No one can pronounce my baby's name!

[Bewilderbeastie]

Had my baby this year - decided upon a name which is definitely not common but (we thought) really not difficult. It's very short, two syllables, no special characters, nothing odd about how you pronounce it (it's very say what you see).

We both saw it, loved it, didn't consider people would she trouble with it... But they do! I've heard every wrong iteration of it. Even when we say what the correct pronunciation is, people continue to struggle?! We've been witnessing this with growing horror and worried now we've saddled our child with a name that will haunt them for life. Every time I hear someone say it wrong, I cringe inside. I can only imagine what it's going to be like for my LO.

It can be shortened even further, so that's an option. But it's not the name we fell in love with.

Any tips on dealing with this? Both my husband and I have very trad names so never had this ourselves. It gets a bit awkward to keep correcting people... Help!

Is it generally older people who struggle with it? I find younger people/ kids dont struggle with my name. Times have changed and there are lots of unusual names out there now. People are much more open minded. I was the only one in my class with an unusual name but I bet that wouldn't be the case these days.

@yellowmaoampinball yes, mostly older people. I had hoped someone might say this - gives me hope!

I like the idea of saying what it rhymes with. Or are there any famous people with the same name? E.g., it's Moira, like Moira Stewart, the news reader if people ask.

Unfortunately there might be a bit of confusion if there are different possible pronunciations. Unless you're in an official setting such as a doctor's or nursery perhaps just let it go. If it's just a stranger in a shop commenting "what a lovely baby, what's her name?" maybe it's not worth correcting them.

Really, we're a long way past the days of everyone in school being called Emma, Tracy or Sharon. If you love the name, keep it. Your child's peers probably won't struggle with it at all.

One of my ds is called Kareem. Pronounced Ka-reem. Very simple.

Everyone still to this day, bar me and my husband and our other children calls him Cah-rim.

I have a difficult to pronounce name. Tbh it has caused me a lot of anxiety as a shy kid.

Each time the register was read, I'd be nervous that a new teacher would mispronounce my name. I'd avoid any task where they'd ask you your name publicly because I knew I'd get the puzzled look whenever I mentioned my name and have to repeat again and again.

Even as an adult, whenever I contact a call centre I have to always spell out my name and getting introduced to new people always sent a shot of "will they be able to pronounce my name" anxiety through me. My driving instructor for 2 whole years never said my name correctly.

I ended up shortening my name and life did get much easier. At my workplace I am known by the shorter name and even have my emails with this version. It is much simpler and less bothersome.

My friend at school was called Scheherazade. Once a new teacher did the register, came to her name and said "Gobbly-di gook....... sorry I have no idea."

Off topic, but that is a brilliant clip, from a fabulous film!

Is it really meant to be Ma'am to rhyme with ham?

[quote Bewilderbeastie]@yellowmaoampinball yes, mostly older people. I had hoped someone might say this - gives me hope![/quote]
If you chose a name that is hard for mono-English speakers to pronounce then why are you surprised people can't pronounce it?

One thing when choosing a name for your kid you need to ensure people can pronounce it and any mispronunciation isn't rude

I was on the Irish name thread and pointed out my DP changed his name I kept mine. The difference being I went to school in London and he went to school in the NW. In my case for every person who couldn't pronounce my name there were people, particularly from Latin language countries, who had no issue. There as my DP had none of this so changed his name by Deed Poll. In both our cases we have had people being very rude about our names but in his case it was relentless.

I have a name that I have to spell out loud and that is constantly mispronounced and it is a pain (and I have to say I didn't pick a name like that for my own DC!) but it really isn't the end of the world, either - it's a nuisance, not a disaster. If you love the name I wouldn't worry. Lots of people with common names hate that their name is so generic (maybe my DC will) so there isn't a 'right' option here. Just keep correcting people you know and try not to worry too much about people you'll only see once - pick your battles!

@PopsicleHustler

One of my ds is called Kareem. Pronounced Ka-reem. Very simple.

Everyone still to this day, bar me and my husband and our other children calls him Cah-rim.

That's because both pronunciations are correct. It depends which part of the world you come from.

Is it like Evelyn in the sense that there is more than one accepted pronunciation and it depends on where you live? Using the Evelyn example, people pronounce it ‘eve-lyn’ and ‘ev-a-lyn’ and subtle variations depending on their regional accent and local usage. Neither is incorrect per se. Similarly, Esme - I have met both ‘es-mee’ and ‘es-may’ spelt the same way, but pronounced differently by people from different places. Neither pronunciation is actually wrong, just used by people in different regions.

