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?

I know someone who gave her child an Irish name, while having no Irish roots. Not having Irish roots isnt a problem of course, but if she had she might have known how to pronounce it! She clearly saw it written down and says it phonetically, along the lines of pronouncing Siobhan Si-oh-ban insead of Sha-vawn.

She insists that everyone else, including Irish people, are wrong and I feel embarrassed for her.

This thread brings this funny to mind...

How do you get the diaeresis when you type? Do you need to change keyboard language?

My DD's middle name is Anaïs and this is exactly why it's not her first name 😂
Even her father pronounces it 'Annay' and tbh I let people. Anaïs is harder to say in an English accent I guess! It's not a massive deal.

Starzig

Goodle Alt Codes :)

Google!

OP PLEASE tell them! So they can change it before the child turns one! After then, they’ll have to use Deed Poll and have two separate birth certificates

What always puzzles me when this name comes up in these boards, is when people saying they pronounce it "Annay" because of the perfume.

I'm old enough to recall when it first came out in the late 70s and it was always pronounced Anna-eess Anna-eess in the ads as well as in the shops. I got my friend somefor her 18th because she fell in love with the name.

So I'm trying to work out when the company changed their marketing to Annay Annay, and when they changed it back again. All the ads I can find on YouTube have the pronunciation Anna-eess Anna-eess, so does anyone have a link to this being marketed with the Annay pronunciation? I'm genuinely curious.

OP, I'd struggle to resist asking why they decided to pronounce it that way. Not pointing out that it's wrong, just asking what their thinking was. But I've got in a bit of an argument like that before, so as the GM is your friend, it might be best to bite your tongue if you can.

My daughter was at school with a girl called Chryseis pronounced Sherice

I read it as crisis

😂

The strangest one that I’ve heard of is a person on here who chose Elle but wanted it pronounced Ellie.

My son is half french....he's a Xavier...pronounced Xza-vee-ai. But no, I get X-av-v-errrrr.....and Zav-ee-errr....I blame a lot of it on the X-Men movie and that damned professor X lol My son does try to correct people but I have come to accept that like my name which is also French, people will never get it right and its not a huge deal. My name is far far prettier said the French way but heigh-ho lol Life! ;)

Any Irish people around to comment on different pronunciations? I've always pronounced Siobhan as she-vaughan, but last week met a show-ban. Is that another Irish pronunciation or just another pronunciation altogether?

My old neighbours called their kid Sian pronounced Sigh-anne too.
I thought it was a name I hadn't heard before until they spelled it out.

Someone find the Elle/Ellie thread and link it pleaseeeee

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dontwww.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dont" target="_blank">http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby<a class="break-all" href="http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dontwww.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dont" target="blank">names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dontwww.mumsnet.com/Talk/babyy<a class="break-all" href="http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dontwww.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dont" target="_blank">names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dont

people pronouncing my baby's name the way I dont
<a class="break-all" href="http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dontwww.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dont" target="_blank">http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby<a class="break-all" href="http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dontwww.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dont" target="blank">names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dontt

people pronouncing my baby's name the way I dont
<a class="break-all" href="http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dontwww.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dont" target="_blank">http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby<a class="break-all" href="http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dontwww.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dont" target="blank">names/2210629-people-pronouncing-my-babys-name-the-way-I-dontt

Third time lucky

Would you correct someone who said they were going to Paris (English pronunciation) and tell them that they were in fact going to Paree?

Perfume advertising in the 1970's was not the same as it is today, much was poster and magazine rather than TV campaigns which goes in part to explain the fact that lots of people applied the French language rules of having the last letter silent incorrectly in this case and assumed the 'annay' pronunciation.

No I wouldn't tell someone they are going to Paree. But I also wouldn't name my child Lorenzo and insist that it's pronounced Lawrence.

If you call your child Anaïs and want to pronounce it according to English rules, it would be Ah-nays or similar, no? Annay is a pronounciation people erroneously assume is the correct French way.

Just leave them to it, they’ll say this is our daughter Annay, they won’t proceed to spell it out. You’re being a bit mean if you ask me. Definitely don’t say anything to them.

I'd let it go or would say something like "that is the Provençal/Catalan for Agnes" (which it is, conflated with Anne) and add that usually it would have the vowels separated out and the s pronounced".

The perfume is An-ah-ees Ana-ah-ees but without the diaresis it would still me Anne-aze Annay because the ais is followed by a vowel.

In the hymn it is equally and traditionally written The First Nowell.

I think it was people who pronounce it Annay Annay as I remember getting angry about it as a francophone teen. Doubly wrong as the A of the second word would mean the first s was always pronounced with or without the diaresis.

IT may quite reasonably depend on the area of Ireland someone is from...... the /o/ sound of the first syllable is closer to an o or a neutral vowel anyway (the i modifies the s making that sh); b + h makes the /b/ aspirated in pronunciation (a lot of air and a bit of a buzz), so not quite a vee sound either as in standard English; the b and v sound are interchangeable or variants sound wise in some languages... As are /f/ and /v/; I am not sure if Irish Gaelic has a v as a separate sound/letter.

Honestly, it's none of your business. Anais pronounced annay made my shortlist, and despite being aware it isn't the correct French pronunciation it wouldn't matter. It's my choice. I am English with a German name typically for men, which gets mispronounced all the time... it isn't a big deal, nor will this girl find it a big deal. All she will say is 'it's anais, pronounced annay, spelled ANAIS'
It won't ruin her life, Jesus Christ people.