Thoughts on Schuyler?

[AustraliaAmerica]

Thanks! Pronounced Sky-ler...

Spell it the Dutch way. It's a Dutch name, you're Dutch, your child will be Dutch.

Yes, people will mispronounce it all the time in the UK, but all you have to do is say "It's pronounced 'Sky-lar'" and they'll say it correctly.

And yes, it's a nice name. Not as keen on Bram. The first thing that comes to mind is Bram Stoker (of course) and then Bran Flakes, so visions of Dracula eating cereal! Perhaps he went veggie...

I knew how to pronounce it too, and also knew that Schuyler is the 'proper spelling' - whereas I'd say 'Skyla' is more the trendy US 'you-neeq' version. It sounds nice, and if you're Dutch and don't mind explaining the pronunciation in the UK it's a great choice. Loads of people have foreign names that take a little explaining - many of which are beautiful - and it would be really boring if easy pronunciation was the only criteria for naming a child regardless of their heritage!
(PS. I probably like Vincent even more though - cool name)

OP, I'm an immigrant too so I know the struggles of finding names you like from your own country that still work in your new one. I have had to dismiss basically all of my top 5-10 names because here they don't sound anything like they do in English. I don't want to spend my whole life, (or my child to spend theirs) correcting people.

I would pronounce the name in the title as Shoy-ler.

Another Hamilton fan here. You might find it becomes better known when the musical comes to London.

Work!

See how aggravated you're getting on here already.
Well imagine that as a daily occurance! Just because you know its not a yooneeq spelling, doesn't mean others in real life will. You will have to repeatedly REPEATEDLY advise people how to pronounce it, and they more than likely will judge you for the spelling. Think you'll be cracking out your real life face even more than you have on here.

all you have to do is say "It's pronounced 'Sky-lar'" and they'll say it correctly

Not necessarily. I went to school for two years with a boy called Kowser. It was pronounced Koi-shore. Some of the teachers couldn't get it right the entire time. I knew someone else with the surname Tse, pronounced Teece. After 5 years of school some teachers still tried to pronounce it TuSea.

People will mispronounce it all the time. From this thread you can see how many British people have no clue how to pronounce it. I would've said shoo-ler too. I think as long as you accept that while you live in the UK you will constantly have to tell people how to spell/pronounce it, then fine, go for it.

If you want an easy life, choose an English name. I'm guessing that Skyler/Skylar is the American phonetic spelling (since I don't know any DC called those names in the UK and I'm guessing most people's familiarity with that name will come from Breaking Bad!)

Well I've heard of it before and knew exactly how to pronounce it. It's not that odd or 'unique' imo.

It makes me think of Jewish Americans, for some reason.

Should also add that I think it a lovely, strong name.

Another Hamilton fan here so yes I knew how to pronounce it. Is it a first name though? I'm not a massive fan of surnames as first names though just to contradict myself I quite like Skyler.

Bram (as in Stoker) was short for Abraham. It's quite cool I think.

I think it's lovely, and my instinctive pronunciation was 'shyler' so not too far off. Most people who aren't twats will happily be told 'it's pronounced Skyler' and then use it appropriately. Unfortunatley lots of people are twats

You're Dutch and it's a Dutch name, I see absolutely no reason why you should anglicise it for the benefit of people around you. It's not their child or their name.

DropYourSword Well it sounds like they were being intentionally ignorant (if he did actually bother to correct them, that is. Often people will just accept mispronounciations.)

No one pronounces Michael as "Mish-ay-el", but as soon as they see a name that looks "foreign" they don't bother trying.

To be honest OP, I have an "English" surname and my first name is not unusual at all. Yet I get called something similar (think Ella but get called Bella for example) all the time and nobody has ever spelt my surname right without me telling them. On the one hand, it is very annoying to correct people and I have pretty much given up doing it. OTOH, it may well happen whatever name you choose, so if you love it then go for it. I do really like Bram!

Skylar is a girls name to me

Schuyler to me is 'skool-ler', not skylar anyway. And I have lived in Holland.

Skyler was a character in Breaking Bad, as an aside, a not very pleasant character. That was my first thought - just to throw that int the mix.

As far as a know Sch is not exactly pronounced sk in Dutch either - it's a slightly softer sound than the sk sound in English

If this is for real then no I don't like it. You will forever be pronouncing it, correcting people, and having to correct spelling.

The commentators on the olympics pronounce Dafne Schippers as Skippers, that is easy enough. It is the 'ul' in Schulyer that will throw more people.

Bitoutofpractice What was unpleasant about Skyler White? Her husband was a power-mad drug lord, who basically forced her to stay with him. She had to put up with a lot of shit.

Waitrose, why would this be fake?

Ok I have checked and sch is definitely not a hard "sk" sound in Dutch.

The ability to pronounce the sch beginning of words was used, in WWII to test whether the person was Dutch or German. We don't really have an equivalent sound in English. But in Dutch sch is much much softer than the sch at the beginning of school for instance.

pennyunwise I didn't find any of the characters in BB to be very sympathetic to be honest.

Do you speak Dutch OP?
I can well imagine that Skyler comes from Schuyler anglicised over the centuries, but pronouncing Schuyler in Dutch sounds absolutely nothing like skyler.

"Skyler" is an anglicised pronunciation, so you might as well spell it in the anglicised way too, right?

Or spell it Schuylar and pronounce it sxœylər .

I know how to pronounce it but only because of Hamilton.

I also see many people on here say to go for the French spelling/Irish spelling, etc.

Most people in the UK have at least very basic schoolchild French. Most people know someone with Irish heritage and many have Irish blood themselves. Dutch pronunciation conventions are not well known in the UK. I'm afraid that your child will have to teach virtually every new acquaintance how to pronounce it. I can also assure you that people will spell it wrong - they will try to spell it Schyuler rather than Schuyler.

You haven't said how Dutch you all are.

My friends kids are 1/4 Spanish and all have massively "out there" Spanish names.

It sounds ridiculous when you have to call for them at the park in Leeds.