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 love the Dibby and Bicky Kiwi pronunciations!

A bit OT but there has been really interesting discussion here about the effects of regional accents and interpretations - I love strong regional accents and think dialects and variations in language are fascinating.

It does make me cringe a bit though when gorgeous Irish names are butchered.

I love how a slight change in pronunciation can completely change how a name sounds. Look at Caoimhín / Kevin. Totally different sound and 'feel' with that anglicization and not hugely drastic change in pronunciation.

Whaaa? Niall is pronounced Nigh-al. It has two syllables. Some people here (N.I.) pronounce it Nile, but that has always seemed to me to be a lazy speech thing. The name Neil or, as a surname, O'Neill is pronounced 'Neal'.

DS had three girls called Niamh in his class. All pronounced differently, Neeve, Neevah, and Neem.

I see Neeve as an anglicisation widely used in Ireland, but Neevah and especially Neem as more arbitrary mistakes.

Does my position even make sense? I don't know, I think it's just a question of where you draw the line. Maybe this does make me a name snob, I'm not sure, but the Irish language is very precious to me. It's not like English, it's a language under severe threat.

Allowing for the limitations of my accent, I'd still always try to use whatever pronunciation a person uses themselves as it's their name so ultimately their decision, not mine.

My colleagues' little girl is called Oceanna and that's how it's said.

Yes the fada elongates the vowel and changes the sound completely!
I knew Seán came from the Hebrew root name John but I didn't know Eoin did too.
I remember Michael McIntyre getting slaughtered over his attempted 'bit' about Eoghan (X Factor) Quigg's name.

The Nigh-al pronunciation is an anglicised one. Niall is pronounced Nee-ul in the Irish language (and rhymes with Irish words like giall, iall, diall and ciall)

The name has been anglicised in two ways...first the spelling changed to Neil while the pronunciation stayed the same.
Secondly, the pronunciation changed to Nigh-al while the original spelling stayed the same.

I have to say that's new to me! I know a few Nialls and they've all been 'Nigh-al'. Very interesting though! Maybe it's a northern thing, what with not wishing to inflame anything the anglicization that happened in these parts.
I think regional accents must have a big part to play here. I have an Irish name which my mate from West Cork pronounces differently to how I've ever heard it pronounced in the North. One of my brother's not-very-common Irish names gets a lot of mispronunciation, typically with a much simpler and much more blunt anglicized interpretation.

Agree. 😅
And because people don't read the full thread, as also evidenced by the number of repeat 'Ralph ' pronunciation questions, already answered, the 'Guy' example keeps being repeated

It is a long thread I know, but really!

I'm watching New Zealand and Fiji at rugby. We've got pinilties, and it's the simmy-final. Someone just got up agin and collicted the ball.

This really mangles names. As for the Niamh debate my friend's daughter is Neve which has to be a totally different name rather than an alternative spelling surely?

@disconnected101

Giall can mean hostage so Niall of the nine of the nine hostages rhymed nicely - Niall na naoi nGiallach (or similar).

@disconnected101

I'm in Munster and all the Nialls I know are Nigh-al as well. I'm not in a Gaeltacht area though.

Yes, there are definitely different pronunciations of Irish names depending on region/Irish dialect too.

That makes sense, and with the eclipsis Niall na naoi nGiallach is really lyrical.
It's easy to see where Neil came from that way.

As for the Niamh debate my friend's daughter is Neve which has to be a totally different name rather than an alternative spelling surely?

It might be a totally different name yes - it depends on how she pronounces it too.

Google says Neve is an Italian name meaning snow.
Neve Campbell's name (pronounced to rhyme with Bev) is from her Dutch mother's surname.

Interesting. My granddaughter is called Megan and we all pronounce it Megan but my late father always called her Mee-gan. He was hard of hearing so we never questioned it.

Niall is pronounced like Neil in Scottish Gaelic and more like Neye-al in Irish Gaelic. Both are correct.

No, it's like Neil in Irish too. The Neye-al pronunciation isn't an Irish language one. That pronunciation is an anglicised one, though it's very widely used in Ireland.

One of the problems with Irish names is that how you say them can change depending on whether you grew up with Ulster, Munster, Leinster or Connaught Irish which are all slightly different. My Cork born mum would often have a very different pronunciation to my father who grew up near the border.

@PeanutButterOnToad Yes, that's very true even though most of us learn standard Irish in school now. But there are anglicised pronunciations as well, which are different again. I've no problem at all with using established anglicised versions of names - I prefer some of them - but I think it's important that Irish people recognise which names are which for the sake of the Irish language. So if you call your DD Aoibheann pronounced Ayveen for example, that's fine imo, but know its origins, know that it's an English language interpretation of an Irish name and that it will sound different if said in any dialect of Irish.

Used to know an Isla whose parents insisted it was pronounced Eyes-La instead of Isle-La … it gets very confusing, for those of us who work in schools when parents insist on weird spellings and pronunciations… you just never know if you’re getting it right! Especially if you get more than one child with the same name.

This isn’t a child but a pet but I’ve just seen someone name their pet Thistle. Easy right?

Nope. Apparently it’s Thi-thle

@Buttonjugs in my experience MEE-gan is the dominant pronunciation in Australia.

Yep. My experience too.

But again, most people on here seem to be completely ignorant of the fact that different regions and nationalities pronounce things differently.

Knew someone whose parents liked the name ‘Guy’ - but obviously didn’t know how it was pronounced… He was raised being called ‘Gooey’…

I feel like I actually know Gooey at this point.

He's a great lad.

Same! Wonder if it’s the same one.