Naming your child something that is difficult to pronounce in English.

I would give her 2 names so she can choose when she is older which she prefers to go by?

That’s my experience as a teacher too - they’re affronted. I try to listen carefully and make a note of it phonetically. However, teenagers are mortified when you have to ask how to pronounce their name, or guess and get it wrong. Most just want to blend in and be the same as everyone else.

I agree in that, pick what you want ultimately.

I had an unusual English surname. Nobody could ever pronounce or spell it. I got sick of having to tell every single person, how to spell it and pronounce it.

I can’t say or spell DDIL’s foreign surname.

I wouldn’t do it. It is bliss now to have DH’s common surname!

As a whole, I think the English can be a bit hypocritical about names... we have place names like Godmanchester and Bicester, have phonetic fun like read, reed, red, reading and Reading... but any other phonic system sends us into meltdown.

It's not fair on the child.it will be very annoying for them too.

I think everyone should pick what they want. Unless it's Ziggy Stardust! Or Moon Unit.

Please don’t. I’m Irish and the way the English pronounce almost every Irish name makes my ears bleed.

I didn't say to anglicise it. There's tonnes of non English names which are memorable, pronouncement and spellable. I'm saying choose one of them to help everyone out including your own child. I have tonnes white British friends who have chosen completely umheard of names and I dont know why. My children are mixed heritage. We found names easily which bridged the two cultures and are easy for wider society to work with. I'm talking about people deliberately picking difficult names for no good reason.

Indeed. Mn is depressingly Little Englander about names and thinks all babies should be called George and Sophie.

What's an unusual name? My name is very common in my culture. Why on earth should I Anglicise it? It has three syllables, the same as Catherine.
Judge people?🙄

I know a family of Chinese origin who all have traditional names but they're easy to remember and pronounce in English...apart from one who everybody calls Dave because no one can pronounce his actual name. I think it's a shame as his siblings have lovely unusual names and then it's here's Dave!

I would skip it. I had a Chinese friend and a Polish friend at different times. I practiced the correct pronunciation of their names over and over again until I thought I was saying them perfectly. Apparently I wasn’t and it just made everyone a bit fed up. I guess there are some sounds that are not only difficult to say correctly but difficult to even hear. So my point is it’s not just down to people’s laziness

I really don't think we need to give our children names that don't make other people feel "embarrassed" or "uncomfortable" because they can't pronounce them!

Firstly, there are many common British names that have multiple spellings so being asked to spell your name is not something that just happens to people with 'foreign' names. For exame Jane/Jayne, Ann/Anne, Rachel/Rachael, Catherine/Katherine/Kathryn.

Secondly, there are plenty of British names that are difficult to pronounce in some British accents. So e.g. Karl can be Kar-ul in some Scottish accents, and most of England struggle with the correct pronounciation of Scottish, Welsh and Irish names. I don't think that should really be a reason to not use a name you love unless you would get annoyed at the mispronounciation (e.g. I avoided Kirsten because I hate the way the English butcher it). So think about how you feel about it being mispronounced and will you be happy with an approximation or a nickname.

Yeah, don't do it. Such a pain in the arse for everyone. I honestly judge people who've chosen 'unusual names' because they're special, now everyone else has a task to remember / spell / pronounce. Urghhh. Cannot be bothered.

What BS. They can ask and ask again. Not going to call myself Mary to please them.

I'm Irish with an English dh and live in England. I really wanted Irish names for our dcs, but dh (reasonably) said he wanted something he could spell and pronounce properly! We did find one for ds but dd ended up with a more international name, which works pretty much everywhere for dd. I'm happy with both tbh.

I'd use the name you love as a middle name or use the shortening day to day

Nah, make it a middle name. It's wilfully nutty to call your child a name even her dad can't pronounce.

This is why you have people with beautiful meaningful names calling themselves Sid or Jay or Vee to make it easier for people who can't be bothered to make an effort. It's a flattening of cultures, in my view.

Is it difficult to pronounce as in uses sounds that aren't used in Englis. Some sounds you need to hear and use at a young age to replicate them well.

Or difficult to pronounce as in, will have to put a bit if effort in but can do it.

I'd be reluctant with the former, but the second would be ok.

I am going to go against the grain.
I gave my kids names from my heritage without wondering how other people can pronounce them.
If they can pronounce Tchaikovsky they can pronounce names from another culture. It's not my job to make teachers or anyons else comfortable.

My DD has a Scottish name, which is now quite common, but spelt in an anglicised way. DD has the Scottish spelling as it had meaning in our family. Now 13.

Friends never had a problem. Teachers... honestly, first couple of weeks of term there's lots of mispronounciation, but not long term. She does however get some written stuff misspelled. (Missing a letter out).

However, our surname gets more misspellings... and thats an unusual but fully English surname.

Even my DP can't pronounce my hard to pronounce name properly. It makes me quite sad really. So I'd go for an easy name tbh

Besides the difficulty of pronunciation, there's also a risk that you're giving her a Dutch name that doesn't match her generation. A bit like if a British-origin 3rd gen immigrant kid was named Tracy or Barbara because the grandparents said it was a lovely name and it featured in stories the parents read when they were little. Then you'll get an eyebrow raise from both cultures for both unpronouncability and misfit.