to want in laws to correctly pronounce my very ordinary name?

[DrSeuss]

I have a very ordinary, English-of-Greek-origin name. Spelled in the traditional way, couldn't e simpler, really.
For over twenty years, ILs have mispronounced it. For twenty years, I and my husband have periodically corrected them. Not a huge thing, granted but it grates every time they say it wrongly.

AIBU to slightly mispronounce their names just a little, e.g. Sarah becomes Sorah, Jim becomes Jom? Childish, I know, but it is pretty much the only thing I have asked of them in twenty years! Other family members ask for and receive special food despite having no real grounds for this or meals served at a particular time despite having no children. I'd just like them to say my name without me mentally wincing!

Bit- (am a Helen)

I pronounce "Helen" as hEll-ene.

Is it linked to your Greek heritage, and national pride of your family's country's name? Are you invested that way?

Or is it your apparent invisibility that annoys most?

It does seem rather an overreaction tbh.

I have an unusual name (mixed heritage) but it wasn't pronounced correctly all through my school years.... Some teachers even sticking an "R" in; some changing it completely!
I use a diminutive now as it's easier.
If I felt invisible or overlooked, it might have annoyed more.

The OP didn't say she was Greek Venus. She said the name was of Greek origin. Not her.

SirVix we should start a thread for Helens not Hellins

YANBU. I feel your (teeny bit petty) pain.

My name begins with an E, but the first sound should be Eh but lots of people common simple folk insist on makng it into an Eeee sound which is frankly painful on the ear and makes the name sound awful.
I grit my teeth and seethe inwardly at this. My colleague does it, but I am too polite to correct her

I say the 'en' at the end in the same way I'd say the 'en' at the end of heaven

Think how stupid Heavin sounds and that's how much Hellin grates on me

A lot of the people saying Helin is wrong...

...for my He-lin, the lin is as in lin-da. So ("hen" - "n") + ("lin-da" - "da") = "he-lin".)

If the in-laws are say "in" like in in-laws, then that is weird.

Exactly, Bit.

For me heaven is prononced he-vin. The ven/vin part does not rhyme with vent. It does sound the same as the von in Devon.

he = hen with the "n".

Me too PrivatePike.

Hivin and sivin and illivin.

Nobody has said accents are stupid. I have a strong regional accent myself so you can get down off that particular high horse PIke

I have very very many Scottish relatives who all manage to say Helen not Hellin. In my experience the worst Helliners have been from the south east trying to sound posh

But not heh-vin. Or seh-vin.

Another Helen here (we are all lovely btw)

Everyone I know always calls me Helen, with 2 'e' sounds. I am not aware of ever being called Hellin or Hellun....

I have been called Hells Bells once but the response was swift and violent :)

You are not being precious to want your name pronounced correctly, you have my sympathies!

Phonetics and linguistics graduate here. The second vowel in Helen will be pronounced by 99% of EMT (English Mother Tongue) people as a very short "schwa" (represented phonetically as an upside-down "e"), just like the second vowel in heaven, as has been pointed out upthread.

If you're pronouncing your name more like "Hélène", à la française, then that's unusual.

Perhaps we should be asking, do you stress the first syllable of your name, or the second?

At this point, until I have more info, I have a niggling feeling YABU

But the problem with that Theoretic is that some of us me will say the lin in linda the same as the in in in-laws. It's different accents. Just as with my Scottish accent I don't put an r in Bath but I do put it firmly in Charlotte.

YOu have hopping up and down from that high horse all thread Pike!

shock I think the OP has come back and said she says it like the heaven way and that she didn't explain it very well first off

Oh OK Practice, thanks

I'm not quite sure what the ILs are saying then... so I'll reserve judgement

My mother was a Scottish Helen. A woman who hated her called her Hellin, my dad called her Ellen and everyone else the Scottish Hell-en
Sounds like your ILs just don't like you that much.

And for the poster who wanted to know what middle names we all have, I am Helen Elizabeth.