How do you politely correct pronunciation of your name

[sayithow]

DS' name can be hard to pronounce if you don't know it. It's a proper name but it's not said as you would read it phonetically. Sometimes people get it a tiny bit wrong and while it doesn't bother me, it turns out it does bother DS a little. He's 5 and very shy so I'm trying to model appropriately asking for things that matter.

Except I can't seem to find a way of correcting people without sounding like I'm being difficult (when really neither of us are)

Slightly worse is the fact that a few family members and a couple of friends still say it wrong even though I have corrected them (it's really not hard to say - I understand why those who don't know get it wrong when they read it but once you've been told it's not tricky - school have never struggled for example)

Any tips?

@sayithow

Thank you

The family thing is weird. I've told them explicitly, they hear me, DH and My mum say it the right way but still ... I'll keep trying with that one.

But at least we've figured out the way with strangers for now.

Honestly I just think family can be difficult. My grands mother has spent my whole 36 years spelling my name wrong. I have a very common name and whilst it be can spelt it differently it's actually a different name if you do but she disagrees and continues to spell it wrong.

The repeating back in a sentence is a great idea though as a teacher sometimes remembering pronunciations can be challenging but also hate getting it wrong or putting the child in the awkward position of correcting it so this is a great way to keep hearing it correctly.

@Afonavon Imo-juhn . Like Shorten or forgotten.

But an Essex or similar would sound like Imogin.

@DrinkFeckArseGirls

Yep, Catriona is Katrina.

The Catriona I know (in her 40s) has always been Cat Tree Oh Na

I know two Sara's. One is Sahr-a, the other Sair-a

I guess some names will always need an explanation!

My name can potentially be pronounced two ways. If someone says it incorrectly and I can be bothered to correct them, then I do. But sometimes I just don't bother.

I've had a couple of people deliberately say it incorrectly (because it sounds funny/slightly offensive etc) and I just give them a withering look.

I would do as @ThirdElephant says and teach him to say "That's not my name, it is xxx".

@DrinkFeckArseGirls

Yep, Catriona is Katrina.

Isn't that the exact point of this thread - that people pronounce the same name in different ways so you need to find out their preference? In Scotland it's common to hear both pronunciations of Catriona.

Well, that’s how I know Scottish people I’ve come across pronounced it. The main gist was that the “o” was silent, personally I don't care one way or another!

I just don't correct it, life's too short and I can't be arsed to mention it.

[quote MeredithGreyishblue]@Afonavon Imo-juhn . Like Shorten or forgotten.

But an Essex or similar would sound like Imogin.[/quote]
But to me, Imo-juhn is completely different to Shorten and forgotten which I would pronounce shortin and forgottin (Scottish if that makes a difference).

And I'd say Katrina!