Name with 2 pronunciations

[Tesdor28]

Hi all, I am the end of my pregnancy with baby girl n.2. My husband and I are both Italian and currently live in the UK, although we don't know how long we will stay here. Among the names we are considering, there is one that exists with the same spelling in both English and Italian, but I believe it is pronounced differently in English than in Italian. The name is Gilda, and in Italian it is pronounced with a soft G, while in English, if I am correct, with a hard G. I am a bit worried that if we choose this name it will be confusing for my daughter. We don't mind the sound of the English pronounciation either, but for sure we would pronounce it the Italian way. What is your take on this? For my first daughter we don't have this problem as the difference in pronounciation of her name is less important.

I wouldn't know how to say it so probably ask. I would be more concerned of teasing around Glinda in Wicked

I think the obvious Italian girl name that will get mispronounced is Claudia as not many will realise it's Cloudier

My name is pronounced differently in France vs UK, and it's fine either way. It's never been an issue. It would be a bit strange if an Englishman pronounced it the French way, but not the end of the world.

If you want it pronounced the Italian way then you'll need to correct people, which is fine. Teachers especially should make a point of getting it right and I think it's unfair to expect a child to expect a child to put up with incorrect pronunciation by those who see them a lot. I had a child last year called Joao, he told me I was the first teacher who pronounced it properly, at age 11, that's not fair. It's not even difficult, just make the effort.
OP it would certainly be easier to pick an Italian name that will be pronounced the same in the UK also. We have a Vittoria, a Federica, a Cinzia, a Filippo and a Giacamo locally ans they're called by their name as there's no alternative.

I’d have no idea what a “soft g” is, but if you introduced me to your child (or later if she introduced herself) I’d learn how to say it. And then would say it like that.

I guess if you were offended or sniffy if people say it incorrectly, and would endlessly be bothered by that then it’s not a good name.

my name is not English, and whilst seems phonetically simple many people ask how to say it etc.
I don’t get annoyed.
I don’t get offended.
I just say it clearly and am warm when people mispronounce it.

when I was younger if i met new people and didn’t think id seem them again I used a different name that in loud places sounds the same. It tickled me that they’d call me Barbara or Sandra.

Well I would initially, due to Rita Hayworth and also to Gilda in Design For Living. But I'd only need telling once, if someone pronounced their name another way.

I have a friend called Joao Paulo who goes by JP. I've always assumed he just likes the abbreviation, but maybe he resorted to it because he was sick of being mispronounced!🤔

Surely if someone introduces themselves, you pronounce it by repeating what they said, rather than by how they spell it.

Don't worry about it. We discovered after my DD was born that about half of people pronounce her name a different way. I had no idea. It's been fine. She corrects people when necessary.

At school, she will correct each teacher once and then they will generally know. After that you usually introduce yourself to people so they'll follow your pronunciation.

Very likely. This boy told me his previous teacher called him John for ease!

In England we would pronounce it with a soft G as in other names such as Gaynor, Gary etc

That's a hard G.

You can pronounce my name two different ways, although I’ve probably heard about 8 different ways 😂
Doesn’t bother me! It actually makes it a very international name
too. Gilda’s lovely

Gilda as in rhymes with builder.

I am a two-culture and two-pronunciation child too and it’s never been a problem to be, for example, John in English and in Swedish have it pronounced ”Yon”. I wouldn’t worry!

I have a French name with three different pronunciations, it is annoying when people constantly get it wrong, so I more often just go by a shortened version of it nowadays. It just became too much hassle correcting people and most of them still mispronounced it afterwards🙄

That's hard. Not soft

I smiled when I read that, but it's not actually funny. I mean it takes seconds to learn how to pronounce a name properly, and that's not even a different pronunciation, it's like insisting on calling Sean and Seamus John and James because you can only be arsed to remember the English version!

I more often go by a shortened version of my name too, though I don't get annoyed when the long version is mispronounced. Which is odd, because I'm normally really intolerant! 😁

It’s a beautiful name. Congratulations.

Exactly! Terrible and so lazy. He was so amazed that I could pronounce it!

It really doesn't matter. Most names will be pronounced differently in different counties let alone countries.
My Dd is Hannah... you've thought Ha-na.... but DFIL was from Bristol... she was always Annur to him.

I don't think it will be confusing, and if you're happy with the way it sounds in both languages then it should be okay. The two aren't that different really. I think it would only really be a problem if you didn't like the other pronunciation.

Personally I think it's a lovely name in both English and Italian.

It's one of those things that will depend on the child's temperament - some will be fine with either name, others find having others alter their name very frustration.

Surely if someone introduces themselves, you pronounce it by repeating what they said, rather than by how they spell it.

That should be how it's done; however, it's been very common for me to have people pronounced my name just fine until I spelt it or they saw it written down, then they instantly started using an anglicised pronunciation. For years I've had a pronunciation guide with my email signature and in any virtual meetings & still have issues. I've had people I've worked with for 4+ years, hear me introduce myself regularly to others, and still do it.

I don't think it would be confusing, I know a lot of children with dual nationality whose name is pronounced differently in English and they got used to it very quickly. It's not confusing at all.

I wouldn't go with the name unless you're happy with both pronunciations though, particularly if you're planning to live in the UK.
Unfortunately we've had to exclude loads of names we liked for that reason.

My own name is foreign and not easy to pronounce for English people, I'm fine with the alternative and don't really care, but even if I wasn't I don't think it would be fair or healthy to correct everyone constantly.