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.

My middle name is is Danielle & I say Dan-yell rather Dani elle. My friend is also called Danielle but just calls herself Dani

Yup, a completely ridiculous individual called Irene, who insists it’s pronounced Irainer (with the ‘i’ sounding like it would if you were about to sat Indigo or iridescent)

Same as many- I worked with a Sian who called herself Cyan!

I’m a Naomi I hate being called Nigh O Me

*I wonder if it's right to try correcting someone on the pronunciation of their own name.

Maybe saying it politely with an "unsure" attitude & look.

More like letting them know about your confusion and asking them for correct spelling rather than try correcting them*

Fuck sake. This thread is hideous enough for the number of posters smugly thinking they're correct when they're just wrong and refusing to acknowledge different accents / languages / cultures without coming up with a strategy to try and enlighten an adult on their own name as if they've never had need to spell or pronounce it until they met you.

I say Dan ee el

I hate when we have threads like this and people say that language changes. Yes it does, we know that, but there is a difference between changing and demanding that one way of writing a word says something completely different. Language is also about communication. If I’m writing Thomas but when I get called that I say it’s pronounced Richard then it’s not doing it’s job of communication is it.

You’re a very angry individual, go and have a cup of tea and cool off. Or perhaps it’s your bedtime?

I would say Dan yell.

A girl at my sons school is called Zofia. I've met one before and she always pronounced her name to rhyme with Sofia. Suhfia rather than so-fia. I sounded very similar and if I read it that's how I would say it- zuhfia.
This family call her Zzzof- ee-a or Zof for short.

Not sure which is right but it sounds a bit wrong to me.

Ciara is keera (I know about 5)
Chiara is kee ar a
Well in Italian it is otherwise ciara would be pronounced Charra.

Anyway. Lest we forget, Raymond Luxury Yacht

DH worked with a guy called Oliver but he pronounced it Ol-EEE-ver, which I thought was fantastic.

Have had my own name spelt wrong a few times including by SIL so wondering if I need to work on my own pronunciation…!

I have had two surnames that are hard to spell and pronounce. I joke that my next husband will have a really simple name, which makes my current husband pretend to be worried because we have a nice male friend whose surname is Lee. You can't get much simpler than that - I know there are other spellings, but I bet 99% of people would go for that one if they weren't sure.

Eleri - to rhyme with celery.

He definitely wasn't Olivier?

Parent at a parents' night, so legend has it, pronounced her son's name Goo. His name was Guy.

See, this is a perfect example of the conundrum.

Because if you pronounce it Dibby, isn’t that taking the piss out of her accent? Surely in this case you pronounce it Debby in recognition of the different vowel sounds between the two countries.

Similarly with the Essex pronunciation of Harry as Arry. You wouldn’t then pronounce it Arry yourself, you would pronounce it Harry if you don’t have that accent yourself.

But it’s quite difficult to know where the line is.

Had a friend in secondary school called Naomi who was very clear that her name should be pronounced Nay-o-mi. I always thought she had her name wrong and it should be Nigh-o-mi but I'm not sure why I was so convinced as she was the first person I'd ever met with that name.

I used to know a Deirdre that pronounced it Dur-druh. Always sounded awful

@AMindNeedsBooks - are you from Essex? I know someone who says EEE-von (Yvonne) and MEE-shell (Michelle) but they're from Essex which is the only explanation I can find for this

Yet another one ...

I was going to say the same name/pronunciation. Maybe we know the same person.

My mum has a name with 2 pronunciations. If people ask which one is correct (for her) she says she doesn't know

The French pronunciation
is gooey

I don't understand all these people questioning the pronunciation of Sara. I am of the age where Sara/Sarah was one of the most popular names and went to school with lots of them. They were all pronounced the same and it was just a case of learning if they spelt their name with or without an h. Same thing with Catherine/Katherine/Kathryn -same pronunciation, different spellings.

@Sixsmith
In Ireland, where the name originates, I never heard the name Deirdre pronounced as it was on Coronation Street - Deirdre Barlow - Deerdree / Deardree

I've only heard it pronounced as Deardrah/ Deerdrah

She might be scandinavian, esp Norwegian, where 'Kirsten' does have a 'sh' sound at the front...