Ever met anyone who (you thought) pronounced their own name wrongly?

[ErmineAndPearls]

Inspired by a few posts on the Secret Confessions thread. I once met a woman called Leigh. She insisted that everyone must call her “Lay”. Also, a whole family whose surname is Onions, but they pronounce it “O’Nyons”. Like, just own it or change the spelling. There are more.

I was at school with a girl whose surname was Funnell but who insisted it was pronounced ‘foo-nell’ (two syllables), Hyacinth Bucket style. She would correct new teachers when they took the register: “Elizabeth* Funnell?” … “It’s Foo-Nell Miss X” and so on.

(*she wasn’t an Elizabeth, but I’m sorry if you recognise yourself!)

I know a Karen who pronounces her name Care Wren, find it odd.

@SummerLobelia Interestingly, the original ENglish pronunciation of Sophia is Soph eye ah. Soph ee ah is apparently from German and some other European languages. So, Sophia Wentworth in Jane Austen's Persuasion would have been pronounced with an eye.

Well aren’t you lovely?

If there are a few ways to pronounce a name then that would be fine ,but to take a standard name and pronounce it in a unique name sounds a bit daft imo

I knew a Megan whose whole family pronounced her name MEE-gan.

She must be spending her life correcting people who are actually pronouncing it "correctly".

I wonder if she thinks that the Duchess of Sussex just uses an American version of Meg-an

A dog's woof sounds like wuff to me, if I were to start barking I would be wuff wuff wuffing. The teacher preferred to rhyme her name with roof.

Like Maria - Mar-eye-ah

Sara and Sarah are pronounced the same (not like Zara) in every country I've ever lived in.

I think it's the German pronunciation? At least, I know a German Sarah who pronounces her name much like Zara.

Yeah but in French Hélène is pronounced "eh-LEN", not "Helen-AY".

Yes.

Thank you for the compliment.

This was my maiden name, when I lived in England everyone said Doe-it-tee.
Drove me mad because my first name was always pronounced wrong too.

I think you certainly can if they deviate from a standardised spelling or pronunciation that's not related to their/any regional accent.

They may even be teased as children, at school, once others realise or their parents tell them. That's worth bearing in mind.

As I said up thread I had a South African manager who pronounced her name Karen, Care en ,I thought maybe that's the way it was pronounced in South Africa ?

My dm lorrene, absolutely everyone including her pronounces it Lorraine, my dh is the only one that says it properly.

went to school with two sians, one was see-ann the other sigh-ann.

Surname Vile pronounced Vilé (Veelay).

Karen pronounced Car-ren (long arrrr sound)

If I understand correctly, when you are talking TO "Mairi" you address her as "Varry" but when you are talking ABOUT Mairi you refer to her as "Marry"?

And Mairi would never say "Varry" unless she was talking to herself.

Is that right?

I once met an Arry.

😱

Lots of people here who fundamentally misunderstand how etymology works

its not a rule book the prescribes the future of language, it is a record of how it’s been used before.

People get to spell and say their names anyway they like and you will just have to die mad about it for all the good trying to stop the evolution of language will do

Sorcha can be pronounced Sorka .. or SorSha. Some people say surrika. It’s Irish!

That's the correct pronunciation

I knew a Sharon who pronounced her name Share-on, which I'd never heard pronounced that way as a first name. She ended up marrying a bloke called Darren, so it was probably just as well.

Wow, it's Irish. Who knew!

sorsha is wrong

No one ever pronounces dorcha as dore-sha.

Not wrong but my friend is forever correcting people who say Susan - her name is Susann (pronounced Suzanne) and people always ask her if she has got it wrong

Exactly

my name, and my aunts name - chosen by French Grandmother/Mother

its Mad-lin