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?

Keep on correcting them. If they don't change it to the correct pronunciation then pronounce their names incorrectly too until they do

The proper pronunciation is A - MEE (as in me) - LEE - A. 4 syllables.

People are pronouncing it A - MEEL (as in meal) - YA. 3 syllables.

You've just reminded me of the noises my little brother used to make when he was learning to talk - he couldn't say 'St Christopher', but he made noises for the sylllables in the right tune :)

My grandmother had this problem! Her name was Naomi. It was pronounced Nay-oh-me (equal emphasis all syllables). However almost everyone outside the family called her either Nay-OH-me or Nay-mee. I think she gave up correcting people!

You’re not being unreasonable to find it annoying. But you are being unreasonable to repeatedly correct people. It’s a very subtle difference and some people can’t even hear a difference. So they are not doing it to wind you up.

My last name (married name) is 16 letters and of Eastern European origin as my husband’s ancestors immigrated to the US from Eastern Europe. It has letter combinations in it that would be impossible in English. And letters that are pronounced completely differently in the original language than they are in English. Written down, it looks like someone spilled a can of alphabet soup on the paper. So many people cannot pronounce it. So much so that we are always known by our first names by the bank, doctor, etc. So your issue is minor in comparison.

Haha! My name is pronounced wrong all the time. It is in a similar category as Saoirse. You should hear what some people call me! It doesn't bother me in the slightest. Nobody is trying to offend you.

Or is it IN-GER-LUND? 🤔

If you say either of those at normal speed they still sound the same, unless your hearing is as finally tuned as a dog’s?🤷‍♀️

You're right OP. I don't know how people can say it other than your way??

I sympathise, people spell my name wrong at least once a week, and it’s a short name too. It’s a mild annoyance and I always resist deliberately misspelling their name too.

I have just pronounced Ah-me-lee-a and Ah-meal-ya and the former is definitely harder to say. Maybe that’s a factor?

It's lazy enunciation, not accent that seems to be the issue.

I'm an Elizabeth and got utterly sick of it being pronounced Lizberf. This included most of my schoolteachers fgs. It has four syllables not two! I like my name but lazy pronunciation by others put me off it.

I now go by the diminutive Lizzie. People have occasionally told me, especially at work, that it sounds "silly" and "unprofessional" but to my ear Lizberf is much worse!

Try having a name with a sound with no English equivalent in it.

Sounds like you should take your own advice about that grip.

I have a Scottish name and it gets mispronounced a lot. I will correct people the first time and then whether or not I will correct again depends on whether I can actually see they’ve made an effort to get it right, because whether or not you bother trying matters. It’s difficult when the pronunciation is affected by accents - I remember my French teacher at school just never could pronounce it exactly right, but I felt like making allowances for that was fair, and she did try.

The proper pronunciation is A - MEE (as in me) - LEE - A. 4 syllables.

People are pronouncing it A - MEEL (as in meal) - YA. 3 syllables.

As plenty of posters have said, they sound almost the same in some accents.

If pronounce your name ah-me-(li-uh) and the li-uh part is quite quick.

If you got arsey with me and told me I wasn't getting your name right because I don't say the four syllables in your accent I'd be a bit wtf, especially if done repeatedly.

People round here also say William, but the i-am bit is quick sound it can sound like will-yum because the i is quickly blended. Maybe all the Williams in the area should get arsey and educate their friends too, and as another poster mentioned all the Katies and Peters in the world should start lecturing people on the use of a glottal stop.
😂

I have a very unusual name, no one ever generally gets it right when I meet them. Some find it easier over time, some don't - it is what it is!

I think in the instance you're describing it's an accent issue rather than anything else. So you're maybe not unreasonable to initially correct if it sounds like someone's said it incorrectly to your ears; but to do it repeatedly would be rude because of how close the sounds actually are in most UK accents. Even to me saying it out loud to myself just now, and I speak very clearly, they sound so similar that it's almost pointless trying to distinguish between the two.

Naomi correcting people from nay-omi to nigh-omi is fine.

Katie correcting people who say kay-ee, kay-teh or kay-dee is a bit rude correcting people's normal accents.

I think you're in the second category here tbh OP, I would use both pronunciations depending on how quickly I was speaking and the setting.

@JenniferBarkley , where do you get the Nigh-omi from?

I say Amelia as Am-eel-ya

If it's happened all your life, OP, then you know it's a losing battle.

But surely ee-a and ya should basically the same other than one has very slightly longer 'ee' sound? I can't say ameelya in just 3 syllables, one is just very short.

That’s my default pronunciation for Naomi, I always think of nayomi as being American tbh, don’t know if it actually is or not, just that’s where I’ve heard it said like that.

It might be your default pronunciation but it isn't mine and I think it's awful.

Na would be Nah or Nay, surely.

Both nay-omi and nigh-omi are legitimate pronunciations of Naomi, but I can see why a Naomi would get peeved at someone repeatedly using the 'wrong' pronunciation instead of her preferred one. There's such a distinct difference between the two.

I get it OP, I often have my name spelt or said wrong and it makes me cringe every time. Sometimes I correct them other times I just can’t be bothered.

I applied for a new work ID badge and it was spelt incorrectly, the security guard got annoyed when I refused to take the badge as it was only one wrong letter.

Because of the way I talk I would say ameelya. I can say Amelia but I sound like I'm putting a fake voice on to say it. I also can't say polo or milk without doing the same fake voice