Is this a logical reason to change a baby’s name?

I thought it was going to be something Basque which might have been more of a challenge. I don't think it's going to cause her too many problems in life. Sometimes people take a while to get used to a name.

Now that you've said it's Manuela (lovely name btw), are you sure it's pronunciation that's the issue, and not the Fawlty Towers connection? That's obviously a much more relevant association for the older generation than for your little one (I expect her generation will have no idea) but I can see they might feel it's harder for it to fit a teeny little baby when it's definitely to my mind (I am a grandparental sort of age) quite a grown up name. And the obvious nickname for a Brit (probably not in Spain!) would be Manny which also is a bit controversial for a little girl (although also cute!). I wouldn't change it OP if you love it but maybe if you have a preferred diminutive (manu? Lolo? Lulu?) you could start using that around her British family to help them feel more confident saying it?

Poor ds struggled through school with everyone mispronouncing his name but he really likes it. I have always called him an anglicised shortened version of it (this was agreed before he was born as exdh insisted ds was named after his father). All his school friends knew him by his proper name but now he works he has put his shortened 'English' name on his name badge. He said they all called him that even when he told them his real name and it just made things less awkward.

Exdh is Greek and our eldest dc were born in Greece where we planned to stay. We didn't so dc have had struggles with their names and dm still can pronounce them (though I chose them because I thought they were relatively easy to pronounce).
Anyway dd1 has a dd and she has given her a greek name which is becoming quite popular in the UK. She decided not to use the Greek pronunciation through exdh uses it. It was also decided that as its a very long name they would use a shortened version which is lovely and totally suits her. Dm insists on calling her a tortured version of her full name instead of using the very easy to pronounce and universally used shortened name.

You’ve said that nicknames cause confusion and I am pointing out that using nicknames/shortened version of a name is the completely normal. You are purposely being obtuse

Definitely don't change Manuela, that's family and friends just being lazy about using her name. It'll come with time and you're just questioning yourself because your hormones go crazy after birth. It's a lovely name that works in both languages.

How are people pronouncing it OP? I too am surprised people can't say it.

They are either thick or have a strong regional accent which makes it sound odd? 🤷‍♀️

@MongerNoLonger , DSis and DBIL took weeks to name their DG2 so we'd been calling him 'the baby'. Once they had decided on a name DBIL said 'He's got a name now, so please call him Harry not "the baby"'. so we did.

Do the same, and use the name a lot yourself. Don't say she, her, little one, honey, baby etc

(not the real name - might be outing )

That’s surprised me. I thought it would be something like “Luz”, which even I, speaking fluent Spanish, would struggle to know how to pronounce when speaking English without sounding silly.

How are you finding people pronounce it? I would’ve imagined some people might say “man-you-ella” (and even that isn’t the end of the world), but if corrected, it wouldn’t be hard for an English speaker to pronounce. There are no tricky sounds, and most people know of Manuel the waiter from faulty towers, so it’s just that with an “a” on the end…? That’s changed my mind, I think I would not change her name for that. If anyone does really struggle though, you could tell them to call her Ella instead though…

Im familiar with the name as I live in Spain and think its lovely. I have cousins with very Scottish names and that's hard to pronounce or spell but they are lovely and individual and interestingly have chosen similarly styled names for their children so have held no grudges for spelling repeatedly or having to correct pronunciations. I say enjoy having a unique name

Lovely name 💕 definitely not difficult to say

Ok I change my response now I know the name. That’s not hard at all, lovely name, and even a slightly rubbish English pronunciation attempt couldn’t really spoil it. I assumed it was full of specific Spanish pronunciations or letters that didn’t make the name readable for the majority.

I had a friend at school with this name! She was Italian though, so not sure if there’s a difference in pronunciation. We used to call her Man U Wella. (Or may be more Man U Ella). She never said anything so I’ve no idea if that was right or wrong. Are you pronouncing it Man Wella?

It may well have nothing whatsoever to do with her name, whether it be Spanish or British (assuming you are British) or whatever. My mum calls my youngest ‘our baby’ as in ‘what’s our baby doing today?’or ‘where is our baby whilst you’re taking on the phone?’ and he’s now 14yo.

They can't say Manuela?! It's not exactly tricky - Manwell-ah

I used to have a lovely neighbour with the name.

I love Manuela. It’s a gorgeous name.

If you're saying this now, yes do it. You are already feeling regretful, and changing it at this age will be easy and not affect her.

I'll admit that I've definitely deliberately avoided saying a tough name before to avoid offending. Maybe I'm wrong, but I've always felt like that's more thoughtful and polite than horribly mispronouncing someone's name. This will probably continue into adulthood if you keep her current name.

Why so aggressive and accusatory toward OP? I'm sorry, but it is painfully obvious when someone is trying to avoid saying a certain name. This is true even when the people that are doing it don't realise how evident it is to everyone else. I don't think this is something that exists only in OP's imagination. Parents have the right to change a child's name until the child can speak for themselves (which is why there are so many threads about name regret and changes on MN). If they feel like a name is more complicated than they originally thought it would be, then they can do that.

Also, shouldn't both parents' opinions and both of their heritages matter? The child (presumably) already has the father's surname. You're making it seem as if only he and his background/identity should be represented in the child's entire name. There should really be a compromise.

I'd say I'm confident and easy going, but spending a lifetime spelling your name (usually twice because they never get it first time) has got to me. I envy Sue Smith 😀

It depends on the child too, I went through school as a shy, quiet kid who hated when people got my name wrong (and they do, often, think Lauren not Laura) I felt it was really disrespectful, and it really grates when it’s the same people over and over again, but someone who’s a bit more easy going and confident could probably just brush off the wrong name and not care about it. For my children’s names I made sure to pick names that can’t be spelled in different ways or have similar names they could get muddled up with.

And even if it is multicultural, it's not always obvious which language the name is from, especially if the name is new to you.

I work with a Lucia. Half the office calls her Lu-chia and half Lu-see-ah. I don't know if it bothers her.

I'm in the process of changing my name because I'm sick of having to spell it out and having it mispronounced. Just need to get two witnesses in the same room.

And it also depends where you live because huge swathes of the country are not multicultural in the slightest and you will not see names from all over the world in the classroom.