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?

@DonutCone

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 agree. I like Sara Pascoe but her being called Sarah and spelling it Sara (not her choice I know) really winds me up

I was at school with a "Law"ren, it made sense because it was like Laura. But since then I've only ever met "Lorr"ens (Like Florence but without the "F "or "ce"). Then there's L'Ren, like most British pronounce Ralph or Sofia's surname.

@EatsShootsAndRuns

*Nicholl - rhyme with doll Nichole- rhyme with hole*

Doll and hole are pronounced the same!

Not by me.

Doll sounds almost like dull. The o is very short.
Hole sounds like pole, goal, foal.

My mums neighbour was called Greta pronounced Greeta. She was from London - born in the 1930s if that’s any clue ?

Someone I know is called Niamh, as in the Irish name that is actually pronounced "Neev". Her mother (single mum at the time) didn't know this when she first saw it, and pronounced it how it's spelt - "Nay-muh". She is still Nay-muh to this day!

@EatsShootsAndRuns

*Nicholl - rhyme with doll Nichole- rhyme with hole*

Doll and hole are pronounced the same!

No they aren’t, in Scotland we say an aw sound and an oh sound which are pronounced differently.

@MadamRosmerta

Someone I know is called Niamh, as in the Irish name that is actually pronounced "Neev". Her mother (single mum at the time) didn't know this when she first saw it, and pronounced it how it's spelt - "Nay-muh". She is still Nay-muh to this day!

Why do people do this?

If you don’t know how to pronounce the name, you either research as to how or you don’t use it!

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

The Lauren in Ralph Lauren is pronounced 'Loren'.

I remember having a family member called Nadia. My MiL asked how it was pronounced - Naaaaahdia or Naddia but in my accent there was only way I could say it IYSWIM

@DonutCone

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!

But again you're getting annoyed with the actual person called Sara, when it was her parents who gave her the name. Why would you get annoyed with someone who didn't even choose their own name?

One of my friends is called Sara & it does her head in when she get's called Sarah. She corrects them & has a 3 strike & your out rule, so if people people persist in pronouncing Sara (Saaara rhymes with Cara, Lara, Zara) as Sarah ( Ser-rah as in care, dare, fair/fare) then she just ignores them.

Might be a darn sight more sensible if we all spelt our names phonetically

My name has two established pronunciations so I just reply to either

I have a friend whose name us mispronounced ALL the time. I have told people it annoys her but they persist. I also know an Alicia. She gets A liss eee ya- wrong A leesh a- also wrong for her. She likes Alees- ia. She's doomed

Greta with a long e ( like French été) is definitely how it's pronounced in most of Europe. Greta Thunberg is definitely not called Gretta, though I expect she has had plenty of practice in looking polite when people mispronounce her name. Greta Garbo also had a long e.

English doesn't have this sound any more, because of the long vowel shift in the late Middle Ages. But you can't blame people for pronouncing their own names the way they got given them.

@IwishIhadaMargarita

EatsShootsAndRuns
Nicholl - rhyme with doll
Nichole- rhyme with hole

Doll and hole are pronounced the same! confused
No they aren’t, in Scotland we say an aw sound and an oh sound which are pronounced differently

Yes but I'm not the only person on this thread to pronounce them the same way.

If you pronounce Francisca like Francesca it just sounds like you’re saying Francesca in a kiwi accent

I feel like this everytime someone comes on mumsnet and says Beatrice is pronounced beer trice. Like on what planet? Must be an accent thing!

It is Beer-triss....

How are you saying it?

I love how different accents confuse things, whenever I'm reading to my son I've so many issues when I stumble over words that for me don't rhyme, gophers and sofas, Cinderella and cellar, idea and ear to name but a few

You should never name a child anything that they will need to spell every time they tell someone what their name is. Unusual pronunciations are lovely in theory but in reality a bit of a nightmare. I speak from experience of having a stupid name.

@MadamRosmerta

Someone I know is called Niamh, as in the Irish name that is actually pronounced "Neev". Her mother (single mum at the time) didn't know this when she first saw it, and pronounced it how it's spelt - "Nay-muh". She is still Nay-muh to this day!

There’s no cure for stupidity.

I went to school with a Sian pronounced Sharn. I’ve always heard it pronounced that way.
Recently I met a teenager who insisted that it was pronounced Siy-an.

But surely when you grow up you see your name written down and realise that being called Sara and asking people to call you Sarah makes you look like a massive idiot... so you change it. Like the Niamh example, surely at some point you just start pronouncing it Neeve whenever you meet a new person and stop looking so ridiculous!?

How do you all pronounce Michelle?
Is it mihSHELL or meeshel?

I used to cringe when my manager said Julia. I would say Julie-ah she always said ‘jool-yah’

I once heard a woman with a very pretend posh accent saying ‘well my Catriona..’ only rather than pronounce it properly as ‘cat-ree-nah’, she pronounced it ‘Cat-ray-oh-nah’