Sons name Caleb pronounced differently, anyone else have child’s name like this 😡

[Tonijo1990]

Hi
So my son is 8 months and called Caleb
We pronounce it cay - leb (as in leb in the word celeb ).
everyone else pronounces it cay - lub as in the u in urgh (not lub that rhymes with tub 😂 lol)
We are so annoyed that we are thinking of changing his name
I correct people all the time but I’ve been told we’ve spelt it wrong and say it wrong even by my own sister and mil
It’s in the blooming bible haha
I do understand the name has modernised to be Kaleb though
Has anyone else got a child who seems like they have two names with the pronunciation?? Or anyone with a Caleb ??

I’m interested to know now how everyone would pronounce my surname
Doidge

Apparently it’s a Dutch / German background name though not completely sure if that’s true

About to hugely embarrass myself here, but I'll have a go!

Being a native English speaker, without any other knowledge of its origin, I'd naturally have a stab at 'Doyge'.

However, upon being told of German/Dutch origins and thinking, hmm, I don't believe that those languages tend to use 'oi' as a diphthong, I'd probably settle on something like the word 'Died' but said in a laid-back Black Country accent (sort of a drawn-out, almost two-syllabled 'Doi-ied'), followed by 'guh' (German slant) or 'chuh' (ch as in loch) (Dutch slant).

Am I ANYWHERE whatsoever approaching correct?!?!

WeBuilt and Powernaps, my DD is called Isobel, pronounced IS-uh-bel as is normal in the south east where we live. And most of the rest of the country as far as I can tell. I was unaware of the central belt of Scotland pronunciation rhyming with visible. I actually want to cry every time my mother says her name

WeBuilt Just a bit!

I have a friend born in the mid-50's who's name is Caleb and its always pronounced Cay leb.

*I’m interested to know now how everyone would pronounce my surname
Doidge

Apparently it’s a Dutch / German background name though not completely sure if that’s true*

It looks like a misspelling of Deutsch.

I have never heard Cal-leb it sounds so odd. But I suppose it is much like Dan-EE-Elle. Which is a very odd way of pronouncing Dan’yelle.

How do people not hear a difference between leb and lub- your mouth should be making a totally different picture when you pronounce those.

Leb you bring the corners of your mouth back. You can say “cal-leb” whilst smiling pretty much.

Lub you are bringing your mouth together to form a small o shape, and possibly pushing forward your lower jaw.

I'm quite puzzled as to how the name Elishah (a man in the Old Testament and, AFAIK, the only well-known owner of the name for thousands of years) is now used pretty much exclusively as a name for girls (often spelt without the silent second 'h') - as an alternative spelling for Alicia. That's probably just me, though.

The name Alicia can be pronounced Aleesha or Eleesha. It's the standard American pronunciation of that name. I very much doubt anyone using the Elisha spelling has ever heard of the prophet.

@donquixotedelamancha There's someone at the door...

Don't worry OP my DS is called Jasper and more than one person we know repeatedly calls him Casper, like the friendly ghost. One of those people is his GP 🤷

I'd pronounce it Ka-LEB with an a like in Apple and Leb like in Lebanon.
I'm not sure if that's correct but I'd expect it to have a double a (Caaleb) otherwise.

Tonijo
And for the tub and urgh
It’s hard to try say what I mean
They don’t empathise the u to the extreme but it’s more of the u sound than the e I say
I feel the way I say the name maybe drags it out a bit more ?! I notice when my partner says his name fast it turns into more of a u than an e

That 'u' sound is called a schwa. All of the vowels and also Y when used in a word like rhythm can get turned into a schwa when they are spoken. The spellings remain the same. It is a neutral vowel sound. It is the most common vowel sound in the English language. It occurs in unstressed syllables.

