Rowenna

[countrystumpkin]

Done a few baby name threads now, but seem to have settled on one.

We love Rowenna (or Rowena) - but only pronounced Ro-WHEN-a - we both dislike Ro-WEEN-a.

Shall we spell it Rowenna to avoid confusion with pronunciation? Or shall we name her Rowena and correct people when they inevitably say it Ro-WEEN-a?

I like Rowenna and I think the spelling is fine.

For your favoured pronunciation, I'd spell it Rowenna

It's nice. Stick to the Rowenna spelling. Rowena is nice too.

I always lurk but never post, however this I actually have some personal thoughts about (outing myself prob now)

If you want it pronounced Ro-When-a then please please use Rowenna and be very confident about it with others.
Speaking from experience please also consider that people will always pronounce it Ro-ween-a even when constantly corrected! For a young child correcting an adult on how to pronounce your own name is tricky and although I love my name, I have used a nickname for many years as only a handful of people will use my name properly- it’s worse when people try to correct me or even just continue using the wrong pronunciation regardless.
I’ve made sure my own children have names which can’t really be mispronunced and I am very stern when/if I need to correct people about their names but whenever I have to do it about mine it becomes tedious and I honestly used to wish I had been given a different name but I could never change it as my parents picked it for a reason.
Sorry if I sound negative, like I say it’s lovely name but it’s not an easy one to own!

I'm sure you have people correcting you about your own name too Ember. I have had it all my life.
Short name but people insisting it is one of two or more possible long versions, and that I am wrong.
(Think something like Beth being told she is actually Bethan, Bethany or Elizabeth).

No, thank you that’s interesting and really good to know!

I’m assuming your name is Rowena - I think my biggest issue with the name has always been that I don’t want it mispronounced - due to what I personally like, but also for her sake. Rowenna seems to solve that.

I love the name Rowan (but vetoed by husband for being a ‘boys name’), so hoping this is a compromise and can still use Ro and Rowan as a nickname.

If you want the row-en-na pronounciation you will absolutely have to spell it Rowenna.

Rowena will automatically be pronounced row-ee-na because the one n makes the vowel long.

Yes definitely two ns for your favoured pronunciation.

But as Ember says above, she will get many people calling her Ro-wee-na in any case.

There aren't many of us about, so lovely to see it on a baby name thread.

For what it's worth, when I read the title I imagined it pronounced as ro-WHEN-a :)

But Helena is Helen-a. Where I'm from it's traditionaly Hel-eena, and in scotland Hel-aina.

A name you coud consider is Rowella, but I prefer Rowenna due to there being so many -ella names around.
And while were on cornish names Lowenna is lovely

I think spelling it Rowenna will help with initial pronunciation definitely, but I picked up on you saying you dislike the Roweena sounding version, in which case I meant please be aware that you will hear it said that way if that’s likely to spoil it for you

I have the Rowena spelling and to be honest I love it if said correctly, but sadly it almost never is/has been which has caused me to dislike using my full name as I know I’ll have to correct/argue/explain each time.

I've never heard of the name before and I actually really like it!

Definitely spell it Rowenna as I read it as row-en-uh in my head! I actually prefer that spelling anyway. Yes it's not the standard spelling but it's not the end of the world. (I'm Ellianna instead of Eliana).

People will still mispronounce it as let's be real it's not a Sophie style name!

I love Rowenna, it's beautiful. You'll need to spell it that way to get the pronunciation you want.

It wouldn’t occur to me to pronounce Rowena row-ee—na but I seem to be in minority so Rowenna is probably a safer bet.

Rowena--- ro-WEE-na

Rowenna--ro-WHEN-a.

I agree, use the second spelling, otherwise the majority of people will not pronounce it the way you want. It's a nice name!

I don't like Rowena but actually really like Rowenna. Very pretty sound indeed but not at all babyish.

And to answer the question you actually asked definitely, definitely spell it Rowenna. I would never guess that a Rowena might pronounce her name Ro-WENN-a

Nope. It’s like you don’t know how to say or spell Rowena properly.

I think I'd automatically mispronounce it in your eyes, you'd just have to correct me.

I've only ever heard the WHEN pronunciation so I'd get it wrong at first. Lovely name though. I've had a lifetime of having my names spelt and pronounced incorrectly and it doesn't bother me anymore.

I think Rowenna is a much prettier pronunciation and spelling