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'm a Welsh speaker and this happens ALL THE TIME. People don't check names before saddling their children with a moniker for their entire life. Also, loads of name websites have a section for Welsh names that are just random Welsh words- words that mean torture, dying, blood, all kinds of nonsense.
I heard of an Olwyn on here once- it's the Welsh word for wheel. Not a real Welsh name (unlike Olwen, which is a girls' name from the Mabinogion)

I know a Louis who pronounce it Lewis.

😡

I know two Giilians who pronounce it with a hard G.

I don't know if hard G Gillian is a thing, or if their parents saw Gillian written down and didn't know the right way.

To make matters worse, one of them is a teacher and she told us the apocryphal 'Gooey' story.

I know it can be either but to me Sarah is "Seh-ra" and Sara is "Sah-ra"

Actually think it's me that pronounces this wrong, but in my head the way I hear everyone else say it grates on me!

Marcella!

In my head it's mar-sell-ah, not March-ella!

so equal emphasis on each syllable ( a bit like tamarind) rather than tuh-MAH-ra?

Mhairi is the vocative case of Mairi.
MH is pronounced with a soft V sound, almost a W in Gaelic and Irish.

It really shouldn't be a given name at all.

The nominative case is Mairi, pronounced with the M. This is what the name should be.

@FullBush - I know one of these! Is she very short?

It's only been in the last 100 years or so that Ralph pronounced 'ralf' rather than 'Rafe' has become more popular and now possibly is the more popular pronunciation, 'Rafe' is definitely not rendered incorrect.

Some of these baby name websites won't give more than snippets or incorrect/incomplete information.

I used to know a guy whose surname was Death - he pronounced it De Ath ! Can’t blame him 😆

We live in Scotland and ive always loved the name Cora. Commented on what a lovely name it was when a couple announced they’d called their baby Cora. I presumed it was pronounced to rhyme with Dora. About a year later they posted a video and in their broad Scottish accent were calling her Cawra 😩 Cora is such a lovely name too!

I do too. Perhaps the same guy ?

I know a Louis who pronounce it Lewis.

this has become really common, family member is a Louis & lots of people now say Lewis to him.

My friend taught a girl called Mhairi, and to complicate matters, she insisted it was pronounced "Vairy"

Just a few decades ago (in the UK) Aaron was normally pronounced as air-on, now it seems its normally arrun. Similarly Clara was claira (so rhymes with Sarah) and Sara could either be said to rhyme with Zara or the same as Sarah. I believe it is commonly still pronounced the same as Sarah in the US. It is definitely a thing and people saying 'go figure' and insisting people don't know how to say their own names are the ones who are ignorant.

Similarly, do you realise that mar-eye-a (as in Mariah Carey) and soph-eye-a are the traditional English language pronunciations for Maria and Sophia?
Also Carol-een is the French pronunciation of Caroline. It's just as much a French name as an English one.

I hate this phrase but I do think it applies here: 'educate yourself/ves'.

@MsFrenchie if English people want to make jackasses out of themselves by choosing Welsh or Irish names and mispronouncing them, they're welcome.

Meanwhile, the Irish and Welsh reserve the right to judge, and also hoot with laughter.

Lauren insisted her name was pronounced ‘lor-ren’. Posh twat. I took great joy in saying it the right way, just to piss her orrrrf

Not sure if you MEANT to come across as condescending and ridiculously stuck up, but... ok?

I'd say Shivawn

I know an Isla they say Is-La

Similarly, do you realise that mar-eye-a (as in Mariah Carey) and soph-eye-a are the traditional English language pronunciations for Maria and Sophia?

That's correct. English literature productions tell us that. Austen for Maria (Lucas), for example.

I once knew somebody called Sharon who pronounced it 'share-ren'.

With a name you choose your own pronunciation and spelling so I don't think you can tell someone their name is not being pronounced correctly even if it's not the standard way.

Is "Gwee" not the French pronunciation?

The Mrs. Woof one confused me? Why would you pronounce it "wuff"? Is this a local dialect?

😂