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 agree with you. It's disrespectful. I too have to correct people, but my friends get it right and some colleagues too. In my case it's a different name, differently written, so some people write it wrong too even though the correct spelling is in my email address.

Say "A as in vase" and pray there are no Americans on the thread?

I used to work with a Tarnya, with an R in it. All straightforward you’d think, but up north it’s almost impossible to persuade people it’s not Tanya (with an A for Apple)

Are they saying

A MEE ul ya.

Or

A MEE lya

And you want

A MEE lee a

They are all fairly similar but I can see that the first one would grate. Are you living in the North West of England? I think I know people who would pronounce it like that.

I'm assuming the A is pronounced as the indefinite article as in e.g "a dog" in all cases and that's not your issue.

Tbh no, I wouldn't think it would be straightforward being called Tarnya. It's an unusual name that upon first glance looks very like a far more common name,

With an r?

So, like... tarrrnya?

So at first I was with you. When I read your name, I definitely think of it with an ee-ah ending, not a yah. But then I just recorded myself saying both and listened back - in my accent, they sound totally identical! Even though I thought I'd be able to hear a difference as I'm definitely intending to use your preferred pronunciation.

So if you corrected me, I'd be a bit confused as I'd think that's how I am saying it already!!

*I always feel sorry for Nay omis or Nigh omis
You are not unreasonable to correct people but whether they will change is another thing
I think the OP's position is different from nay-omi be nigh-omi as they're two totally different name pronunciations in their own right. I also feel sorry for them and wouldn't choose a name like that for that reason. It's why Evelyn was taken off our baby name list as we didn't want to lumber DC with eve-lin Vs every-lyn for the rest of their life.

OP's situation is more like objecting to the fact that some accents blend the sounds of a name so William may sound like will-yum because the i-am is a quicker 'iyum'

My name is really simple and hard to get wrong. Think 'Ella'. And yet I still had one woman was calling me 'Eeela'. Honestly, I couldn't give a damn. Someone pronouncing my name differently doesn't make my day any different. I didn't bother saying anything. Life is too short.

I've just tried saying it both ways and I can't say it in a way that makes it sound different. They both sound soooo similar the difference is imperceptible, maybe just the case with a southern accent. I couldn't find it in me to get annoyed over something like this to be honest. But if it annoys you correct once and stress how important it is to you then leave it as you risk alienating your friends who I'm very sure aren't doing it deliberately to annoy you x

Oh dear. It's not "precious" to want people to call you by your actual name.

I much prefer "a-mee-lee-a" to "a-meel-ya".

I've a friend with a daughter called Sophia. She pronounces it "so-figh-a" not "so-fee-a". I think the child will have a lifetime of correcting the pronunciation!

Unfortunately, what you’re describing sounds like sloppy enunciation rather than someone actually pronouncing your name incorrectly. And that’s harder to correct without causing offence! My SIL’s name is Helen. My DH introduced her as “Hell-en” whereas my BIL, who has much more of an estuary twang, calls her “Hell-in”. I think your issue with Amelia falls into that category, so hard to address without sounding like you’re criticising the way someone speaks.

To me they’re different, so nayomi and nyomi I’ll get right after the first time, maybe second if I forget.

Same with Tanya with a long or short first a, or Andrea with one of the three different different pronunciations I know.

The problem with Amelia, William or Ophelia is that that’s how that blend comes out in all words, I’m not having to remember a different name or variant pronunciation I’m having to change how I automatically make sounds... which is hard going.

Christ, OP. Maybe unclench a little?!

Everyone gets to choose their own personal hill upon which they are willing to die. If this is your hill, then continue doing what you do.

I understand that the second syllable should rhyme with May instead of "me"

A friend with the surname of Warwick moved to Canada and after years of correcting everyone who pronounced the second "w", just gave up and now even introduces herself with the mispronunciation

Not really straightforward at all. Tarnya looks like, and probably is, a little used variant of the far more popular name, Tanya (same pronunciation for me).

Pretty sure OP is just talking about the difference in the way the ia can be pronounced when it follows the letter l - either as 2 syllables (ee-a) which is OPs preference or as 1 syllable (yuh). Same difference can happen with other names (and presumably other words, but I can’t actually think of any right now) that include lia e.g Ophelia, William or Celia as mentioned by PPs.

So Amelia can be:

A-mee-lee-a - 4 syllables, OPs preference
or
A-meel-yuh - 3 syllables

William can be:

Wih-lee-am - 3 syllables
or
Will-yum - 2 syllables

Celia can be:

See-lee-ya - 3 syllables
or
Seel-ya - 2 syllables

I understand your frustration OP as I pronounce the lia same way as you, 2 syllables, and I think all those names sound much nicer with that pronunciation. I do also agree with others that when said quickly the difference is quite slight, but it cetainly is a difference and when it’s your name and you’re hearing it every day it must really grate and be annoying when people don’t follow the pronunciation.

I do wonder if, as others have said, it is an accent thing though, so people would pronounce all the names mentioned above with either the 2 syllable or 1 syllable ‘lia’ so should people change their accent to pronounce a word as someone wishes? I think when it’s that persons name that is not an unreasonable expectation. I have a German colleague called Angelika which I initially pronounced as anjelika with a soft g until I realised she provinces it with a hard g so now I do too and it would seem weird to stick with my English accent way of pronouncing it.

also a lot of people saying they pronounce lia as 1 syllable instead of 2 seem to say they are from the south of England but I am too (born and raised to parents also from the south) but I have always pronounced it as 2 syllables. Would be interesting to know which regions pronounce it as 1 syllable. I’m hearing a Birmingham accent when I pronounce those names with lia as 2 syllable.

“also a lot of people saying they pronounce lia as 1 syllable instead of 2 seem to say they are from the south of England”

I’m Scottish with a mix of west highland and east central belt accent and it’s one syllable to me.

It does sound nicer with two, just doesn’t come out of my mouth like that unless I’m really paying attention.

Just get on with it. I’m not going to say my real name but it’s regularly mispronounced and I honestly just don’t give a shit.

Very precious.

The 2 pronunciations you quote in yoir post seem to be just about the same bar a very slight difference in the inflection (if that's the right word) between YA and EE-A.
To me it sounds like just the way some people speak rather than them doing anything deliberately.
Maybe you should ask people to refer to you as Miss/Mrs/Ms Surname to clear up any misunderstandings 😉

Think it's lazy pronunciation OP
Like Natalie, for some reason people drop the T. It annoys me midly as I have a T in my name, for some reason the T is dropped?

I remember giving to collect an order and gave my name only to be told oh you mean ... (silent T).....nope......

Sorry but I can’t tell the difference in the pronounciation…why not just pronounce it the way that most people do, make your life easier

Might make life easier for you if you accept that people probably aren't doing it to piss you off or be disrespectful. It's far more likely they have a slightly lazy speech pattern, as so many people seem to have, or they just aren't hearing the difference.

If you keep correcting people it will just make you sound like someone who thinks they're so terribly important and is stamping their foot because people aren't saying their name correctly, which is never attractive.

I hate the shortened version of my name. I never introduce myself to people that way but that doesn't stop some people using it.

I don't correct them because it's a common diminutive of my name and I really don't want to come across to people as someone who is so self important that everyone has to say my name a certain way; after all it doesn't cause me any inconvenience or harm.

There are so many worse things in life than having one's name mangled a bit.