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.

When I was small, around 4 or 5, I made a new friend called Guy. He pronounced it to rhyme with boy. True story that, amazingly!

The Guy to rhyme with boy might have been a bit of Bristolian. Balcony sounds like Balkan ee etc.

I know an Andrea pronounced like that, but she is Spanish.

And it’s not even funny.

Yep. It's pronounced like that in every country that uses it, except (in most cases) here.
I also know an AnDRAYuh, and I think it's a lovely name and it's not at all weird to pronounce it that way.

That’s a name back in my family tree - De’Ath. Glad I didn’t get saddled with that name, mine was bad enough!!

Anyway, I know an An-Dray-uh, a Share-un, a Car-un, an EE-vonne (actually two of those) and probably other non- standard pronunciation people if I bothered to give it any thought. It's really no big deal. It's their names.

That way is an accepted pronunciation of Andrea. Ever seen 'The Devil Wears Prada'? Meryl Streep's character addresses Anne Hathaway's character like this throughout. Aahn-dray-a.

I would have had to get one of the pronunciation dictionaries and made her listen to correct pronunciation.

How else do you pronounce Yvonne?

You are quite right - I meant Ee-von

in French, all syllables have equal stress.

Yvonne is a French name. So both syllables have equal stress.

Everyone whose surname is Death pronounces it De-Ath…..I think that’s the correct pronunciation for the name.

That's a perfectly well-established and legitimate pronunciation of the name.

I actually like it pronounced AnDRAYuh. It sounds more exotic, which may be partly why this particular Irish Andrea wanted everyone to pronounce it that way. She loved drama and attention, and she, with great flourish, corrected anyone who dared pronounce her name ANdreea. She wasn't a bad spud, but people started to take the piss out her attention-seeking antics, this included.

My cousin Becky moved to NZ and is now called Bicky!

Lord Peter Whimseys middle name was Death.

In Murder Must Advertise, Lord Peter (investigating under cover under the name Death Bredon) says "It's spelt Death. Pronounce it any way you like. Most of the people who are plagued with it make it rhyme with teeth, but personally I think it sounds more picturesque when rhymed with breath."

That’s a male name in Italy. As is Nicola (Nick-cola)

I really think registrars should have the authority to say to idiot parents "that's not how you spell xx", and so avert a lifetime of the poor child having to explain themselves. Likewise, the registrar should be able to send parents away for a bit of a grown up think in the event of obviously stupid/awful names. Shout away.

We must have met the same girl

It is.

Crikey I think I joined the wrong board, if someone wants their name pronounced a certain way, so what, it's their name they can be called whatever they like. I always smile at the pronunciation or pronunciation depending on your likes, of the surname StJohn but it's not my business to define how it should be spoken and it certainly doesn't make it wrong.

I know someone whose surname was chapel but they pronounced it Shapell.
also someone who’s surname was Hansen Spure and they pronounced it spewer!

Niall (as in Niall of the 9 Hostages and Niall Tobin the actor) should be pronounced as Neal rather than Nile the river. In recent times a more anglicized pronunciation has caught on.

I know someone called Eilise - thought this was E-leese.
She was very cross with me and told me it was Eys-lish.

Never seen this spelling before and I know a fair number of people called Eilish and Elise, so this confused me no end

On the repair shed the narrator calls Kirsten ‘keershtan’