Choosing to pronounce name different

[mylittleyumyum]

Just waffling really, I was watching tv last night and there was a woman called Greta, but it was pronounced Greeta. I've always only heard it pronounced 'Gretta'.

It reminded me of a friend called Nicole, who pronounces her name as Nicoll and snaps at anyone who dares say it any differently. She maintains that as it's her name, so she will decide how it is pronounced.

A colleague recently gave birth to baby Freya, but pronounces it Friar.

Does anyone know of other instances like this?

We have a Karen at work who after a few years decided to start telling everyone its 'kAren'

Not sure if she fancied a change or that's her actual name and she just started correcting people.

Living in Wales I met several Marines, which seemed an odd name. Turned out to be Maureen.

I think this is all about people’s accents too

Law-ren to be doesn’t sound right

We say lo (like log) ren

@MattBerrysHair

I once met a woman who had a daughter named Francesca, pronounced franSESka. I don't know if that's the original Italian pronunciation or not, but I imagine it meant lots of correcting at school.

I knew a Francisca years ago with the same pronunciation :)

@Hovverry

Living in Wales I met several Marines, which seemed an odd name. Turned out to be Maureen.

Marine is a French name, but I'm not 100% of the "proper" French pronunciation. I would say it like Marina, but cutting off the A.

@Soubriquet

I think this is all about people’s accents too

Law-ren to be doesn’t sound right

We say lo (like log) ren

I think its hard to get across pronunciation on here, too. Law-ren seems wrong set out like that, but Lau (as in the start of Lawrence) REN is how I would say it which is probably quite similar but really different when written!

I worked with an erica who pronounced it ulrika never understood why

I have never met an English speaking person who pronounced my name correctly (I am not bothered), but I found it funny that some substituted a name of the same meaning but more ususal (to them) spelling and pronunciation.

My absolute favourite is people called Sara insisting on being called Sarah. If you like the name Sarah, call your bloody child Sarah. Sara is a totally different name!

I work with a Greta but it is pronounced Greeta she snaps if you get it wrong !!!!!!

I can definitely tell the difference between Nicole and Nicholl. A lady once told me off for calling her child ‘Ni-coal’ she said ‘it’s Nee-coal’ it was spelt the usual way ‘Nicole’ 🤷🏼‍♀️

@m0use

Nicholl - rhyme with doll Nichole- rhyme with hole

I pronounce them both the same (Londoner)

• I pronounce doll and hole the same

NE England here and the only Greta I know pronounces it Greeta. Which is odd because local dialect for crying is 'greeting'. So she's basically calling herself a whiner...

Since being a very young child nearly everyone has called me roweeeeena.

Rowena is not my name.

Same here Crunchy

I’ve been sitting here saying doll and hole trying to work out how they are different

@Councilworker

I know a Lauren. Well I know a few. But one is called Lauren and since birth her mother has insisted that it is pronounced Law Ren rather then Lo Ren.

I came here to comment exactly this! Wonder if it's the same person as I've never come across it since...

Law-ren is how Lauren is pronounced in some countries in fact.

It’s the difference between ‘AW’ and ‘OH’

@SockYarn

have only ever known Lauren as Lawren

Me too. But I think she meant Lauren as in Ralph Lauren which is pronounced law-RENN with the stress on the last syllable.

It's hard to spell phonetically in this case but I knew a Lauren who pronounced it the same as the surname of Sophia Loren (her mother was a fan of old movies so I imagine this was intentional).

My cat is Greta, pronounced Gretta. Mil calls her Greeta. I don't think she cares though, as she's a cat

Nicholl - rhyme with doll
Nichole- rhyme with hole

Doll and hole are pronounced the same!

@PennyRoyal Duh-reeeeen is how all the Doreens I know pronounce it (NE England). None of them rhyme it with Maureen which is what you might expect

My v condescending mate convinced me as a teen that it was Ralph LawREN. Then I married an american and lived there and it is in fact Ralph LAWren

Isn't it? Or is there a special UK/Euro way of pronouncing it?

I work with a mia pronounces maya. She is really really touchy about it which is fair enough if people know but seems harsh the first time people see and say it. How are they meant to know she has a totally different name from the spelling she uses?