Is there such a thing as Creative Pronunciation, and isn't it a bit...

I know a Sean pronounced Seen.

:o

pmsl @Bucharest

That's what I thought - and bit my tongue! As we sat and ate our feta she told it tasted just like goat's cheese. I went home with quite a swollen tongue!

Daft. Like Seamus James. You might as well call yourself John John and have done with it!

Can I have the opinion please from any Gaelic/Irish about this name? An acquaintance has named her daughter "Caitlin Kathleen" and I thought of this thread when I heard it...

I met this woman whose DD became friendly with mine. I heard her call her DD "May-uh" so when the time came to send them a birthday invitation, I wrote her name as Mea. She said her name is written "Maya"

People really shouldn't name their children words they don't know how to pronounce.

DD1 is a Katriona. Less common spelling, but we think still Ok (didn't want a C for family reasons).

No issues with pronunciation, because most of the time she is just Katie.

We do love it when she goes to somewhere new and gets Kat -rye- ooo - na though.

We're east coast, and generally I'd say the O is there, but very very light. We don't stress about it though! A bit like Desert O above says about Niamh.

The -uh in Catriona is the same as in the pronunciation of Niamh, which isn't Neeve but Ni-uhv with the uh a very quick sound.

(always wanted to say gavel)

I know of an Aisling who is pronounced Ay-shlin instead of Ash-lin. Drives me potty every time I hear it.

Some of this is just due to names crossing borders to places where people don't know the original pronunciation of the letters, or the traditional place for syllable emphasis. Greek names for example would also have different pns depending on whether you used a classical or modern pn. I've seen lots of people claiming Ismene as Iz-MAY-nee or Iz-MEE-NEE but have a classics scholar friend who reckons it should be more like IS-muh-nee.

Additionally the crossing borders issue removes the original accent. If Catriona is 'Ka-TREE-uh-a' with a subtle Irish accent, you can see how those hearing it could change it to either Katrina or Catreeohna. Niamh is another one - Irish people seem to be able to say it so that you hear both the i and the a, but for the English it comes out just as Neev.

A friend of mine has just given her 2 week old daughter a very common name (top ten) with a totally made up spelling, "to make it more unsual". The poor girl will spend her life spelling out her name, and it still sounds the same. If you want an unusual name, fine, but use a properly unusual name!

Many names DO have different pronounciations especially in a global environment. Why is it such a big deal? Just pronounce it how the 'owner' wishes it to be pronounced - easy .

But I knew of a Sean who pronounced his name See-ann. In my head that doesn't make it right!

But stroid that's my point.

Just because you know people called Cat-ree-na doesn't make it the only and definitive pronunciation.

Oh god, the bloody Catriona thing again.

I'm Scottish. I have known people who pronounce it Katreena and others whose name is pronounced KatreeOHna.

Can't we just leave it at that? It's like the Lucia thing - different pronunciations. That's all.

Sigh.

Pronounciation issues put me off the name Finlay. To me (and all fellow Scots) we pronounce it Fin-lay but people keep pronouncing it as Fin-leee which sounds so wrong to me.

We've decided to go for just the shortened version Finn for now.

Re Catriona - definitely pronounced Cat-ree-na. I know many!

It's 'Mairi's Wedding' not Marie!

Scottish song, Scottish not French spelling.

Gutted re Caitlin, it was on my shortlist and I'm sure you're all right that it's Americanised to say Kate-Lynn but living dahn saaf I don't want to saddle my child with a Gaelic name no-one can pronounce

Sorry to resurrect such an old thread
My name is Helena (pronounced Hel-ee-na) and the vast majority of people call me Helen-uh upoon first seeing it written down. It does become slightly irritating but it's something you just get used to, and doesn't really bother me. The annoying thing is people correcting it, which people do! The school librarian once insisted that it was Helen-uh and refused to call me Hel-ee-na, and my friend Clara, who pronounced her name Clair-a, was told by a teacher "I know you say it Clair-a but i will call you Clarr-a because it sounds classier"

My name is Naomi. I would have thought it is quite simple to pronounce. Nay-OH-mie or (what is actually correct) NAY-oh-mie.

The amount of time I get called NEE-oh-mie or NIGH-oh-mie

Do you know, I've really gone off the name Catriona now.

agree with rachiesparrow, creative spelling is far more annoying than creative pronunciation.

my mum used to be a nursery teacher and had a little girl there called KT (pronounced Katie). That was how it was spelt on her birth certificate as well. poor kid!

I pronounce Catriona with a short 'o' as in pot.Cat ri o na not oh.That is how my Scottish friend pronounces her dd's name.

I've known a scottish Catri-oh-na too.

Also, does it really matter? People can choose to pronounce names any way they like.

Do personally hate creative spelling (Mykynzie, e.g.), but each to their own.

Florence DD middle name is also sh middle name. It is spelt & pronounced they way it is in his country. Unfortunatley, I will be forever explaining that.....grrr

Glasvegas - it does doesn't it?
Trips off a Glasgow tongue particularly well ......(being a glaswegian myself lol)