AIBU to think my son's name isn't that hard to pronounce?

[SailorByTheSea]

Or is this an acceptable pronunciation!?

We live in London, so 'fear' is 1 syllable (this is relevant!)

My son is called Theodore... You know, 3 syllables, 'The-uh-door'?

All he gets is 'fear-door' please tell me that this isn't an acceptable pronunciation? It makes me regret his name massively

The screening out was by the aspiring middle classes desperate to be accepted by the upper classes.
That's what I meant by my parents 'correcting' what they thought was working class. Interesting though, how (unless I have this wrong), it seems to be vowels that indicate accent and consonants that indicate dialect, which is where the judging comes in.

My OH says 've' instead of 'the'

He is black though so probably gets a pass for being charmingly exotic.
As long as he doesn't have contact with anyone's children obviously.

The-uh-door sounds like you have forgotten what the door is called!

Call him Teddy or Ted like the Theodore that we know?

Yes, Nancy etc. There's a lot to be said for teaching linguistics in schools. Most of these snobby attitudes stem from ignorance, funnily enough. Linguistics could help to stamp out prejudice in quite a few ways, especially once you start to get into the theories of language and onceptualisation.

No because a short a vs a long a depends usually where you come from and I don't consider either wrong.F and TH is a different sound and is clearly spelt differently. It's not Marfa and Arfer.
DS is one and says "dis" and "dat" which is cute because he's one. I'd be embarrassed if (assuming no speech impediment) he's still saying "dis" at 10.

Nothing compared to haitch for h, even heard newsreaders pronounce it that way!

is anyone else now hugely paranoid that they have been offending people by pronouncing their name in a way they don't like?!

Oh I do like Hodor !

I'm from the south east and I say 'fear-door' sorry ☹️

DS 26 was pronouncing 'th' as 'f' until he was 17. Otherwise he had an RP accent.

It's not Marfa and Arfer

It is if you have a strong SE London accent.

Wow. I'm sorry people fail to pronounce your son's name correctly op , but I'm constantly shocked at the general attitude to the east/south London regional accents! Let alone the "London is so grotty and expensive , I'd hate to live there" comments.

Don't people realise they're slagging of a person's home and accent when they do this? Very unpleasant and unnecessary.

He will have a nick name at school anyway love all lads do. It might be Theo or something ridiculous like the footy or cricket team he supports or any other name equally impenetrable.

Speaks from bitter experience of mutilated names into adult hood.

I'm also London born and I would say 2.5 syllables with 'th' not 'f'. I can certainly recall as a child being quickly corrected if 'th' became 'f'.

Ummmmgogo Theodore Roosevelt was known as Teddy.

I cant get past "fear" being one syllable. I say "fee-uh". I have one very very posh friend who would probably pronounce it "fair". He says "rarely" for "really" and does the "Frahnce/Frahnces" thing compared to my "Frans/Frances".

are school kids normally aware of Theodore Roosevelt's nickname? it seems unlikely to me that they will call him ted unless they have been specifically asked to tbh. I'm scared they will call him feo!

I know a child who, if we listened to his parents, is called Eee-ffun. (Ethan)

I think MrsD has it spot on. Some posters are obviously desperate to show us all their posh credentials and as this is an anonymous internet site where no one gives a shit it's very very funny to read.

This happens everywhere.

In Yorkshire no one pronounces the H at the beginning of a word.

My grandsons name begins with an H. Like Harry for example. Everyone calls him 'Arry. And then there turns out to be a boy in his nursery actually called Ari.

Does my head in, can I do anything about it? No.

You do have to consider regional accents when choosing names, IF you are going to be picky about pronunciation.

I wouldnt go for Frances, Martin, Natalie, as DH and family would pronounce as 'Fraaaaaancis', 'Maaaar'in' and 'Naaaaaa'arlee'.

I live in the Home Counties and am pregnant with dc2. We have some 'th' names on our list and just accept that if we use those, it will become 'f' instead of 'th'.

I have an Irish (rhotic) accent and have to accept that Irish names like Cormac, Lorcan and Saoirse will become "caw-mac", "law-can" and "see-sha" (or possibly "seahorse" or something ) in the non-rhotic accents where we live.

I think you have to think these things through beforehand and not use the name if you don't like the local pronunciation, (sorry, not very helpful at this stage! You can change it if you really hate it maybe? Or move? Ok maybe a little extreme).

I've already had to discount James and may discount Jacob as I don't like the "jay" sound where we live. That's just me though. I prefer the way other names are pronounced where we live to how they're pronounced in Ireland. Annoyingly, we have to choose a name which works in both accents!

It is a crime in Chelsea and Belgravia to mispronounce it, off with their heads!!

wornout so?
A child's parents choosing how to pronounce their son's name?

If i were to have a child where i live currently certain names are massive no nos as they would be massacred by the local accent!