To think i know how my childs name is pronounced?

[crappymummum]

So my friend says she has just had an in depth argument with one of her friends who i happen to know over my daughters name.

DD is called Luisa.Not Louisa but LuiSa as in emphasis on the S not the soft sounding s in Louisa.I think the name originates from Germany but is widely used in Spain.
My DD was born in Spain (we are now back in the UK) so i liked the thought of a Spanish name, especially as we planned on staying there for some time.My Aunt is Spanish and also called Luisa.

Apparently this argument started when the lady started arguing with my friend when she was pronouncing it correctly saying no its Louisa,it's stupid etc and how it is just an alternative spelling but pronounced the same etc etc.

This is becoming a bit of a problem as i have noticed friends/teachers etc calling her Louisa...even receiving invites to parties with Louisa on.

Should i just let them get on with it for an easy life for my daughter and just accept that Louisa is what she will be called?

AIBU to be really bloody annoyed about this woman?

[QuackQuackBoing]

thefirstMrsDeVere What is it? Not aware of any hated names.

[mercibucket]

lol have just spent last few mins googling this fork pork thing - quite good fun! have to say, I'm on the 'four' 'pork' and 'fork' thing all having the same vowel sound myself though. off to google some more

[mercibucket]

most of the dictionaries I just googled have the same two vowel sounds 'or' for both fork and pork

[staranise]

Tricky as I think the difference in pronunciation is quite subtle to an Englsih speaker (I say that as an English/Spanish speaker).

My daughter has a Spanish name which approx. 90% of English people pronounce wrongly and in a far uglier way to my ears (though many self-correct when they hear how she or her family pronounces it).

I think it's inevitable I'm afraid and therefore not really getting upset about.

[crumpet]

I used to look after an Italian girl whose name was Luisa, pronounced Louisa...

[BeardofZeus]

I have an unusual name (that is sadly becoming more common though with a different wrong spelling ) that whilst is not hard to pronouce once heard, seems to cause all manner of issues when spelling out.

I have a rather fond memory of one of my best friends in year five, who had known me for two years writing on my birthday card 'Brandy' which is as similar to my name as Bethany is to Brittany - particularly as she was meant to be a good friend. And copious amounts of people putting an L where i spelt out O. How do they get confused!! Not to mention it makes the name unpronounceable. Silly peoples...

Sadly, choosing a name that is unusual in the place that it is uncommon will make for mistakes in pronounciation and spelling and is part and parcel of having an unusual name. I don't bother correcting people's spelling or pronounciation if it is for a temporary thing but otherwise people do get told, and your daughter will get used to doing that, or will find ways of getting around the issue as another poster said, she is the only person who should really be concerned about it :)

[ScroobiousPip]

Gah, the fork/pork thing is driving me crazy - I've seen the YouTube video and tried saying them both over and over and cannot find a single way that they don't rhyme. What an I missing here???

[ScroobiousPip]

[Bonsoir]

crumpet - yes, Luisa in Italian is pronounced in a very similar way to Louisa in English, with a /z/ sound for the s. Unlike Spanish, where the s is pronounced /s/.

[xstitch]

They definitely don't rhyme when I say it. My DP tends to miss subtle differences he can't even tell the difference between a Fife and a Glasgow accent . He is deaf in one ear though so I don't know if that is part of the cause.

[Bonsoir]

fork and pork rhyme for me. And four is just fork without the k on the end.

[xstitch]

For me the O in fork has more of an 'aw' sound. Sorry but I am awful at writing down how things are said. For pork it more like 'oh'

[CurrySpice]

I think you are going to send yourself to an early grave getting worked up about this. From what I can tell, the difference is a change in emphasis rather then anything else. It's almost like asking people to pronounce it with a Spanish accent

My dp is Dutch and pronounces my dd1's name with a different emphasis to an English person. I think it's nice and so does dd

And as for English people struggling with pronunciation which german or Dutch people never would, well English has far far fewer hard and fast rules about how things are pronounced than other languages do we often just have to give things a good shot eg cough, bough, although, through, thorough where the ou is pronounced differently

[confuddledDOTcom]

I don't think she's ever said she's worried about how people spell or pronounce the name though. She's asking about being told she doesn't know how to say her own daughter's name.

[VeryStressedMum]

My name, although common in English, is actually a foreign name and my mum wanted me to be called the name how it would be pronounced in that country. However, everyone calls me by the English pronounciation even my mum now.
It would sound ridiculous if I introduced myself using the foreign pronounciation, people would look at me like I was mad especially as I have a cockney accent .

My mum says she accepts that people called me that as we live in England and they wouldn't have the first clue how to pronounce the 'correct' way.

[VeryStressedMum]

Though I have to say that if I did intoduce myself using the foreign pronounciation I wouldn't expect people to tell me that I didn't know my own name!
Just that if people see it spelt a certain way they will pronounce it how they think it's said. Also it seems to be quite difficult for some people even if they know the correct way, to actually pronounce it like that - for some reason.

[PinotGrigiosKittens]

Confuddled the conversation has moved on - stop being so strict. Such is the nature of MN, discussions ebb and flow.