Not to correct her anymore?

[Beachloveramy]

My long term best friend repeatedly pronounces my baby's name wrong.
I used to correct her but now I let it go even though it drives me up the wall.

It's not a mainstream British name but it's equally not difficult to pronounce.

I know she's not doing it maliciously but I find it a bit ignorant and lazy not to try to pronounce it correctly. I say his name often but she clearly doesn't pay attention.

AIBU not to say anything even though it irks me?

As the advocate for your baby, you should correct your friend firmly and tell her it's disrespectful of her not to make the effort to remember the correct pronunciation.

Why wouldn't you say anything? I would. She should at least be trying to make the correct pronunciation, but it sounds to me like she really can't be arsed to make the effort.

Keep saying something every time she gets it wrong. She will get it right. Almost certain she will be doing it because she prefers it 'her way'.

I have this problem with my name and it's not that unusual! I have very close friends who I continually correct and when I've had enough I'll say use my nickname "Kara"!
They do apologise but I do get miffed 😡

Boh Dh and I have surnames that are not immediately easy, but not difficult. I have been in this situation many times. With a good friend, there is a point at which you have to say, "Look friend, I really hate you find this so hard - let's work on how to pronounce this becuase you can't keep calling her by the wrong name."

I think it depends on why she's mispronouncing it.

The name is Helena, you say hel-eeena, but she's saying hel-ayna. That's rude of her, there's different accepted pronunciations and she should use the one you want.

The name is Orla, you're Irish and pronounce the R, she's English and pronounces is Awla. In this case she's pronouncing the name correctly for her accent and you need to let it go (and accept that others will do the same).

I don't know - some people just don't have a good ear for sounds. My mum continually does this to me and my kids. She really struggles to pronounce certain sounds.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there!

Disagree - friend in your scenario should say Orrrrla

Correct her. Every. Single. Time.

So someone who’s not Irish should say it in a Irish accent?

I have literally never heard anyone do this.

I can't stand Awla tbh, but English people just won't say it that way. My DD has another Irish name ending in -ing. Where we live, many people pronounce that as -een not -ing and even though I don't like it I don't correct it as it's the same as they would use in, say, being.

Exactly.

Honestly, my DD has a name pronounced as it is spelt but there is a more usual way to say it. Slightly like Eleanor pronounced 'Elenah'. It was such a big deal to me when she was a baby, now I don't even notice, my DD on the other hand often doesn't answer the incorrect pronunciation.

Thank you for all the responses. Next time I'll correct her and I will continue to correct her.

Mispronounce HER name. Tinkly laugh when she corrects you. 😉

Fair enough if you don't want to post the name (I wouldn't either!) but can you think of an analogy?

I think you have to actually telling her she’s saying it wrong and how it should be said, some people pronounce Naomi Nye-oh-me for example, they aren’t doing it on purpose. Either way tell her -

I agree too. I worked with Eva. She's Polish and her name is pronounced Ay va. It's rude to call her Ee va

Is it that your son is Lysander which in your accent is Lys-ah-nder and in hers is Lys-an-der? In that case I wouldn't correct as she's just pronouncing the name in her accent. Or is he called Aloysius and she is calling him Alloy-see-us, in which case I would correct her. But it seems your small corrections aren't working, so you might have to be more direct than you are now.

To me that's the Helena example, not the Orla example.

I don't think I'd just be correcting her at this point. I'd be asking why she still insists on intentionally and rudely mispronouncing my child's name despite several previous corrections.

Reminded me of the radio yesterday. Theres a DJ on Radio 1 doing 5*10hr cycles across UK and DJing at same time for comic relief.

Name.... Ariel.... Now given little mermaid etc I'd say A-ree-ill she went mad on air when someone called her that and said its a-ree-al

If it irks you, mention it. But if you’ve decided not to, then you have to let it all go. You can’t do half and half - it’s not fair to your friend or yourself. Perhaps you could find a way to do it jokingly, or maybe pretend you’re teaching your baby to say their name and get your friend to join in as you say each syllable or something.

I would correct her, but also ask her why she doing it. Especially if she is doing it because she thinks her way is right & your way is wrong. It's your baby, you get to choose how it's pronounced.