrong.

HideousKinky · 13/02/2024 14:02

Oh, and she loves her name and has never mentioned that it is an issue for her in adult life (she's 35)

HideousKinky · 13/02/2024 14:00

One of my daughters is called Helena which we pronounce with the emphasis on the first syllable. However many people try to say HeLAYna but once they have heard how you say it a few times, they tend to follow suit. I would stick to what you prefer

Igneococcus · 13/02/2024 13:59

....and in German .Caroline is in fact pronounced Caroleena .Really pretty name

Only if there actually were an "a" at the end of it. In German it's usually spelled Carolin or sometimes Karolin. I have a niece called Carolin.
Nobody has pronounced my name correctly since I moved to an English-speaking country 30 years ago except for the occasional German speaker and I don't really mind. Sometimes I'm fed up when people who have known me for a long time can't be arsed to spell my name correctly but most times I can't get worked up about it.

MyGooseisTotallyLoose · 13/02/2024 13:58

I was thinking Madeline so pronounced 'Mad eh lean'
Or Mad-Lin

SheilaFentiman · 13/02/2024 13:58

It’s not that easy to correct what your brain has learned as the right pronunciation, though. Like remembering to pronounce kettle as keetle when you are visiting a particular relative or something. You might learn it over time but it won’t be second nature.

So I can believe that someone who knew a Juliana (pronounced -arna) growing up would take a lot of thinking to pronounce it -anna if the spelling was the same.

I think a name that is unfamiliar in spelling in England would be more likely to trigger the “learning a new word now” neurons to cover pronunciation and spelling!

user146990847100 · 13/02/2024 13:56

AuditAngel · 13/02/2024 09:19

I have the less common pronunciation of an unusual name. The majority of the time it annoys me but I don’t bother to correct people. If it is people I work closely with, I try to get them saying it right, and my team are great at correcting other people on my behalf! Be aware you are setting them up for a lifetime of correcting their name. I am 54

This. DH has an unusual name and he hates it because every time he meets someone new it means repeating it several times then they still get it wrong. He’s mostly known by an easily pronounced nickname…
Does your DD have a middle name? Could she be known by that rather than changing her name which I’d imagine isn’t all that easy to do?

JanetheObscure · 13/02/2024 13:52

TheOriginalEmu · 13/02/2024 11:46

Sara is pronounced Sah-ra, not like Sarah. People who pronounce it sarah annoy me. 😂

Except that I have a friend called Sara, pronounced Sarah 😀

Tengreenbottles2 · 13/02/2024 13:49

You carry on pronouncing it your way, and if people pronounce it the English way, either correct them or don't, depending on how you feel on the day.

I have a very old, but relatively rare, English surname, and EVERYONE pronounces it wrong. I just shrug. They can say it their way, I say it my way.

I suppose it's a bit like the name Evelyn. Some people pronounce it eev-lynn, some ev-uh-lynn.

NoCloudsAllowed · 13/02/2024 13:47

I'm not saying the name, because I don't want to offend any one who is or has children called it and use the UK variant.

Eh? You don't want to offend anonymous strangers on the internet by saying you pronounce a name differently to them? What do you think they're going to do, track you down and harrass you? Stand outside your house with banners saying 'it's Clarr-rah not Clah-rah?'

ZebraPensAreLife · 13/02/2024 13:43

DuchessOfSausage · 13/02/2024 13:42

@ZebraPensAreLife , so if Inge has always said her name as Indge, would it be impolite to say you thought it was Ing-guh?

Yes. Because that may be the more common way to pronounce it, but it is not that person’s name!

DuchessOfSausage · 13/02/2024 13:42

@ZebraPensAreLife , so if Inge has always said her name as Indge, would it be impolite to say you thought it was Ing-guh?

BreatheAndFocus · 13/02/2024 13:41

Just correct them every time. A number of names have different pronunciations, eg Simone. I’ve heard it pronounced Si-MON (MON rhyming with the second syllable of ‘upon’) most of the time, but occasionally Si-MOAN.

Certainly don’t change her name! People will get the simplest name wrong. I have a very simple basic and common surname, but a number of people still manage to pronounce it wrong or misspell it 🙄

DuchessOfSausage · 13/02/2024 13:40

@solongandthanksforallthedish , I wouldn't tell Pheobe nor Feebee that her name was spelt wrongly.

