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

I went to school with a girl called Susan. At school she spelt it Suzin, which was half way towards being a bit mad. But now, instead of shortening it to Soo, she has become Zin. On her facebook she is Zin. HOW do you get Zin out of Susan. She must have really hated having an ordinary name!!

Oh this reminds me, I was on another paenting site a while back and they had a thread running about how annoying it was when people couldn't pronounce perfectly normal baby names.

The OP had a baby called Asia Mae.

And she was pissed off because people pronounced it wrong, and she didn't understand why, because she pronounced it 'as it was spelt' - Ass-ee-ya Mae.

By you. Not by all Scottish people.

Vivia's not wrong. I'm Scottish too, Catriona is pronounced ka-TREEN-a.

Thing is, some 'creative' pronunciations are indeed, like Lucia, dependent on country or region. I'm thinking of the Renee (Ren-nay or Re-knee) thread on here. Try going to Yorkshire having been called Renee as in 'Renay' and you'd forever be correcting the locals (who would deem you to be a bit up your own wotsit).

And I'm afraid when I first came across a Siobhan at school I thought it was Cyo-barn.

pmsl

I agree with Greeny.

A cousin was a nurse at a children's hospital in Dublin. He came across some good ones. Pocahantas. Not sure I have spelled it correctly but who cares?

Best was a "Wivony". Spelled Yvonne.

Vivia, I regret to inform you that you are

a) wrong

and

b) really rather obnoxious about it

I double take at some names, but I think to "correct" a parent or deliberately use your own preferred pronunciation is just horrible.

hmm I have a Jme ok he has more vowels but I'm going to start being lazy

Just remembered I knew a "nim" (Niamh)....

My sister teaches a See-oh-ban! Poor kid

I considered Caoimhe as about-to-be-born-DD's middle name but it would never be pronounced properly so we ditched that idea.

She'll get Emily instead

I went to school with a Cat-ri-ona. She was very scottish.

Her aside, badly pronounced names are just wrong. They don't make you look edgy, alternative or interesting. They make your parents look thick and everyone else feel a little bit sorry for you.

I knew someone called Tonée. That accent was just for show, it was pronounced Tony. She got arsey if you missed off the accent, though.

Vivia - Yes, I do remember the Catriona thread. Every Scottish Catriona I know pronounces it Cat-ree-na.

MamaLazarou - I remember a bust-up some time ago about whether it is ever correct to pronounce Caitlin as Cate-lynn or whether Cath-leen is the only acceptable pronunciation. I have always thought that the Cate-lynn pronunciation was an error - like pronouncing Siobhan as See-o-ban - but can you rule definitively on this for me?

I hate fanciful spellings and pronunciations - they remind me of Tom Lehrer's joke about Hen3ry, where the 3 is silent.

Americans have ruined Caitlin.

I may have mentioned this before.

I know because it was going to be my name but my mum didn't like the katreena pn and knew that's what I'd be called by most people (we lived in England).

Vivia, you're wrong. Sorry.

In Scotland it's correctly pronounced Catree-oh-na.

Anyone see the Cat-ri-ona thread the other day? Ha ha ha! I was fuming: it's pronounced Katrina, end of story. But the mother calling her DD Cat-ri-ona claiming 'in parts of Scotland it's pronounced Cat-ri-ona'. How ignorant! She was clearly annoyed to have been corrected. Other posters were telling me 'But that's her name' like incorrect pronunciation creates a name!

Imagine not knowing how to pronounce your child's name! Creative pronunciation my ass! OP you are totally correct and thank you for bringing this up.

PMSL at Jme. Names are so tricky, because those with an unusual spelling or pronunciation are so easy to get wrong, and then people get the hump about it. S'not our fault you have a daft name people!

I know that some people are using names from a different language or culture, but when it's deliberately done to be 'different', then people need a good talking to

It's just ignorant, innit? Why some people think they need to inflict their own ignorance upon their children for life is a bit beyond me... I suppose it's because they are completely unaware of quite how ignorant they are .

I used to work with someone who had about four extraneous letters in her otherwise bog standard name.

I googled her recently because a thread like this reminded me of her and an article came up about some charity fundraiser she'd done which included an interview with her dad where he said she'd made the spelling up herself as a teenager and insisted on it being used from then on.

I suspect Jme has done the same (in reverse).

Can't tell you what the name is as according to Google she is indeed unik.

Loo-CHI-ah and Loo-SEE-ah were what I thought hhee