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 don’t get how they’re wildly different.

Amelia rhymes with Ophelia, no? How are others saying it!

I don't see why people say the two pronunciations are the same basically? In my head it's certainly different.

Yes. In your head.

I'm having a little trouble interpreting the way you've done the phonetic versions (because "meal" can be interpreted as one or two syllables).

Is your objection that people are saying a-mee-lya rather than a-mee-lee-a, meaning that the "ee" sound is a little shorter than you'd like?

Or is it that they're saying a-meeyul-ya rather than a-mee-lee-a, with a suggestion of an extra syllable before the L?

Never realised people would pronounce Amelia as ah-meal-ya.
It's not your name so totally normal of you to correct them.

Emil-ya (or as OP spells it, a-meal-ya) vs A-me-lee-a. 3 syllables vs 4.

Change your name to Jane.

I bet all the “YABU and precious” crowd have never had their name mispronounced on a daily basis…

Keep on correcting, OP. “Accent” is a lazy excuse anyway – you can pronounce general words any which way you want, but not someone’s name! Even my proper London boss who says “I fink Fursday or summink” manages to call my colleague Thea and not Fea.

People pronounce Ophelia two different ways as well, lol

oh feel ee a vs oh feel ya

Same. So -meal-ya- would make it ophealya

I would vote for ‘give up correcting’ as it doesn’t seem to be working for you.

A - MEH - LEE - A?

That sounds different in my head to A - MEAL - YUH.

<getting invested>

Nope, I get called two completely different names, neither are mine... very very regularly.

I correct people 3 times, if they haven’t got it after that I just answer to the wrong name, it’s easier.

Jesus, bit harsh

YABU, it's a tiny difference that will not be noticeable to most people. If you're constantly correcting people's pronunciation you're being ridiculous and borderline rude. The same name is pronounced in many different ways, and it doesn't change the name or mean you hsve a monopoly on how it's said. Try having a foreign name and you quickly have to get over varying pronunciations....

My name is along the lines of Cecilia and often have to deal with Caroline, Claudia, Cornelia. Totally different names but can't say it bothers me.

I bet all the “YABU and precious” crowd have never had their name mispronounced on a daily basis…

Dream on. Every day of my life.

But it could have been worse. My parents were initially set on 'Sinead' or 'Siobhan'.

People who pronounce your name differently when you've told them what YOUR name is are generally being unreasonable. I'd always want to use the pronunciation correctly even if I quietly thought it was ridiculous, because it's up to the person whose name it is.

Having said that I'm trying really hard but I genuinely can't see a difference between the 2 pronunciations you're talking about. They both sound almost identical when I read them out loud (standard south of England accent). And so there could be every chance I'd think "yeah, like I said 🤷‍♀️" if you corrected me, resulting in you think I was being a rude twat and me thinking you need to get your hearing checked

I know exactly what you mean. I know someone with the same name and I pronounce it the way you like but someone very close to her just calls her Meal-ya. I think it sound really horrible and changes the name completely. I don't know what you can do only correct them once and if they care they'll make an effort to pronounce it the nice way.

OP likes it starting with A (for apple)
then it's 'me-lee' then A for apple again.

Wrong way starts with Ah (for aftershave)
then 'me-l'y ... ah' (ah for aftershave again)

My name can't be abbreviated and although it has more than one spelling, the pronunciation is still the same.

I uses the same A sound for apple as I do for aftershave. So I'm none the wiser.

This does sound different. But I'm reading it with the "me" pronounced like the word me....

So A - MEE - LEE - A

I think Americans say a-meal-yah too (grey’s anatomy taught me that!)

I honestly think that correcting people doesn’t help as some people genuinely can’t seem to hear the difference. fwiw I know some Amelias and they are all pronounced your way.

So was I initially.

But if I say - A - MEH - LEE - A there IS a difference in my accent.

Not that I'd be on the correction trail with colleagues.

@pelargoniums my name can be pronounced slightly differently depending on accent.
I don't care. I can't change people's accents.

No. I live in a country where people add an extra syllable to my name. It's fine as that's the way their accent works