I know someone who had the baby's name registered with characters transposed. That was something like Cleo registered as Cloe.
If you want to think that Cloe pronounced Cleo is ok then think what you like.
The parents had the BC changed to the correct spelling.

ZebraPensAreLife · 13/02/2024 13:36

TheOriginalEmu · 13/02/2024 13:27

Well they don’t. They’ve just always been told that is it, but Sara is a different name to Sarah.

But if they are pronouncing their name that way, then it is correct for them

It’s incredibly rude to tell people they are pronouncing their own name incorrectly!

TheOriginalEmu · 13/02/2024 13:27

JoanThursday1972 · 13/02/2024 12:50

I think my friend Sara who pronounces it Sarah knows how to say her own name. So does Sara Cox!

Well they don’t. They’ve just always been told that is it, but Sara is a different name to Sarah.

ItsallIeverwanted · 13/02/2024 13:23

@HipHop63 I'm kind of with you, but I have Italian/Nordic students where the 'e' is pronounced at the end, so Danielle is 'Daniell-ea' or Louise is 'Louis-a' so this is something again that is coming from more international pronunciation.

solongandthanksforallthedish · 13/02/2024 13:22

DuchessOfSausage · 13/02/2024 12:57

@solongandthanksforallthedish , you are entirely missing the point.
It is me saying other that other people insist I am getting my own name wrong.

You are not saying your own name wrong, and anyone who says you are is rude. You are the authority on your own name, as applied to you.

However, you should apply that to those who decide to spell their own name differently. Do unto others. Pheobe isn't wrong, it's different. Someone who has a name spelled, or said, the same as yours, but said, or spelled, a different way isn't wrong. Just different.

HipHop63 · 13/02/2024 13:21

It drives me mad when I get cold callers say "is that Annie ***?"
My name is Anne. Since when did having an E on the end of your name make you into Annie???

I just put the phone down on them. If you can't pronounce my name don't think you can speak to me.

rustlerwaiter · 13/02/2024 13:20

DP often has her name mispronounced and misspelled and it's not even anything complicated. A lot of time she just lets it go, sometimes she corrects people, it doesn't seem to bother her.

DS has a name that a lot of people won't have encountered before and they can be unsure of it. We purposely chose the anglicised spelling to make things easier for him. Four letters, pronounced exactly as it's spelled, and I had no idea there could be so many variations when people give it a go 😂

Now he's a bit older he's more likely to correct people than his mum, but I know he likes having a name not many others have.

If I was you I'd stick with the name and pronunciation you've chosen.

ChimChimeny · 13/02/2024 13:18

Sleepysleepasap · 13/02/2024 10:13

My daughter is called Esme and I used to get irritated by her name occasionally being pronounced Esmay !
It was never a problem when she was a young child .
Still love her name and would never have considered changing it.

I googled this once because when DD was young I met two - one pronounced Es-may and one Es-mee.
Conclusion was both are equally valid and standard pronunciations, so presumably it is personal choice.
This was the first I'd met pronounced Es-mee, so I wonder if there are regional variations.

JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn · 13/02/2024 13:16

Just correct people. My name is pronounced a different way in the UK... I just correct people 🤷🏼‍♀️

TempleOfBloom · 13/02/2024 13:14

GlobetrottingPercy · 13/02/2024 09:26

He’s British but I didn’t know him well enough to ask about his background / wider family

The Dutch Guy I know is pronounced Ghee

Nowvoyager99 · 13/02/2024 13:10

Nobody will be remotely offended if you say the name. It’s just a pronunciation you prefer.

Without knowing what it is, it’s impossible to decide whether it’s worth persisting with, or abandoning your chosen pronunciation.

itsjustturbulance · 13/02/2024 13:10

rainbowstardrops · 13/02/2024 09:59

Why on earth do you think you might offend anonymous people on an internet forum by stating the name?! Bonkers.
I've seen my children's names mentioned on various threads in the past and some people like them and some don't. You know, just like real life! I couldn't give a shit and definitely not offended!

This.

Do you feel you offend anyone when you call your kids name in public?