Why do authors give their characters unpronouncable names?

[HookedOnHooking]

Harry Quebert I'm looking at you.

Why? Why don't they just call them Smith or Jane?

And how do I pronounce Quebert?

Kuh-Bear?

or cue-bert?

[PHANTOMnamechanger]

I've just remembered another thread where a MNer confessed to having thought there was a dog called a chee-hoo-er-hoo-er - she had heard of chihuahuas but not put 2 and 2 together! I was giggling about that all day!

[RuggerHug]

eminthebigsmoke when I read that at one point I used finger puppet type reasoning to follow the names! worth it in the end but bloody hell...

[HookedOnHooking]

I just finished it. The name description came too late for me. He was already cue-bert and then the kuh-bear confused me.

[Patapouf]

I remember reading Harry Potter as a child and having no idea how to say Hermione. Then again, I didn't know how to pronounce siobhan until I was 16!!

Everyone in my class was called Katherine/Alexandra/Sophie though

[chrome100]

I remember a character in the Babysitters Club books I read as a child named Janine. I had never heard the name before and pronounced it in my head as "J-9".

[elementofsurprise]

One of my favourite books is Three Men on the Bummel, by Jerome K Jerome.
I don't know how to pronounce the title or author's name. Furthermore, the title sounds rude
And what's the two identical names all about?!

Any literary types care to enlighten me?

[JackRackham]

I read a book a while ago and the main character was called Ceilidh. I had no idea how to pronounce it and it annoyed me all the way through.
It was only after I finished that I saw a discussion about the name on here and how tonsay it. Some people were saying its not a real name for a person, its a dance.
I did realise then how slow I had been and if I'd thought to do a quick Google I would have enjoyed the book more!
I really like how the name sounds

[SmillasSenseOfSnow]

DM is a linguist and says it's Suh-Ray-Ler.
Sounds like DM didn't do French.

[CloserToFiftyThanTwenty]

I think they use names they wanted to their children but realised that they are unpronounceable...

[GreatAuntDinah]

Bummeln is the German verb for hanging / traipsing around aimlessly and the book is set in Germany. Jerome is pronounced as you'd expect (like Robson and Jerome). Not sure why the name is repeated but the K stands for Klapka which was his godfather's surname IIRC.

[GreatAuntDinah]

Oh and it's pronounced boom not bum, so less rude than it looks!

[FishWithABicycle]

I had a childhood book with a character I thought of as princess purse-foan. (How I thought Persephone would be pronounced.

More recently (buy still a few years ago) I read some Sci Fi where some of the characters have names that are properly pronounced by including a "click" with the side of your tongue (as you might if encouraging a horse) or the tip of the tongue (as you might when "tut tut-ing") half was through the name. It's apparently a perfectly normal thing in some existing languages. Iirc The sounds were written !X and !Q.

[FishWithABicycle]

Autocorrect buy=but was=way

[sashh]

Yes George RR Martin may have his faults but Jon Snow - not a lot to get wrong.

[morelikeguidelines]

I have heard that this is to make the reader pay attention because you have to pause and make sure you are getting the name right.

The same applies to giving all of your characters similar names, or more than one with the same name, as in wuthering heights.

[GreatAuntDinah]

Or the seventeen Aureliano Buendias in One hundred years of solitude

[PattiODoors]

ROAR at cupboard

[DopeyDawg]

I remember reading the name 'Alicia' in some sort of (Malory Towers) book as a child.

I thought it was 'ally-ka' not 'ally-shee-a'.

Now the American TV series has turned it into 'alleeeeeeeeeeeeeee-sha' for me.

My 'Ally-ka' was still the best girl in the book.

What-ho!

[MissisBee]

Also from Malory towers, I thought Daphne was pronounced Dafeen.

[DidoTheDodo]

dopey I also used to think that same character was "Ally-ka". You were not alone.

[DJThreeDog]

I enjoy L!ort (I think) in The Colour of Magic .

I always have to check myself with Calliope, although you don't see it much. I think I've only read it in Middlesex actually.

[MinionDave]

Puts me in mind of Jack Dee, as he said he is a lazy reader, and if a name comes up that is unpronounceable he will substitute for 'mm hmmm' . I do that too, remember reading the Philip Pullman trilogy and skipping over half the names!

[Athenaviolet]

I stopped reading a Marian keys book for this reason. The character was 'clodagh' and I tried to pr it as Chloe but every time I saw it my mind said 'claw-dagg'. It was so distracting I couldn't keep going!

[FishCanFly]

Fictional characters are nothing, but when people give such names to children, awkward situations will follow

[ChessieFL]

Athenaviolet I've just read this whole thread with 'clodagh' in mind! Is it meant to be pronounced like 'Chloe' then? Didn't know that.