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?

@WildCherryBlossom

Yes *@Todaywewilldobetter* good idea. I'll stick with Helen of Troy. Much less of a minefield. (Twelfth Night doesn't exactly come up much in conversation either so can avoid the minefield that is Helena most of the time!)

Interesting that it's HeLEEna in Ireland though.

Hahaha! Minefield.

I knew a Karen pronounced Care-un.
Elle pronounced Ellie really bugs me.

Coal and caul sound the same to me

@chrislilleyswig the flaw in your 'Outlander effect' suggestion is that the Catrionas I know all predate it by many, many years.

My 85-year-old neighbour is Catriona, pronounced Katrina.

My 62-year-old sister is Catriona, pronounced Katrina.

I won't bore you with the other examples.

I recently met a Nicola who gets VERY annoyed when people call her Nicola the way everyone seems to say Nicola...

Like the Nicola Sturgeon way of pronouncing Nicola.

She looks down her nose at you and sneers “It’s ni-COHLA” to rhyme with Coca Cola. Emphasis on the Cola rather than the Ni.

It really does come across as being very Hyacinth Bucket. Fair enough if her parents called her that but apparently they didn’t. She thinks Nicola is common so prefers ni-COH-lah.

How about Helena? I've known two pronounced HELLena and also one HeLAYnah. Fairly sure we used the HeLAYnah pronunciation when doing Twelfth Night at school, but were taught about HELLena of Troy. So perhaps that was just to do with my teacher's accents?

The second of these is the original Greek pronunciation of the name (except that it is a long open ee sound rather than ay). So that is what the character is called in Homer. The first is the Roman pronunciation- Latin has slightly different rules about where you put the stress depending on which syllables are long and short. Because Greek literature was transmitted to us via Latin in the Middle Ages, the tendency in English is to use Latin accentuation rules rather than Greek for names that are well known. (So SOcrates rather than SoCRAtes).

Your teacher was still wrong, though. Shakespeare's stresses can easily be checked as so much of Midsummer Night's Dream is in verse: you just have to read it aloud to see that the HeLAYnah pronunciation doesn't scan.
"Not Hermia but Helena I love"
Could it be that you remember it the wrong way round?

Ni-COH-la is an Italian boys name.

Ni-COH-la is an Italian boys name.

Cool. But she’s a northern English middle aged woman with no Italian ancestry.

Bucket pronounced Bouquet!

Name changed to say that is actually my surname (two 't's) and so many people try to politely pronounce it like that .

@ManorSloth

Bucket pronounced Bouquet!

Name changed to say that is actually my surname (two 't's) and so many people try to politely pronounce it like that .

That’s made my day that has

But she’s a northern English middle aged woman with no Italian ancestry.

How is Nicola Sturgeon English? Northern British maybe (sure she'd love that )

How is Nicola Sturgeon English? Northern British maybe (sure she'd love that grin)

I wasn’t referring to Nicola Sturgeon?!

It’s like Claudia.

I met someone once who pronounced it Cloudier. Which I hadn’t come across before. Sounds more German but she was English.

I taught a see-ann (spelled Sian) and hoping wondering if it’s the same girl pp have mentioned above as I can’t believe many parents would have made that same mistake with pronunciation. I taught her when she was 12 and she was very cross when I pronounced her name ‘wrong’ and I felt bad that it had clearly been pronounced ‘wrong’ by every new teacher and probably would be for the rest of her life.

@summerredroses

Do you pronounce your Rowena as Rhona? I knew someone years ago who was
Row-enna rather than Row-eena but if you shorten the vowels, it sounds like Row-ner.
(Those Row's are Row as in boat not Row as in argue). Or perhaps you do Row (as in argue)?

Not sure if I've explained clearly!

@JacobReesMogadishu

It’s like Claudia.

I met someone once who pronounced it Cloudier. Which I hadn’t come across before. Sounds more German but she was English.

Cloud-ia is the original (Italian? German? Not sure of origin) pronunciation. Claw-Dia is the English pronunciation. I think anyway!

I taught a see-ann (spelled Sian) and hoping wondering if it’s the same girl pp have mentioned above as I can’t believe many parents would have made that same mistake with pronunciation.

I knew a “See-ahn” spelled Sîan with a sister Siobhan pronounced as “Sha-vaughn”. Their mother had their names on a t-shirt.

I wasn’t referring to Nicola Sturgeon?!

That makes more sense so! I misunderstood your earlier post that mentioned NS and thought you meant both your Nicolas used that weird pronunciation.

It was funny for a minute to think of NS snottily insisting her name was pronounced Ni-COH-la

*How about Helena? I've known two pronounced HELLena and also one HeLAYnah.

Fairly sure we used the HeLAYnah pronunciation when doing Twelfth Night at school, but were taught about HELLena of Troy. So perhaps that was just to do with my teacher's accents?*

I know an Elena, "e-LAY-na", and an "Elena", "e-LEN-a", and an "Helena", same pronunciation as the second Elena, with no real "h" sound at the begin of her name.

Don’t Americans pronounce Natasha as Natarsha......I remember Sex and The City!

The most terminally mispronounced name has got to be 'Caitlin'. It jars every time I hear it!

I know a Michelle who frequently had her name mispronounced as Mee-shell. She loathed it, along with the Beatles song!

@MarieIVanArkleStinks

The most terminally mispronounced name has got to be 'Caitlin'. It jars every time I hear it!

I know a Michelle who frequently had her name mispronounced as Mee-shell. She loathed it, along with the Beatles song!

I'd say Kate-Lynn for Caitlin - is that right/wrong?

I'm a 'May-gan' from NZ. I grind my teeth at being called 'Mee-gan'. I'm one of two that I know. . .

A teacher friend had 2 boys in her class with the name Rowan. One pronounced Row-an as in row your boat and the other Row-an as in have a argument row.

How is Caitlin supposed to be pronounced?!

I take it that Kate-Lyn (which is the only way I’ve ever heard it pronounced) is wrong?