unusual name pronunciation

[ButterRose]

How of curiosity as I'm not pregnant but we are trying and hence the names topic came up... If we like a particular name that we heard pronounced a certain way ie rhyming with: sebastian, tristan or christian, but it is another more popular as a name in another country and almost unheard of here and when it is the 'tian' ending is pronounced shn instead of ti-an... Would we be incorrect to correct people to our preferred pronunciation would the name cause to much grief to others, ourselves and our future son/daughter? I'm happy to share the name but wanted honest opinions first...

Thanks for the help everyone I'm thinking it might be more of a middle name option now less trouble that way

Gentian is pronounced Jenshun, in the same way that Venetian is pronounced Venishun.

What you want to do is like calling a child Christine and wanting it pronounced Ch (as in cheap) ris-Tyne

@HomeHomeInTheRange

Gentian is pronounced Jenshun, in the same way that Venetian is pronounced Venishun.

What you want to do is like calling a child Christine and wanting it pronounced Ch (as in cheap) ris-Tyne

Jenshun is the correct pronunciation as explained here.

@Lilaclavenders Think of how you pronounce Croatian, libation, motion, etc

They are not pronounced Crow-ate-ee-an, lib-at-ee-un, mo-tee-on ... They are pronounced Crow-ay-shun, li-bey-shun, mo-shun.

But if a word has an 'st' in it, then you keep the 't' sound - as in Christian, Sebastian - following the pattern for words like 'bastion'.

Yes, I get that. But somehow my brain wants to pronounce Gentian as Gen-tee-an with the emphasis on the first syllable. I'm obviously in the minority!

I'd say GEN-tyunn or GEN-tyann (Scottish; had field gentians growing nearby - so pretty).
I hope you'd only be thinking of it for a girl.

I have Dutch friends who say 'Sebastee-AAANN'; English friends who say 'Christ-tyUNN'.
No-one I know uses the 'sh' sound in Gentian or Christian or Sebastian.

There's quite a difference between 'ee-an' endings and 'y-unn' endings. Even bigger difference between 'ee-an' endings and 'shun' endings.

Tristan is completely different - it does not end in 'ian', just 'an'. So 'TRIS-TAN/TRIST-TUNN', depending on local accent.

It is pronounced like djen-sh’n.

@scottishnames I agree adding Tristan in the first post was a mistake on my part I've seen it recently with the variation Tristian like a cross between Christian and Tristan and I liked it but it is just a variation. Like yourself I've never heard anyone use the 'sh' sound on those names before until I researched online then I started hearing it but I still love Gentian just don't want to have to constantly correct people so it on the middle name pile now.

@ButterRose

The name I'm thinking is Gentian for any who are interested, we would pronounce it gen-ti-an as that is how we first heard and loved it and I personally love the nature meaning as well and the cute nickname Genti. What are your first impressions of the name on seeing it?

@ButterRose sorry OP it sounds like, and looks very like ‘Genital’ to me