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.

@Cheesecakeandwineinasuitcase

You are not wrong

@NandoLorris , er, no. Danielle is Dan-yell.

@NandoLorris

Dan-i-el, 100%. People saying Dan-yell are quite clearly missing the 'i' in the middle. Literally read the name: Dan-i-elle

How do you pronounce the boys name 'Daniel'? "Literally read the name" as you say. See, your theory doesn't work!

Danielle is widely pronounced as both 'Dan-yell' and 'dan-ee-yell'.

If anyone else follows TwinkleCleaningDuo on Instagram, one of them has a daughter called Elle. She pronounces it Ellie. Drives me nuts every time she says it.

I know a Nee-am (Niamh) and a Loo-shar (Lucia). Seriously people if you're going to pick beautiful 'foreign' names for your very English, non Irish/Italian heritage children, at least learn roughly what they are supposed to sound like!

Guy in French is pronounced Ghee like the butter, not gwee or gooey.

A little off topic but one of my sons went to school with a boy names Xjosh. It was pronounced Josh. The X was silent! (insert eyeroll emoji!)

I am from Cork and yes we say it nee-uv. Not neeve.

Yvette pronounced Yerr-vette instead of e-vette (that's hard to write but hopefully makes sense!)

I am yes, because I work with universities and apprenticeships across the island so it’s a good old social mix, and from Galway to Belfast to Dublin to Cork, that’s how it’s said.

Neeve is the standard pronunciation just as Ralf is the standard pronunciation for Ralph. Not to say there aren’t a few Rafes about.

So I've just text my mum and she replied 'it can be pronounced as either' 🤣 cheers mum!

I think Loo-Sha is a legitimate pronunciation of Lucia… like St Lucia.

I’m guessing that must be where the variation comes from, but I have had 2 from the uni there on the scheme I run and they say it Neeve, so either they adopted it to fit in, or maybe it’s changing for younger generations there. Dunno.

I’m Irish with an Irish surname. Every British or American I’ve met with the same surname has pronounced it incorrectly.

Why-Vone-Ee

Yvonne.

I've told this story here before but I worked in a clinic and the next patient was called Caoimhe - have come across the name before and was quite smug with myself when I called out "Keeva?" And she stood up and said "it's Cay-Oh-Mee" 🤦🏻‍♀️

Wow. You work with a mix of people from different counties. So unusual in Ireland!

Neeve is not the standard pronunciation with the many Niamhs I know. But I'll leave you to be wrong in peace.

So, regardless of how it may once have been said, or how it appears it should be said, Neeve is the standard Irish pronunciation now.

Most people I know say Nee-uv actually, though I know there are areas where Neeve is more popular. I don't think you can possibly say Neeve is the standard pronunciation. It's a standard (anglicised) pronunciation, yes.

I have a GILLIAN in my family, hard G.
My dd has a traditional Irish name, spelt the traditional way.
She still hates it. Because people, teachers, bosses, colleagues etc really CBA to listen and learn how to say it. It's not difficult to say. Slightly more different to write if you don't know.
And no, I didn't misappropriate it, I have strong Irish heritage and her father is Irish.

Loo-sha is American

They say Al-ee-sha for Alicia (although Alicia Silverstone doesn’t weirdly)

And Mar-sha for Marcia

It is odd as generally US pronunciations are more phonetic

Dalzeil is usually pronounced Dee Ell.

My dad and all his family is from skibereen ,one of my cousins is a Niamh ,but her parents pronounce it Neeve 🤷‍♀️

Juanita. She was very insistent that everyone was pronouncing it wrong (the typical Spanish/Portugese way) and exclaimed that it should be spoken as ‘Jew-Anita’

Skibbereen *