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?

Just correct her everytime she says it wrong eventually, she might get the hang of it... some people struggle with pronunciation. It’s took me a year to say my cousins girlfriends name, she’s polish and I just couldn’t say it. My son has unique name, it’s spelt how it’s pronounced but guarantee anyone new we meet will say it wrong. My uncle still spells my dd name wrong and she’s almost 10... I’m not sure if he does it on purpose now or he still doesn’t get it.

I agree with this.

I have a Dutch work colleague and NO-ONE can pronounce his name the Dutch way.

If it's Eva vs Ayva I'd be correcting my friend. If it's a rhotic vs non-rhotic thing I wouldn't get upset about it. I also expect people abroad to pronounce my name in their accent not mine.

But that’s not a thing. I could write my name as Delve and pronounce it Bob if I want.
@Beachloveramy ask her why she insists on pronouncing your babies name wrong?

I know two girls called Maya. One us pronounced May-ah, the other My-ah. I get them muddled up, it's not deliberate.

Tell her.
I mispronounced a friend's name for ages and didn't realise. I put emphasis on the first syllable when it should have been on the second. I have a slight hearing problem so never noticed the difference until other friends pointed it out. Then I had to spend a day practising saying it to get out of the habit of saying it incorrectly. In my case, I'd read the name before I'd ever heard it pronounced and that meant I had it wrong from the beginning. Maybe your friend did the same or maybe she knows someone else who pronounces it differently. Either way, I'm sure she'll be happy to change it.

This one is purely down to accent. They’re not actually saying Carol, it’s that scots roll their Rs, and the ‘a’ sound is pronounced ‘ah’ so it comes out like Cah-rrrrrl. Some scots avoid doing it in certain words because of how it sounds and sort of drop/soften the R instead.

I've read your posts and I would say be kind (which I normally never do). The reason I say this is we all process information differently. I am a read/writer - once I have read something it is FIXED. But aural - normally i forget within seconds. One of my best friends met a man (from overseas) and came out as gay at the same time - in his 40's - for him a big deal. He was telling me all about it in a crowded venue. I was listening I promise. But after I had butchered the spanish-pronounciation of his new love's name at least more than 5 times (as in my head I was trying to work out the spelling and for me, the unintelligible sounds), he stopped the giddy chit-chat and several times made me repeat it, with a reference to other words. It stuck. They have been happily married for years. More PDA action than anyone else I know! So I am pleased to this day that I can correctly pronounce the name! So put your big girl pants on, take your friend aside, and say, repeat after me....

I spent 3 years in the States being called Ny-cola. Naturally all the Italian-American men called Nic-o-la were pronounced correctly! And Ni-col - was also OK! Very odd!

So you’re saying people with a non-rhotic accent should put on a rhotic accent?

I presume the poster would also expect all rhotic speakers to un-rhotic the names of English people with an 'r' in their name too then? So they would call an English Barney, Charlotte, Carla etc 'Bahney', 'Chahlotte' and 'Cahla'?

I used to work with a Yolande. I've never come across a Yolande that hasn't been pronounced "Yo-Lan-Duh". That's the right way to say it right?

Not this lady. She insisted it was "Yo-Land". So that was that, I got corrected, didn't call her "Yo-Lan-Duh" again because it's not hard to get someone's name right even if you thought it was pronounced differently.

Do stick to your guns OP!

Can anyone explain why non-rhotic speakers can’t say the second r in “drawer” if they can say the first one?

Good point - bet they don’t!

Do you mean like in a chest of drawers?

Teresa in Polish is such a gorgeous name. (Had a Polish friend called this years ago) Very similar pronunciation in Danish. The English way to me isn't as nice. Your post made me smile though remembering this lovely way to say it.

Yes, the famous English chester draws.

I agree. For Scottish people Carol is said Car oo ll

Well then it isn't that they can't say the other 'r' it's that it isn't there when it's said.

Plenty of English words have little or no connection between spelling and pronunciation. Which can also differ in different versions of English as well as accent and dialect.

I find the name Tee - Jay quite hard to say. It feels unnatural and if you had not said I would have said Ti - Jay.

This.
I don't know how she can keep doing it.
Pick a good time and say this is how you say it. If you don't it will continue to annoy you and if you let it go and she keeps doing it, she could say you are unfair not to have corrected her.

Maybe she sees mispronouncing it as a kind of nickname that is special to her, which is actually quite sweet - as long as you are both on the same page.

Of course it is a thing. People speak unfamiliar words phonetically at first. Especially book readers. Sometimes it sticks in their heads.

Quinoa - kwinoa
Worcestershire - worchestersheyeur
Jewelry - joolree
Zoology - zooawlogee

At some point in my life Ibuprofen changed from eye-bewe-pro-fen to eye-boof-rin. I've always said it the first way, but everyone else says it the second way. I dont know which is correct, so I just take paracetamol.

I would definitely be saying something. I would be honest about how it affects me and will undoubtedly effect your daughter as she grows up. It might be worth gauging what why she has difficulties though? Does she have any type of learning difficulty which impacts how she says things?

@Sierra26 , it's partly down to accent but the name gets said as two syllables, CaRR-ul, not Carrl

@BadNomad , quinoa is keen-wah not kwin-o-a
Jewellery is joo-ul-ree
Zoology is zo-ol-uh-jee
Ibuprofen - Eye-bew-pro-fen, ibufren is people saying it quickly. Paracetamol and ibuprofen work differently. I take aspirin if necessary.

Drawer - I say it as draw-uh, not draw, but a lot of people think that a drawer is actually called a draw, and that a set of drawers is a Chester draws

Unless she has a lisp or some sort of speech impediment which prevents her from saying it correctly- she is just being rude.

Keep correcting her

scottish people (particularly Glaswegians) struggle with Carl. It’s not a natural sound to us.