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.

@NandoLorris I know! I demanded answers but then she said she couldn't remember if she called me Danyell or Dani-El since it's been so long everyone calling me Dani. I guess its just Dani. Silly old mare she is. We have had a real laugh about it tonight.

DD (7) started pronouncing her own name wrong this year, missing out the middle syllable. I realised at our parent/teacher meeting just before the end of term that her teacher says it the same way and suspect that is where DD has got the habit from.

@NandoLorris

It can be either, I guess. If you were brought up as a Dan-yell then you're a Dan-yell. If you're brought up as a Dan-i-elle you're a Dan-i-elle. But all the Dan-yells are just dropping the middle syllable

But do you pronounce the boys name 'Daniel' as 'Dan-ee-el'? That has an i in the middle too!

This thread is making my head hurt and all names look weird 😂

You're right in general (though your DH probably learned standard Irish), but I don't think Niamh is Neeve in any dialect of the Irish language. There may be versions other than Nee-uv, but the pronunciation Neeve doesn't work in Irish as far as I know.

Isn't that how it is pronounced? That's how I would have said it.

I'm not challenging, just curious why if you want to reclaim your Welsh name you wouldn't change the spelling instead of changing the pronunciation to one that doesn't make sense.

Eleri definitely depends on where you're from, some people really lengthen the stressed middle syllable.

You're right in general (though your DH probably learned standard Irish), but I don't think Niamh is Neeve in any dialect of the Irish language. There may be versions other than Nee-uv, but the pronunciation Neeve doesn't work in Irish as far as I know.
Everyone I know (3 niamhs) say neeve!!! (From dublin, southside)

These are legit variations used in Ireland.

My granny's name is Helen but she has gone by Ellen her whole life, too. She signs birthday cards as Helen but verbally she is Granny Ellen and I've seen cards and letters from friends addressed to her as Ellen.

I've seen a few people online say the same about their grannies and grandads so it seems to be quite common here in Scotland; a lot of people go by entirely different names that don't seem to have any link, e.g. Agnes goes by Jenny, or Hugh goes by Ian, but it's not a middle or family name.

My head is hurting too 😂 Meant to reply to a PP who said the same. The rule does not apply to Daniel! Which is Dan-yul (in UK). But now I totally get why europeans say Dan-ee-el for Daniel!

But late to the thread, but maybe Mr. Death had Spanish ancestors and was actually Mr. Díaz, so the pronunciation was correct, but the anglicized spelling was wrong.

Yes, but they're ( probably) English speakers. The pronunciation Neeve is often used in Ireland I know, but what I'm saying is that it's not a correct Irish language pronunciation.

Ha yes! Similar here... My friend and her husband say "know-me" instead of nay-o-me

(Also Dylan Thomas is listed as bilingual in the census when he was a boy)

@bovrilly, The people who do probably say Terry with a long e too. It's accent.
You don't get the 'ai' sound like in air and fairy in Welsh other than in a very small part of mainly non-Welsh speaking Wales.
Nobody is trying to reclaim Evans, they just say it as Ifans because that's how they say it, that's how their parents say it.

In my grandparents' generation babies had their names registered as say Hugh or Evan even though they were Huw or Ifan.

Yes this. A lot of small minded judgemental people who can't imagine that different accents, cultures, practice result in other people doing things a bit differently to you. Truly awful.

@Bovrilly , he wasn't a Welsh speaker, but his parents were.
I have a friend who claims to be fluent in Welsh, but speaks Wenglish not Welsh.

So the igh in sigh and tight are different in you accent?
And to me, generic southern, oor, ore, and or do sound the same.
But none of these are right or wrong, just different.

Hm no they say Terry but I think it's the three syllable thing with the stress on the second that makes the -er- longer.

@Bovrilly , it doesn't. The language doesn't work like that.

My friend is Hülya. A lot of people think that her parents wanted to give her a Spanish-sounding name and couldn't spell. In actual fact it's Turkish, as was her Dad.

That’s the English spelling for ‘rage’ which is American

Exactly LizzieAnt.

Perhaps I should have said maybe it's the three syllable thing with the stress on the second that makes Welsh speakers whose name is Eleri lengthen the -er- a bit. I'm not debating whether they do, they do. Just musing on why. (Both the ones I'm thinking of are from Ceredigion.)

Yes about DT - just pointing out that he and his sister were both described as bilingual in the 1921 census, came to light recently when it was released after the required 100 years were up. I thought it was interesting.

What is?