Is this name really so hard to pronouse?

[Fancylike]

We're expecting our first baby boy this summer. My husband has suggested Gabriel, which I love, and so far it's the only name we've both agreed to liking. Thought we could move on to the middle name!

He now has a new co-worker called Gabriel who has started in the last month, and apparently everyone in his office is massively struggling with the pronunciation. He's now put off from using the name, and we're back at square one.

Is Gabriel tough to pronounce? I thought it's quite classic and international.
And any suggestions for names along the same vibe. I like longer names that can be shortened for a nickname (Gabriel/Gabe, Julian/Jude, Nathaniel/Nate), and he likes Evan, Marcus, Vince, none of which appeals to me.

I like it but I keep getting confused whether it's gay-bree-all, or gabb-bree-all.

No not difficult at all. I could understand a name such as Isla or Niamh being hard for people but I’d say Gabriel was pretty phonetic

I have this with my name, e.g say my name is Catlyn, people (even when they’re looking at it written down insist on saying’ Catherine’ or ‘Kate-lynn’ or ‘Catrina’. They literally cannot cope with a name they’re not familiar with.

*my name isn’t actually Catlyn but it gives you the idea

@UhtredsLatestPaganHussy

They sound like dicks. Poor new Gabriel at the office.

#teamNewGabriel

I would say - Ga-briel (Ga-Bre-elle for a girl)

The colleagues are being twats.

Everyone in his office must be thick as mince

There are 2 ways of pronouncing it, neither particularly troublesome

I bet your DH has heard the GAY bree-ell emphasis and now has cold feet. Or he thinks it would be weird calling a baby the same name as a colleague.

Its a common name in children of African evangelical Christian heritage around here- all the religious names are. Precious, Mercy etc etc

In the USA its the old Bible Belt and mormon type name

You could call him John and some will insist on spelling it Jon.

Yep. I've worked where I do for 18 years & people still spell my name wrong. Even people I've worked closely with for years.

“Gabriel isn’t a name you see much these days”

Are you kidding me. They’re everywhere

I don’t think it’s hard to pronounce, but will lead to a lifetime of teasing on the gay/ briel thing

Your dh's colleagues sound like twats. There are a couple of Gabriels and Gabrielles in my dcs school. No one does the gay thing anymore, teens are better than adults for that, plus it helps that Gabriel in this case has a decent left hook. Its a nice, traditional, European name, that can be adapted in spelling to use for girls or boys.

i have heard different people start the name as Gab -riel, and some Gay briel, it does not matter, just the way some people view the name. You should just decide how it's going to be said, but others may say it differently, I wouldn't be changing your chosen name though, if someone else has a child with the same name,

Gideon might be a nice alternative, although I really like Gabriel too. No problems with pronouncing it.

I love the name Gabriel. Their attitude would just reinforce my choice if I were you because I couldn’t respect their opinion when they’re being so nasty about a common, straightforward and beautiful name.

It’s a lovely name. Go for it. So classy and a tad unusual these days.
Look back into family history for a second name perhaps?
Good luck with your pregnancy & birth.

Horrible name. I absolutely loathe it.

It's easy.

Fwiw, I love Julian but never met one shortened to Jude which is a separate name and Julian has no D. Much more likely to get Jules. I wouldn't use Julian if you are dedicated to Jude.

My Gabriel is 21..
Gets Gabriel
And is gay.
Don't think the name was responsible though..
Never been bullied afaik.

It's easy to pronounce and it's gorgeous. The people in the office are unusual, I think. And as for the comment about school children calling him Gay-boy, school children will find something to mock if they want to. If it's not your name it's something else.

I think your husband has gone off the name
since hearing his coworkers make ‘gay’ jokes. Shame as is a nice name.

Great name. Mine is 24 and hasn’t had any problems with people pronouncing it wrong. He’s never been called Gay-boy either because he’s not surrounded by twats.

I know about 10 teenage Gabriels. I've never heard anyone mispronouncing them or using the "gay" thing for bullying (except for a couple of middle aged idiotic men). I once asked my children if they'd ever come across it at school and they looked at me as though I was very sad for thinking anyone could be that stupid. Fwiw I think it's a great name.

@MinoucheSapphic, Nebuchadnezzar is due a popularity wave, don’t you think?

OP the colleagues are bullies and if he had a different name they would pick on that.

Nothing wrong with Gabriel. And there was someone on the radio the other day with a technique for saying ‘r’ when you have difficulty with it.

People are thicker than you’d expect with things like this. This is my son’s name and he regularly gets called GabriELLE (particularly when being called for appointment at places like doctors and dentists). Some also presume he’ll be a girl so I guess are aware Gabrielle is a name but have no understanding that there’s a male version. The r is often missed too (although this is easy to do and I do occasionally when talking quickly).

It’s a great name though and he seems to like it. Doesn’t get any ‘gay’ abuse as far as I know (currently secondary age) and that would be stamped out pretty quick by him and his mates if he did.

Sounds like the work colleagues are being twats rather than genuine mispronunciation though.