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!

Maya isn't necessarily May-a. I work with someone who pronounces it My-a

@awsomer

I would have assumed the G was the same as gate, because the name looks very close to Gaia, and I would have assumed same pronunciation, whereas I have not seen Gia before. I think you have made rod for your own back there.

I’ve never heard of Gaia (which I would pronounce Guy-ah would that be correct?).
I would pronounce Gia like Gina without the N as @ShellsandSand said.

Gaia is the name of 'mother earth'

Very well known name, around for years. used in film titles/books etc etc.

Pronounced guy - er

@k1233

Maya isn't necessarily May-a. I work with someone who pronounces it My-a

Mia and Maya can both be pronounced either way, with a short or a long 'a' sound (my-a or May - a)

In dds class there was one of each, which was really hard to remember.

many names have alternative pronunciations, and while obviously parents can choose, it should not be a surprise if others get it wrong.

But Op does seem to be saying that it is just pronounced wrong, rather than as an alternative version

@steppemum. I must admit there have been times where I have thought I've made a rod for my own back but its fine. A fashion label called i.am.gia (inspired by the model Gia Carangi? launched a few years back and is popular with older teens and young women so its becoming more known. Gaia i've never heard of but plenty will have done judging by your comments of it being around in movies, literature ect. This may be where the confusion lies.

[quote ShellsandSand]@steppemum. I must admit there have been times where I have thought I've made a rod for my own back but its fine. A fashion label called i.am.gia (inspired by the model Gia Carangi? launched a few years back and is popular with older teens and young women so its becoming more known. Gaia i've never heard of but plenty will have done judging by your comments of it being around in movies, literature ect. This may be where the confusion lies. [/quote]
hopefully it will become more well known and your problem will be over!

My English friend has called her five year old Eyra but expects everyone to pronounce it with an ‘A’, as in ‘Ayra’. Considering we live in England, most people have a problem remembering that and the name is regularly mispronounced. Not sure I could be bothered to spend years reminding people!

Is Eyra a typo or an ugly misspelling of a welsh name?

How do you say Eyra? I have never seen it.

Off to NC after this but Danielle is mine.
The amount of times I have
Daniel
Daniella
Danny ELL (hate this)

And then they get my surname wrong (which is effectively like smith)

So I sit in a hospital waiting room and they shout "Daniel SMITHY" and then wonder why I don't answer. A) because I'm female and b) that isn't my surname

So even if you have a ridiculously easy name, people still don't get it right I mean how hard is Danielle?!?!

It can be more about the unfamiliar sounds than a rhyme necessary
I had a friend who was . . .
Catrin like Patrick
It did help - she said it was always the middle that got mangled.

I have a name I have to explain and it makes me feel special

I don't think the name can be Eyra, because that doesn't shorten further. However, Megan does: 'Meg' - but people would know how to say that.

BertieBotts' explanation puts into words what can be sensed - when vowels aren't followed by a hard consonant it can be harder to remember the sounds.

If a name is natural to you and so you say it smoothly and quickly as it should be said, then it can be hard to differentiate those vowel sounds.

Gaia is Emma Thompson and Greg Wise's daughter.

It's a hard post to answer because there is something so beautiful about both parents choosing a name with love. However, this matter is about your daughter and her life. When you are not there with her to introduce and annunciate the name, if it is a case of being called from a room of people for interview, or something, a difficult name is going to make for difficult situations - so I would change it for a name which is going to help your daughter as she goes through life. Make a choice which will work for her and be unusual enough, but with a general appeal. That would be a loving thing to do for her. Keep the nice name as a middle name which she can opt to use later on when an adult.

If your daughter grows up picking up on your frustration, then she may be frustrated too, and develop a bullish attitude towards those mispronouncing her name, and that will not help her.

If you are annunciating the name clearly and people still mispronounce, it is probably a tricky name to hear because of the blurring of vowels or slightly unusual pronunciation of the vowels.

But, it is a shame, and a difficult one to call.

It 's too hard to say unless you share the name

@steppemum, I think Eyra is a misspellng of Eira.
The Ei bit is like the ey in Hey! and the ra bit is like the ra in rabbit or rat.

