Everyone pronounces our daughter's name wrong

[StarShine23]

Hi all, advice needed please.

We named our daughter after someone we know from abroad. Its a pretty simple name but we had never heard it in the UK before. Baby is now 1 and the name has become more popular here, but it has a different pronunciation than we use. The problem we have is we don't like way its pronounced here, but everyone we meet now calls her by the UK version rather than her name, even though we correct them.

Do we:
(a) stick to our original pronunciation, even though it will be a battle for her growing up when other people with the same name all pronounce it the UK way
(b) accept the UK version, even though we dont like it and to us, doesn't suit her
(c) change her name

Has anyone else been through this? What did you do / wish you had done?

We feel awful that we have unwillingly picked something that is going to be tricky for her now all her life, but we love the name.

@TheOriginalEmu , I know what a diphthong is, thanks.
I didn't say Eira and Avian, I said Eifion and Avian.

Given that you say eye with an 'uh' sound in it, I can't work out how you say 'avian'. Not that I even care.

Then I’m confused as to why you think I can’t tell those sounds apart? What was it I said that gave you that impression? I’m genuinely asking because I don’t understand. Eira and Eifion have the same vowel sound at the beginning so it doesn’t matter which you compare to Avian or Anal. The way i pronounce eye is it related in any way to way I pronounce avian. But Do you know the IPA? I can give you phonetic transcription of my Avian, but basically in my part of Wales we don’t insert a y sound in words with an a vowel. So words like gave or spade are not gayv or spayed. It’s called yod dropping and is a very common feature of Welsh English as it directly ties to the welsh language.
where are you from? I can probably explain it better if I know what your accent is.

So words like gave or spade are not gayv or spayed.

That’s really interesting. How are they pronounced?

(I’m trying to imagine Alex Jones or Huw Edwards saying these words but the imaginary Alex and Huw keep saying gayv and spayed…)

@WhatsTheUseOfWorrying , I say Spade and Spayed the same way
'I'd say I gayve Alex a wayve'

If I was talking to Jên, I wouldn't call her Jayne. Jên doesn't have the 'y' sound in it.

I wouldn't but I did hear a woman in the pub on Sunday say that she was looking for a nuddy. (a hoodie).

@JoanThursday1972 . are you sure that's what she was looking for?

I usually come onto Baby Names because it’s a sweet topic with everyone excited about newborns and the like.

This thread has gone… differently 😀

its quite hard to describe but if you say the letter A slowly you’ll notice that vowel has two sounds: an ‘a’ and an ‘ee’. That’s a diphthong. In my accent the ‘ee’ doesn’t happen so it’s a flat a.
so for me spayed and spade sound different. Spayed has the ee, spade does not.

Alex Jones doesn’t do it, she has what we would call a ‘posh’ welsh accent here because she does just that. 😂

thays a really good video that talks about it among other things if you’re interested!

Is it like Dana, pronounced Dayna or Dahna or Danna, that kind of thing?

Pronunciation of cafe depends on region! And maybe generation? As a child I would say “ kaff-ee” with ‘kaff-ay’ being regarded as posh!

NB in Wales, it's pronounced (and spelt) caffi. Just sayin'!

@Lplatecook , that's different. The Welsh for 'Café' is Caffi, and it is Caffi that is pronounced Caffy.

You could say that in Wales, hotel is pronounced gwesty, but it isn't; the Welsh word for hotel is.

...and there's a story about some visitors to Wales asking the way to the Gwesty Hotel!

i hope they were told to turn left at the Ysgol School and then right at the Traeth Beach 😂

Having spent a few holidays in Wales, I got confused about the 'ae' in words, as it seemed to be pronounced differently depending on who you spoke to.
I think I now know how to say Machynlleth, though.

My sister told me about her new doctor who was awesome, when I asked her name she said it’s on the prescription Dr Meddyg. I almost crashed my car laughing at her. 😂

It does vary a bit by dialect and accent. Here in South Wales we often pronounce traeth more like trahth with a long ah sound. Llaeth (milk) is often llahth. It should be more like eye, really speaking.

Also Machynlleth is a pig of a word even if you speak Welsh! It’s a lot of moving around the mouth to get those sounds in order.

in South Wales we often pronounce traeth more like trahth with a long ah sound. Llaeth (milk) is often llahth. It should be more like eye, really speaking.

Yes, we've mostly been in S Wales. I was told Maentwrog is pronounced mine-too-rog (with the first syllable like 'eye' with an m in front).

Returning to names, I always try to get the pronunciation correct, but if it is an unfamiliar dialect or derivation it can take longer. I'd always ask someone though rather than insist my way was the right way.

It's a good job that most people in Wales don't take themselves too seriously and can chuckle at other people's mispronunciation.

The worst offender is the satnav giving mangled pronunciations of place names. If you didn't laugh, you'd cry!

Maen isn’t quite like how most people pronounce mine (which does depend on your accent though!) but it’s pretty close. The mouth is a little wider. Imagine you’re saying ‘Ma’ then ‘een’ then combined them. Like you’d pronounce the letter i when doing the alphabet.

hopefully that makes sense. 😂

I deliberately set my sat nav to be an Irish lady because it makes me laugh. Some words she does really well on, others she falls apart completely so it’s a fun little game in the car. 😂

I wish there was a Welsh satnav woman! I did contact a company so.d years ago. The reply was polite but apologetic explaining that their current technology was unable to make the necessary changed.
It shouldn't be impossible in 2024, perhaps I should harass a few more companies!

Maen isn’t quite like how most people pronounce mine (which does depend on your accent though!) but it’s pretty close.
Maen is like Mah and ehn but the ah and eh run into one another so it's only one syllable. If it were Ma+een it woud be Main.

The Mine pronunciation is only a local one. It's like saying that South is pronounced Sarf or something.

Maentwrog - Wikipedia gives the pronunciation

I don't think OP's daughter is called Maentwrog.