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?

[fluffyanimal]

Roll your eyes and ignore, and accept the fact that as your daughters name is unusual, people will misspell or mispronounce it. Not worth getting annoyed over.

[MmeBlueberry]

Louisa is a beautiful name, even if it's in error.

[fluffyanimal]

Roll your eyes and ignore, and accept the fact that as your daughters name is unusual, people will misspell or mispronounce it. Not worth getting annoyed over.

[fluffyanimal]

Roll your eyes and ignore, and accept the fact that as your daughters name is unusual, people will misspell or mispronounce it. Not worth getting annoyed over.

[fluffyanimal]

Roll your eyes and ignore, and accept the fact that as your daughters name is unusual, people will misspell or mispronounce it. Not worth getting annoyed over.

[DriverDan]

YANBU! That must be really annoying!

I had an Irish friend in university called Grainne and people just refused to even try to pronounce her name and just called her 'G'! It used to really annoy her that they didn't just listen to her pronunciation and copy!

Just persevere, whenever someone says 'Louisa' just correct them with 'Actually it's pronounced Luisa'. My married surname is unusual and is always being pronounced/spelled incorrectly, you get used to correcting it!

[HecateQueenOfTheNight]

ok ok, fluffy, we get the message

[squeakytoy]

If I saw Luisa, I would pronounce it as "loo-ee-sa" to be honest.

[TidyDancer]

One of my sisters had a similar problem. Her name is not a massively common name, but it's not unusual either (ie, you won't see it in the top 100, but there will be others of her out there). Her name was commonly mispronounced. It was worse than the Louisa/Luisa thing, but continual correction eventually persuaded people to pronounce the name properly.

Unfortunately, OP, I think because of the particular name you have chosen, you may be fighting a losing battle. The overwhelming majority of people will pronounce that name as Louisa in this country.

[TimeWasting]

So how is it pronounced? Loo-ih-sah? Rhyme with Melissa?

Correct people, but don't get worked up about it.

[ZZZenAgain]

if it is really important to you, I suppose you just have to persevere with correcting people again and again and again. I think it is a name a bit like say Marie. People in the UK all know how the French pronounce it, I should think but we'd still pronounce it English style with a British child living in the UK. Otherwise I think most people would feel it is a pretentious to do and wouldn't feel comfortable with it, not to offend you or correct you IYSWIM

Hope it works out the way you want

[diddl]

I can´t get how to pronounce Luisa from your explanation OP.

Do you mean a "z" sound?

I pronounce Louisa with a "z" sound-is that wrong?

[tyler80]

GrendelsMum Isn't that just a Spanish thing? I've heard mention of Prince Carlos in Spain to mean Prince Charles. My Spanish friend always says Rose when talking to me about his girlfriend when her name is Rosa (I find it a bit odd)

[crappymummum]

Thanks for the replies....sorry,to clarify it is Loo-ee-sah
I think im just annoyed that someone is basically saying ive made it up or something to try and be different when really its just Louisa if that makes sense

[JustCallMeGrouchy]

ds3 name is like that and anyone with any irish background gets it in 2 seconds everyone else says it how they think it is spelt

[MmeBlueberry]

I don't get the distinction.

[tyler80]

ZZZenAgain that was a consideration when naming our children, there are lots of Danish names that sound nice to me when pronounced the Danish way but are not spelt any differently to the English version. I knew it would never work trying to insist on the Danish pronunciation. Slightly different in this case though, as there is a different spelling.

[tyler80]

www.forvo.com/word/maría_luisa_piraquive/

Pronunciation here

[ellifino]

People always correct my surname.

Eg, say my name is Lucy Proberts, everyone helpfully inserts a gap and makes me Lucy P. Roberts. Even when they have just watched me write it.

[WriterofDreams]

Hmm it's a tough one. I can totally understand your annoyance but I think part of the problem is that people have a genuine difficulty hearing subtle differences in the pronunciation of words - this is why it's so hard to speak french, for example, if you're not a native speaker. I have a welsh friend with a name that has similar issues - the emphasis is on the first syllable of his name but everyone in England puts the emphasis on the second syllable. I asked a few friends once why they do this and they hadn't a clue what I was talking about! It was only when I very slowly and clearly pointed out the difference that they realised their mistake. In spite of that they still pronounce it incorrectly. My friend is completely used to this and it doesn't bother him at all even though to me this subtle difference seems quite big.

Similarly Irish people often have to put up with incorrect pronunciations - for example Dara O Briain. His name should be pronounced with a very short first "a" sound, as in paragraph, but British people give it a long "a" as in far or car. Dylan Moran's second name should be pronounced More - an but British people say More - an Subtle, but quite annoying if you know how it should be pronounced.

Anyway after all that blather what I'm saying is that it's going to be very difficult to get people to pronounce your daughter's name correctly basically because it contains phonic structure not common to English. As long as those close to her know how to pronounce it I think you should let it go with everyone else for fear of driving yourself nuts!

[crappymummum]

Thank you tyler80!

[tyler80]

And personally I don't think it falls into the category of too hard for English speaking people to pronounce if they have been told how to.

[RitaMorgan]

To be fair the pronounciation is quite a subtle difference, and I don't think most English speakers will get it. You should correct the spelling though.

The difference is Louise = Loo-eez-a and Luisa = Loo-ee-sah

[hocuspontas]

diddl - Louisa generally pronounced Loo-ee-zuh, Luisa pronounced Loo-ee-sah.

[MmeBlueberry]

It is a subtle difference.

If someone has less precise diction, you won't know whether they meant loo-ee-za or loo-ee-sa, so you will be in a dilemma as to whether get mad at them or not.