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!

I have an unusual name that no one has ever pronounced correctly on first attempt. It has often taken 2 or 3 attempts.

I hated it as a child, as I was shy and it always drew attention to me. However, as an adult I love it. There is never an awkward silence when I meet new people cause there is always something to talk about. People always remember it and me because of it and I never use my last name.

Is Tierney a Welsh name, I wonder? It's a name which could be shortened to Tia. It has the potential to gain vowels in the pronouncing.

Is Tierney a Welsh name
No. It is almost unpronounceable in Welsh.
If it was welsh it would be written Tiyrni, which looks odd.

You do get names spelt phonetically - Nansi, Anni, Jên, Elsi and so on.

I think that maybe OP's baby is Cariad (I'll spare my opinion on the name just in case).

Some words seem to attract mispronunciation like a magnet. 'Belgian' is often pronounced 'Belgium', and 'nuclear' as 'nucular', yet the correct forms are not difficult. There must be an explanation, but I don't know what it is. I even feel myself veering toward 'Belgium' for 'Belgian', I guess just because of the frequency of the other way of saying it.

Or exetra for et cetera, and ect instead of etc.

Vowels get transposed in welsh names. Clwyd written as Clywd, Dilys as Dylis, Gwyneth as Gywneth and so on.

Nuclear/Nucular is a good one, and some educated people get it wrong.

At school we were corrected if we said something wrongly and would not have got away with haitch (aitch), arz (ours), reckernize (recognise), seckitary (secretary), joolery (jewellery) etc.

I just can't understand why people get these wrong, but they do, and there are people who will struggle with names they haven't seen or heard before.

Dafydd causes issues - I often see it written as Daffyd.

Wen and Wyn are often mixed up - a relative has a wen name and often gets a wyn version - wen is female and wyn male. Bronwyn is often suggested as a Welsh name but it's Bronwen.

Cariad would make sense as to an English eye Carrie would be a natural shortening. It could also be Eleri, Elin or Elen - to an English eye Ellie is an option. Same with Aneira, Anwen and Angharad* but with Annie.

I know the letters in Angharad are:
A Ng h a r a d
But to an English speaking eye Annie would look logical.

I think OP posted that it was two syllables. Anwen would fit. Would Cariad be pronounced as two syllabic: like Car eed?

All very pretty names.

@Diverseopinions, Cariad is pretty awful as a name. It's the welsh word for Love, but it can also mean darling/sweetheart/charity/girlfriend/boyfriend.

There is a famous Cariad, and I've never heard her name said the welsh way. She's always announced as Carry-ad, but the word is pronounce Carr-yad. It is two syllables, but in welsh you say all the letters, and the language is phonetic. I particularly find the name strange because her surname can be a first name so it sounds like Lloyd's Girlfriend (or it would if the first name wasn't mis-said)

You wouldn't get a name like Careed because the stress always falls on the last but one syllable. If Careed was welsh it would be written Carîd.

The rules are very simple, but only a few names are bulletproof.

Some of the names look pretty but aren't and others don't particularly look pretty but are delightful. They sound unpleasant mispronounced (to me).

Angharad shortened to Annie compares to something like Amelia being shortened to Annie.

Cariad is pretty awful as a name. It's the welsh word for Love, but it can also mean darling/sweetheart/charity/girlfriend/boyfriend.
I think MikeUniformMike is a pretty awful name choice! Even if it s forum one!

I think Cariad sounds as if it could be pronounced different ways, and a native Welsh speaker would probably say it differently to me, for instance. It's a lovely name I think. I suppose sounding every letter does make for more sounds when inexperienced people try it.

Names are funny things. I've no idea how to pronounce Cerys (ser-ees?) but Eyra is an obvious pronunciation to my mind.

Eyra isn't welsh. Eira is.
Cerys is Kerris. (Nerys is nice and is underused and pretty similar)

C is always pronounced as K. Ch is a separate letter.

I think Cariad sounds as if it could be pronounced different ways
Not so. Carr (like Carry without the y) followed by yad.
Carry-ad is a bizarre way of saying it.

I suppose it would be something similar to saying Sophia as Sophie-ah, or sweetheart as swee-the-art.

@MerryMarigold

Nia gets mispronounced as Nigh-ah

My friend has one and that's how she pronounces it. I supposed it could be Knee-ah (is that how you say it?), but I've always thought of it as Nigh-ah because of my friend's child.

I have a friend with a DD Niya, which seems to always be pronounced right. So I have name spelling envy and wish I'd have spelt my DD's name that way, although I didn't want it to be seen as a made up name. The spelling we chose is a legitimate alternative spelling.

I guess you just have to resign yourself to some people always getting it wrong (and continuing to do so, even when corrected). My DD is Kya, pronounced to rhyme with higher, but people still call her Kee-ya (it's not like Kia is unheard of, it's a car make!).

Ah well 🤷🏻‍♀️

Nia is Knee-ah (Nigh-a would need to be Naia)

I think OP baby may be Cadi
So in wales we would say cad-ee
Whereas others may pronounce Kay-Dee

Also I can't remember who said it doesn't happen but I know who said but I know a few Angharads that call themselves Annie.

Is it the fact that English people (generalising here) can't get their tongue around the Welsh sounds?

@dixiedo, Cadi is Caddy.
there's no n in Angharad, so Annie seems an odd nn. I like Annie/Anni though.

Really don't change your name because people can't learn it. Some of these people you won't see again after a while. Keep the name. Keep telling people how to pronounce it. When it happens once your child is old enough to speak teach her to politely say it is Eve-Lyn not Ever-Lyn..

I have a name folk get wrong, it’s selfish not to consider a name that folk may have trouble with.
Be wise use their middle name instead

[quote Bewilderbeastie]@MikeUniformMike hmm... Maybe a good example is something like 'Evelyn'.[/quote]
Ha, I hadn't read this far when I posted my bit.

@MikeUniformMike to be honest I say caddy and cad-ee exactly the same. Let's just call it regional dialect...

Cadi is brilliant. The sound of the 'y' after the 'd' is softer than it would have been in Shirley, for instance, or Mandy. Which letter a vowel sound follows seems to affect the level of emphasis.