Think of the word 'melon' - the O has more of a U sound than an O sound.
The first syllable is stressed - MEL, and the second syllable is unstressed - 'un'.
Pronouncing 'melon' with the O sound would make the word sound unnatural. Pronouncing it with equal stress on both syllables would also make it sound odd.
Think of the name Helen. It has the same pattern. 'HEL-un'

Similarly in Caleb the E is in the unstressed syllable.
CAY is stressed and leb is unstressed.
The E in the unstressed syllable gets turned into a schwa/neutral vowel when speaking. It is not incorrect. In fact, it makes the name fit into a very well recognised pattern followed by similar words and names, so it sounds more natural, and it is easier to pronounce the name with the first syllable stressed and the second syllable unstressed when the E is pronounced as a schwa..

It is still spelled Caleb. But that E does not have to be pronounced as an E. The schwa is completely acceptable. Yes, the way you say it with the E pronounced makes the name 'drag out more'. Shortening it by using the schwa is not incorrect.

Please don't get your son to correct people who use the schwa sound, and please don't correct people yourself.

I have to admit I have never heard anyone pronounce the name with the E used instead of the schwa - everyone I know who is a Caleb or who is the parent of one (and I live in the US where it was a very popular name when my DCs were younger) pronounces it CAY-lub.

In a dictionary the symbol for the schwa is /ə/ - an upside down lower case e.

I grew up with a Caleb. He pronounced it cal - eb. “cal” as in CALifornia, “eb” as in ebb.

My late Mil used to say "this is how your name should be spelt and pronounced"
Think Tamsin/Tasmin.

Until we were out and I introduced her as a completely different name to hers and just announced "it's horrendous when people ignore your actual name, isn't it" never happened again.

I'm Welsh speaking Wales we would pronounce it ka-leb

Cay-Leb here. Never heard it said differently. However I can imagine easily in a lazy moment saying cay-lub. In fact as I say it is think I might say it both ways !
Not sure why you hate cay-lub so much - it’s essentially the same name. At 8 months it’s not too late to change his name if it’s really bothering you. Cay-Leb could become his middle name (or a second middle name/family nickname?).
See if you can let it go and not be annoyed by it would be my first thought though.

As soon as I read it, I pronounced it as kay-leb. That's how it is usually worded where I am.

I guess this is one of the reasons why someone I know spelt her son's name Jaykub. Can't go wrong with the pronunciation of that!

I actually had this discussion about Jacob !! Totally get why they would spell as it sounds haha
And Doidge is like Doyge but the d in the middle is said too
Surnames are strange ones though especially when you go deep into research to where they originate from
And yes I’ve heard ca as in California and leb a lot too especially from the dr
I believe that maybe the original bible / Hebrew way
But don’t quote me on that
I would always make the effort to pronounce how a person says their name not be like you’ve said or spelt it wrong
That’s just rude and disrespectful
I would always prefer to be corrected
I’m going to stick with the way I say his name and just say to people that’s right to us
It’s his name and he suits it his brothers also say Caleb so if a six year old and three year old can say it , I’m sure adults can
I guess everyone’s eighth about accents too
A lot of words and names are pronounced differently
Thanks guys

It maybe essentially the same name but it’s NOT the same name
I’d just appreciate if people were to make the effort to say it how my son is named , not be like you’re wrong and I’m still calling him cay lub
My sister will actually Make the point of telling people I say it wrong and she will say cay lub over and over again to the baby
Just rude when I’m his mother and I would appreciate it if they just said it how I do
But some people

Of course its pronounced Cay-leb, and its a lovely name by the way...

Cay-Leb is how I say it.
We've had Cay-Lib which really annoys me (probably more due to who says it than the actual pronunciation)

Cah-leb
Cah-leeb

It doesn't bother him, he's 14 and too laid back. We just laugh about it and I sometimes call him Cah-leeb etc when I'm mucking about.

If you/he says it that way then that's how people should pronounce it otherwise it's just rude (that's mainly aimed at your sister!)

I would say it the way you do OP

It's a nice name too, in my opinion

What’s a Ronseal name?

Your SISTER should back the fucking fuck off. WHo exactly does she think SHE is, to be telling ANYONE that you are wrong, about your OWN SON'S name???

What a fucking bellend she is.

I'd give her what for at the very least - bitch! Seriously though, that is SO demeaning to you as the child's mother (and father) - making out that you somehow don't know how to pronounce your own son's name.

Raaah, that's made me so fucking angry!