To let people mispronounce my name?

[zagot]

I grew up in a country that isn't England. My name in my native language is very similar to an English name. I also grew up speaking English, and when people spoke English they sometimes pronounced my name the way people do since I moved to England.

In my native language, my name is Ann-ee-ya, but in English everyone calls me Anna. When I first came here I would politely correct it, but since then I've given up and just go by Anna. It's spelt Anja

My family back in my native country think I am trying to Anglicise myself. Does anyone else let people call them the 'wrong' name, and it not bother them? AIBU to let people?

Would ask someone called Thomas to change the spelling of his name?

If I saw "anja" written down I would automatically pronounce it as you specified in your OP - as others have said it's not that uncommon now?

Even if it were I would ask how to pronounce it and expect to be corrected if wrong, not just default to the closest English name.

OP - you should correct people and they are BU not to make efforts to get it right in the first place

@Deadpalm I’m so sorry. Those eejits are deliberately ignorant. Despite being as blonde and white in appearance as you can imagine, I am poly-racial and come from a poly-cultural background. I grew up in the fallout of the White Australia Policy. It is amazing how personally I take this.

I get annoyed when people spell my name incorrectly so if it was mispronounced I would have to correct them every time. If you’ve already corrected them and they still get it wrong, that’s just rude. I suppose it depends on how much it bothers you.

I’m Jennie and it’s pronounced with what you over here would write as a Y, so Yennie, but I let people say it the way they want. My surname was bad enough, I wasn’t going to alienate myself about my first name lol.

anja is a popular name in Scandinavia

It's putting down a perch to the level some think certain people should stay at, isn't it. My fave is, since I have an accent, when a certain person kept absolutely doing Marjorie in meetings. Outside of meetings my accent suddenly wasn't a problem😂

Sorry to hear that. No surprise you take these personally!

@MasterBeth but surely without knowing the original language and pronunciation someone is just going to read it as written unless corrected? I have a Gaelic name and unless you were told this most people wouldn’t realise that the bh in the middle makes a different sound.

So I can either change the spelling or I can help them with the pronunciation but if I have a name that follows different language patterns to the words around it people need some clue as to the pronunciation rules to follow.

@Deadpalm - god I hope those people are not from HR

Laughing at people trying to tell you what they're actually called rather than the name you made up for them?

It's just etiquette/ polite to try and get it right, surely.

Yes, of course it's good manners to try and get it right. Some people find it difficult. It's bad manners to insist they keep trying.

I do find it funny when people get all aerated about their name pronunciation - it's almost as though they're relying on others to tell them who they are.

If you know someone's addressing you, what's the problem?

(For those who haven't RTFT, I have a frequently mispronounced & misspelled name 🤷🏼‍♀️ )

Lol no. HR in most places I worked didn't show their face😂
But few of these people are in management. I think if I didn't realise it with one, it wouldn't click with the other. Makes me wonder how many I missed before. I just laugh at it, it doesn't show ME to be an idiot...

It’s entirely up to you

I am not sure spelling it Anya would be much help as that ends to be said An-yuh here, whereas it sounds like you say it with 3 syllables?

Some people's name have not only emotinal value to them (eg. Being family name) but also have actual meanings which are often dear to people's heart.
There is difference though between not being able to do a sound like ř or l' or some kther very unique sound to basically changing thr name. People change letters in mine making in inro something else. I know for a fact English speaking word CAN pronounce that name.

It's not petty to care, it's not rude to insist people don't make Jana in "Geina" after first or second correction.

Some of us have namesdays! We like our names because they provide extra pressies 🤷🏻

In work situations with colleagues, I correct every time someone mispronounces my name - especially if it is someone who I'm likely to speak to again. In situations where I'm dealing with members of the public, I only correct if I'm likely to speak to them again.

It's basic manners to remember how someone pronounces their name and I feel it's disrespect to the other person to not get it right. It comes off as a fairly stupid person attempting a power move.

Getting it wrong the first time is fine. Continuously getting it wrong is just arseholey.

Surely it's only mispronounced if they see it written down. I would pronounce Anja as Anya, a colleague is called Anja and as far as I'm aware she pronounces it Anya, she's German, she's never corrected anyone. If I was saying it wrong I would expect to be corrected and then I'd apologise and say it correctly.
My son's name begins with an E and like the majority of names that begin with E the E is said like 'eh' as you would pronounce Emma or Edward etc but most people for some reason want to produce it with an 'ee' sound I always correct them!

I'm English, I prefer the French pronunciation of my name.

YANBU I live abroad and get the local pronunciation of my name all the time. I do pronounce it in the English way if I'm saying my name out loud but if other people can't get their heads around it, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. It makes me sound a bit more exotic (to my English ear).

He's called Ethan and you want it pronounced like Ethel?

Sorry, I am confused. To me Amy and Amie sound exactly the same!

Yes, so you tell them how to pronounce your name. You don't change how you spell it!

My name has a th in it, it never bothered me when living abroad that the vast majority of people couldn't or didn't pronounce th correctly.

I'm so confused! I know two (British) Amies, but they're both pronounced Amy. I also know a Sera pronounced Sarah....I don't know how you could pronounce those names differently! This might be because I'm common and Northern though.....it is an accent thing? 🤔

After many years abroad, I answer to anything that is vaguely like my name.

If I saw your name I’d pronounce it Ann-ya. But I’d hope you would correct me! I’ve had a mis-pronounceable name all my life. I correct people all the time, or suggest they use the diminutive, which is easier.

9/10 people mispronounced my name. I very very rarely bother to correct them. The only time I've really put my foot down was with the registrar on my wedding day - when I had my pre-wedding interview I made them write it phonetically so they would get it right. The rest of the time I don't care so long as close friends and family say it correctly. I find other people correct it more than I do - my husband for instance).

I'm confused. Amy and Amie are pronounced the same. Like Aunty and Auntie.