@BadBanana

Honestly, just change the poor little buggers name.

Unless you are:

a) Both Welsh
AND
b) living in Wales

Then you are just setting them up for a life of misery any time they have to do the slightest admin (which is pretty much constantly as an adult!)

My parents did this to me (they had lovely traditional names that no one would even blink at!) and they fell out with me when I changed it the second I hit 18.

They were so bothered about my name being ‘unique’ that they didn’t bother to make sure it was useable at all for where we lived. It’s a weird kind of snobbery that their baby just couldn’t have a normal name, even if it makes their life hell.

Yes, because there’s a guarantee that the OP, and her eventual child are going to stay forever where they are currently living.

DS is eight and has lived in two countries already, and I’d. be very surprised if he didn’t live in several more in adulthood. Would your suggestion be that he’s named in the International Phonetic Alphabet?

@AiryFairyMum

It's because people don't have an 'anchor' in their brain for it. Sadly, this happens a lot with unusual names. I wish I'd had a more recognisable name - also annoying having to spell my email out every single time!

Don't worry.,I gave a common name but always have to spell it as it has 2 very common spellings!

I think changing the name would be such an OTT reaction. As I said, it's a pain but really not a huge deal to have a name where the spelling and pronunciation need clarifying a lot. Tbh, if it'll be your daughter's biggest trial in life then: a) lucky her! And b) this might be an opportunity to work on resilience and learning not to sweat the small stuff.

You can never predict entirely how problematic a name will be, anyway. The name might get popular, or just happen to be the name of one person who becomes famous, and the problem will go away. All the parents of 40 year old Harry Potters, Ian Huntleys, David Camerons - even the parents who gave their daughter the perfectly innocuous and easily spelt 'Karen' - thought they were giving names that would never raise an eyebrow or cause an issue; they were wrong!

Anwen and Betsan are two cute pretty pronouncable Welsh girl names. OP, you could put one of these at the front and hyphenate: ' Betsan - ??', and it could even be shortened, in the teenage years to Bet.

Having options is liberating. Anwen could by 'Annie' or 'Ann'. Giving your daughter variations to choose would be cool.

@StrawScarecrow

I had a friend who was . . .
Catrin like Patrick

I'm not usually dense, but I can't work out what you mean??

@JacobReesMogadishu.

I'd say Ryan? What should it be?

@Bewilderbeastie I'd give it another month or so, try to meet (difficult I know) a few more people & see how you feel. Is people being unable to make the sounds/hear the difference part of the issue?

If you still think it might cause her problems, I'd consider adding an easier first name, but you & DH still calling her by her original name. I know several people who do this and it causes occasional issues,but not often & far less frequent issues than names no one can say!!

@MJMG2015 the "atri" sound is the same and is the bit people struggle with.

Oh right

I'm still not sure I'd say it how you like but I'd give it a go 😊

Talk about a friggin drip feed

No one, not a single person, pronounces my name right first time because it's fairly long, weird and also weirdly spelled. I couldn't care less tbh and never have. I spell my name out before being asked to, S for Sierra etc, on the phone.

Don't stress, it makes your kid more interesting.

My name is frequently misheard or mispronounced. I still love it. I just got expert at correcting people. I wouldn’t worry too much. Just make your peace with correcting people. It’s not the end of the world and it won’t hamper your child in later life

My daughters name is Cerys which I thought was an obvious pronunciation - apparently not. Loads of people don't know how to say it (we are in England which doesn't help)

I just correct them

[quote MJMG2015]@StrawScarecrow

I had a friend who was . . .
Catrin like Patrick

I'm not usually dense, but I can't work out what you mean??

@JacobReesMogadishu.

I'd say Ryan? What should it be?

@Bewilderbeastie I'd give it another month or so, try to meet (difficult I know) a few more people & see how you feel. Is people being unable to make the sounds/hear the difference part of the issue?

If you still think it might cause her problems, I'd consider adding an easier first name, but you & DH still calling her by her original name. I know several people who do this and it causes occasional issues,but not often & far less frequent issues than names no one can say!![/quote]
Rhian is pronounced Ree-ann.

I grew up in Wales so seems such an easy name to pronounce to me, but I can see why you would think that looking at it now!