To keep correcting people about my name?

[marathonrunn]

My name is Amelia as in Ah-me-lee-a.

On a daily basis people pronounce is Ah-meal-ya.

It does my head in. This is people I've known for many years doing it too. It's not my name. When I correct certain friends they roll their eyes and can't understand why it matters. It matters because it's not my name. It is a constant occurrence in the workplace and I'm constantly correcting people.

Should I give up or continue correcting?

I can see the difference between the two, but to me it's such a minor difference that I wouldn't take note. I have a William; we pronounce his name Wil-lee-um, lots of people around here pronounce it Wee-yum. Honestly, he knows people are referring to him and I'm happy it's not Willy.

Used to work with a Nadia. Some pronounced it Nah’dia and some Naddia according to their accent. I don’t think she minded.

That's what I originally thought but then I re read it.
She wants the pronunciation am ee lee ah, she's not happy with ah meal ya, 4 syllables instead of 3.

A very subtle difference that in reality others won't notice.

OP I would give up. You're splitting hairs

Adjust your dress? Wtf

Tbh when I heard Ah-me-lee-a.I assumed it was spelt Emilia. And that it was a different name from Amelia.

I teach a reading support program. Many of my students simply cannot pronounce certain words because of the combination of letters, I imagine there are lots of adults wandering around with the same problem. They genuinely believe they are pronouncing a word correctly and try as they might they cannot pronounce it differently.

My name is constantly mispronounced (and misspelt) by family members friends and colleagues. I let it go even my nickname is often wrong as the vowel sound is mispronounced. I've decided to go zen about it and it no longer bothers me.

I don't think it's so much a mispronunciation as a slightly lazy pronunciation. Like dropping 'T's in words. So although you are technically right, and everyone has the right to be called what they want to be called, the only thing you are doing by correcting people is putting their backs up and causing yourself stress.

@hoppityscotch ,it’s just an expression. I didn’t make it up. It’s kind of self explanatory. Like ‘adjust your dress, your underwear is showing’ it’s just a way of telling someone their nastiness is showing. Sorry it needed explanation, I thought it was well known and self explanatory. Clearly not.

Sometimes I think there is a lot to be said for having a very ordinary simple name that can’t be mispronounced!

The William name is a good point. Most people say Will Yum not Willy Um and it would be a bit petty for someone to keep correcting them. It’s seems like a lot of stuff about nothing really. There are names that get mispronounced (no one knows how to pronounce my name because there seems to be so many variations and the first letter can often sound like a different letter (especially on the phone, eg Bs getting mistaken for Ps etc). This goes in the ‘sweating the small stuff’ pile for me.

There is no name that will be universally pronounced the same by everyone.

Ah I see.
Thanks

But where's the 'y' sound coming from?

Raphael, the same, people saying Rafa-yell when it is Rafa-el.

Is it just lazy enunciation?

lost in the mists of time perhaps. But does it matter?

It's like Evelyn, a name with two accepted pronunciations. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it lazy.

Naomi and Raphael names have a Hebrew origin so most people unless they speak Hebrew aren't going to pronounce those names correctly.

@reugny, I'm not talking about the hebrew pronunciation, i'm talking about the UK pronunciation (otherwise we'd be going through a large proportion of biblical names starting with Adam). It's the stray 'y' sound that makes it easier to say that makes me think it might be lazy enunciation.

But there’s a y in both pronunciations of Naomi - it’s the vowel before the y that’s different.

Lots of names commonly used in English don’t actually work phonetically in English, but they’re said that way despite it.

Unless you think Job should rhyme with Bob, Phoebe should be said as fobe and Eleanor as eleenor or any number of other ones.

most people wouldn’t be bothered op

Ann? Jane?

YABU for giving a shit about such a tiny difference.

@tabulahrasa , I can understand the Nayomi pronunciation because the Nay bit is also in a name like Nathan.

I don't see why you'd say Nah-yo-mi when it's Naomi (Nah-oh-mi) or Rafa-yel when it is Rafael/Raphael (Rapha-el).

Not Jane — I'd pronounce Jane with a monophthong, like "Jehhn" rather than a diphthong like "Jayn/Je-in" (or would've done when younger; possibly more of a diphthong now I've been living in the south for a couple of decades, though when I make an announcement on Alexa I'm always surprised by how Northern English my vowels still sound).

My dd's middle name is Amelia.

I have just spent 10 minutes repeatedly saying it out loud and now I feel silly.

I think I pronounce it how OP wants, but then when I try to say it with three syllables it sounds the same?! The 'yuh' sound is made up of 'ee' + 'uh' just said really quickly!

Now whatever I do all I can hear is

'Uh-meely-uh' 🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

You think someone from Edinburgh and someone from Leeds and someone from London would pronounce the name Jane in the same way?