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

Difficult to have an opinion without knowing the name.

I think peopel should just learn to say the name and you (and the child) should accept that people will kielly say it slightly wrong of there is a sound that is hard to say.

Tricky one... I think I can try and guess the sort of names you mean... I speak fluent Spanish and lived in Spain for a few years so I have no problems with the pronunciation, but I still feel like a bit of a tw4t saying certain names/words when I'm speaking English. (Do you say it with a Spanish accent, a fully English accent and pronunciation, or somewhere in the middle? They all sound awkward).

Legally changing her name feels a bit extreme though...

I would either give her a nickname/shortened version of her name, or give her an English middle name she can use in England.

(My husband is from another country, and his parents gave him a first name that is foreign to THAT country, so he uses his middle name most of the time, and only uses his foreign first name with close family and friends).

Also the reality is, if a school kid has to keep correcting their peers or teachers the friends are going to get fed up, and possibly perceive it as a personal criticism. Negotiating school friendships is hard enough as it is.

If it’s a name that people would have to put on an accent for that would be a bit much to expect from everyone. How do you anticipate future school teachers and classmates saying her name?

I’d probably keep the name but give her a more English alternative, or nickname as a plan B.

I've got Spanish parent. Girl with a Spanish name, boys with easy to pronounce in Spanish names, think Cris or Nick.
Girl experience harder as huge variation In how it's pronounced ( exists in uk) but my family, spouse get it right and then, whatever, i say it correctly when I meet someone and then go with it. I'd say go with the Spanish name, with Spanish phonetics, but not putting on a Spanish accent. Think Ee- sa-bel ( if Isabel) but if Mercedes say Mercedes in an English accent, but with the correct emphasis on the "e's, ifyswim.

My Dd has a not Spanish name, and it is pronounced by Spanish speakers phonetically using all the vowel sounds and I think it is lovely- she is a teen now and it just makes her smile. X

people will learn Only if they want to and if they can make the sounds in the name.

As always, without the name its impossible to say.

people will learn

It’s pretty difficult for a native English speaker to begin, as an adult, to make the full range of sounds in Arabic. This applies to other languages too in both directions.

I'm another one who has a name Spanish find difficult to pronounce. Mostly I just accepted being called a version of mine when I lived there for a few years as I couldn't be bothered correcting people all the time. IME the Spanish are just as bad as pronouncing unfamiliar names as the British.

But I did give my children names that are basically phonetic and pretty difficult to mispronounce. Although weirdly Americans seem to struggle with one of them .

I have a Spanish friend who called her daughter Raquel, she said people in the UK regularly called her Rachel 'because that's how you say it in English' 🤷🏼‍♀️. Some people are just ignorant and lazy. I also knew a Txema who was (rightly) very strict about how people pronounced his name who had fewer issues.

DD has a Scandinavian name, I was quite surprised how many people mispronounced it when she was little but I'd just correct them, it's an easy name to say in English. But when she was a tiny baby and someone did it for the first time I did have a panic about if I did the right thing. She's now a teenager and all her friends think her name is cool so I'm glad I didn't give in to my (probable baby blues induced) concerns about her name.

@MongerNoLonger don't change her name, it's a name you love and your family and friends will learn how to pronounce it.

@weaselyeyes , you don't need to get too hung up on whether it's pronounced perfectly or not.
It depends on the name. Most of the people you know will get yours right and the ones who don't are people you care about.
It would be different if everybody other than your family struggle with it.

@Onmytod24 , anyone who says they can’t pronounce the name just can’t be bothered. These are in a minority a tiny minority. I don't think that's true.
I can't say some names because I haven't got the vocal dexterity to get the sounds right.

PS, when my mother came here from Greece my dad‘s family changed her name from a beautiful Greek name to Bland British name and made her use it but that was 70 years ago. It was cruel. when we were old enough to know we called her by her proper name . Even though your baby is tiny, don’t take her identity away from her.

Just keep using her name when you’re talking to her and talking about her. Anyone who calls the baby tell her the baby‘s name is Juanita or whatever. We live in a multicultural society anyone who says they can’t pronounce the name just can’t be bothered. These are in a minority a tiny minority. Maybe we’ve got a couple of your family that are making you think other people like that they’re not. Honestly, if you just keep using her name, people will hear you say it and be able to say it. What it looks written down is irrelevant atm

It's different with the names of Royalty and popes. Several languages use their version.
Pope John-Paul was le pape Jean-Paul in France and Papa Juan-Pablo in Spain.

Yes, that’s a fair point.
I agree re deleting the post after a certain amount of time because posters continue to post to the ether!

Yes I agree. It’s happening more and more on here. It is very irritating when posters have taken the time to reply. However OP has a young baby so maybe she is dealing with some sort of baby related issue? I would implement a three day rule. No response from OP for three days the thread gets deleted by MN 😂.

Can you shorten the name/nickname to make it easier?
If you keep the full name you’re going to have to accept that non Spanish speakers are going to pronounce it differently.
You don’t know what the future will hold for her she might decide to live in Spain or Latin America.

I think as long as people don't diss the name - or start replacing it with another name of their choice - and give it a good go, you don't need to get too hung up on whether it's pronounced perfectly or not. I have a very common or garden English name, but many of my family are Brazilian and several friends are French and Spanish. None of them pronounce it properly, just because they find it hard not to revert to saying it the way it would sound in their language. They're not trying to be rude, I know they mean me, and it's a shame to be picky about accent when people are just being friendly/communicating normally.

@BoredZelda, Which sounds can’t you make? Your vocal cords are the same as any other human, surely you can learn to do it? Why wouldn’t you?
The letters in Arabic don't all have equivalent English sounds. Ghayn, qaf, and khaa are probably more or less impossible unless you have used similar sounds in a different language. Some sounds might sound similar to a non-speaker but different to an Arabic speaker.
Some letters are said differently in different versions of Arabic.

Arabic doesn't have some of the sounds you get in English.

It isn't a case of 'teaching' people.

In Spain, the newspapers will use Spanish equivalents of names, eg King Charles will be called Carlos in a Spanish newspaper. English people called Claire or Helen would normally be called Clara and Elena by Spanish people. They don’t tend to bend over backwards to pronounce foreign names.

This. I really don’t understand why people don’t want to make their child’s life as easy as possible. That includes not saddling them with a name that nobody can pronounce and that they will get teased about. If you want an unpronounceable name, change your own one.

We lived in a Spanish-speaking country when I was a child and my dad did use a Spanish name at times because the local people couldn’t say his. He was a temporary Francisco! No problem at all.

All this about the British being weird with ‘foreign’ names and being bad at accents is silly, the usual self-hating stuff. Spanish people can’t say my name properly. I happily accept the Spanish version when I’m there. People from any country may struggle to say a name not in their first language.

Personally I’d have chosen a Spanish name that can be said easily in English if my child were growing up in the UK. Speak to your family OP and ask if they’re worried abiut saying the name wrong. Of course you may offend them if it’s not an issue! Without knowing the name it’s hard to judge how English speakers would react.

Give her a nickname

You are wrong. Babies can make all the sounds needed for every language in the world but they gradually lose the ability to say sounds that they do not hear every day. There are therefore some sounds in foreign languages that people who speak only English cannot pronounce. All they can do is map English sounds onto a name and come up with the best approximation they can.
The easiest examples of this process to understand is the inability of Japanese speakers to distinguish R and L and certain click sounds in African languages.