@Fishypants sorry to hear that, that's what I'm afraid of. I already have the anxiety around whether someone will hear me/understand me correctly. Perhaps a shortened version will work best in later life.

Problem with rhyming is that... It really doesn't rhyme with anything. I've even googled and it comes up with precisely 0 rhyming words. No one famous with it, either. Perhaps not such a shocker that most can't pronounce, I guess...

Ah well, I shall pick my battles, as advised

OP - It may also not be deliberate mispronunciation. I was brought up in an Italian family, so naturally use pronunciations of letters that fit in with that heritage. Upthread someone used Mia, and Leah, and then used both and Anglicised and Italianate version of each, assuming they are English it goes to show how we all use language differently.

I would use Mee-ah and Leh-ya, because an "i" is and eeee, and an "e" is an eh. But that's just me. In England we tend to say Eee-ran, not Eye-ran, so again, Italianate rather than English.

Don't get too hung up on it, I have a very long name, easy to say, never, ever spelt right, EVER. It is actually completely normal and natural, but because it is long, people assume is has to be somehow complicated. And NO, it doesn't have a hyphen!! Also, always, always, get's shortened, which is sad.

Oh and further to your "understand me correctly" - I always have to repeat my name, sometimes twice, hey ho.

My name is the opposite of uncommon, it's one of those 70s/ 80s names that half the bloody school year seemed to have. It's really well known. Most of the people in my life have a different way of saying it- my dad has always said it differently from my mum, my DH says it differently from both of them colleagues from when I worked in Cambs say it differently from how colleagues in Manchester say it, and when I lived in Wales it was again said differently (and my favourite way). Accents change a lot. It doesn't bother me at all.

My DDs name is Gia. GEE-AH. Just like Gina but without the N. The amount of people who read the G as in Gate. It surprises me but we just raise an eyebrow until they realise its Gia as in Jia. Like you wouldn't read George as in Gorge(ous). Also, It's so hard to write down this example 😁

I'm intrigued about a 2 syllable girl's name that

• can be pronounced in different ways,
• sounds ugly when mispronounced,
• is very unusual,

-and doesn't rhyme with anything.

Is it Saoirse?

@AugieMarch it's a Welsh name and so it's just totally new for most English speakers, so in this case it's not about people picking the pronunciation they are more familiar with. But we really didn't think people would find it as difficult as they have as, when we chose it, it seemed very straightforward and easy - in fact when people mispronounce they tend to add in all sorts of complicated extra letter sounds!

Please just share the name. Maybe someone will have dealt with it before and knows how best to educate on the name

Mines welsh too. I'm wondering if it's the same one!

It probably won't be a big an issue as you imagine as she grows up.

However, I would feel quite insulted if a grandparent consistently got it wrong! Is your MIL being deliberately obtuse because she doesn't like the name? Unless she has cognitive or processsing issues then she should be able to correctly pronounce a 2 syllable name when shown how to.

I'd feel quite hurt about that.

My DD has a name from Shakespeare that isn't desperately uncommon but also has a name from hell as her surname ( Russian). She used to dread new teachers/first day of term each time as they stuttered over not just her bloody surname but her first name. We always call her by a short version and I kind of wish that's what we had named her. But now she's an adult she says it was a small price to pay for not have the same name as everyone else in her year .

I think a Welsh name like an Irish name can be tricky but just get in quick as others suggest

Evelyn - I see it as Eve-lyn, and had until a few years ago thought that others said it as Ev-lyn. The Evva-lyn pronunciation is new to me, yet the name seems everywhere.,

I chose common traditional names for my DC as I have spent my life not only spelling out my name endlessly but also explaining how to pronounce it. All my DCs family on their father's side mispronounce my name and teach new family members how to say it wrong. I would love to have a common name. I also had an unusual surname, which has to be spelt out. I'm glad my married surname is common.
Please think of this when naming children.

My frequently mispronounced name is also Welsh, and my top tip is to tell people that it's Welsh. Not because it'll help them pronounce it - it won't - but because I find it makes people more tolerant/try harder. People are very judgy of 'made-up'/'yoonique' names and I find they're often a bit sneery about not knowing how to say it if they think that, and then are instantly nicer if I say it's Welsh, either because they then think it's a 'proper' name or because they realise that being a bit of an arse about pronouncing a Welsh name makes you look like a bit of a twat/bigot.