Pronouncing baby's name wrong

[MrsLeighHalfpenny]

Friend has had a baby girl - Anaïs.

Lovely name, but they pronounce it Annay, and not An-eye-ees.

I saw it written down before I heard them say it, and said “I love the name Anaïs” to the grandmother (also my friend). She told me that that’s not how it should be pronounced.

Should I explain what a diaeresis is for?

Depends with Lúcia the tonic stress is on the LU like the English name Lucy so it is LOO -see-a, Lucía is Loo-SEE-uh though, true. When there is no accent wouldn't the stress be on the first syllable or is there some rule that makes that not the case?

LinoleumBlownapart

In Spanish and Portuguese if there is no accent, the stress falls on the penultimate syllable, which is why the name is almost always Loo-SEE-uh (although you're right that some parents do change it to Lúcia, but in my experience that's not so common)

To be really accurate, shouldn't the S sound be more of a lisp?

mathanxiety only in certain parts of Spain, and not in any parts of South America and never in Portuguese.

So I'd say no, in general :P

Sank you! I asked because DD2 has a friend Lucia (with one Spanish parent) whose name is pronounced with the lisp.

DiegoMadonna interesting, my experience is the opposite. I know about 8 Lúcias. All the Lúcias I know are Brazilian or Portuguese, so that maybe why. Maybe the Lucia that the poster judged for being a Lucy-a not Lutchia had a Portuguese background.

In parts of eastern Europe, Lucia is pronounced Loot-see-a. That is also not wrong. I can't believe anyone would think there was only one correct way to pronounce this name.

If they are insisting on using the ï , they should pronounce accordingly - Anna-eess.
Anaïs Anaïs was my first grown-up perfume when I was about 16, I was never sure about the pronunciation until a few years later when I was living in Paris. We did a function/cocktail for Cacherel and all got a free sample of Anaïs Anaïs and i learnt it was definitely pronounced Anna-eesss.

My Dad, many years ago, once met someone, a young adult, who introduced himself as 'seen'. "Seen? that's an unusual name." says Dad. . .

"Seen as in Sean Connery" says Sean, oblivious. My dad was too shocked to say anything. I'm not sure how Sean would have reacted when he eventually discovered the usual pronunciation of his name, but I can't imagine he'd feel great about it.

So, yeah, I'd say tell the parents, for the child's sake. Just to let them know. What they decide to do is up to them, but someone should explain to them, as soon as possible, how the name is originally pronounced.
Then maybe they can tell the child 'this is how you spell/say Anaïs, and we call you Annay for short, a nick name'.
Like Tommy an Thomas. It's a normal thing to do and I don't think anyone would be confused if little Anaïs grew up understanding it this way.