Yoana or Yohanna? Registry office tomorrow!

[CandidPlum]

I’ve recently had a baby girl and DH and I have really struggled to come up with a name we both liked and that felt ‘right’ and like her - so much so that we had to postpone our registration appt. Added complication is that the name has to work in both our native languages (English and German).

We now have just 24 hrs until the appt, can’t postpone again, and I’m still dithering between Yohanna and Yoana. I love both and am slightly panicking that I’ll go for the wrong option - lack of sleep probably doesn’t help! DH is happy with both so has left the decision to me.

Does anyone have thoughts on either name please before I drive myself completely up the wall going back and forth between them?

Apologies, I clearly wasn’t awake when I sent that! You’re right - what I meant was:

Yohanna:Yo-hah-nna (German pronunciation)
Yoana:Yo-ah-na (so like Moana with a y)

Sorry! I thought it was the best way to convey the sound I had in my head, but you’re right that it assumes a specific accent. No offence intended!

No problem - it’s a very interesting/enlightening discussion 😊

@MegMarchHare , I don't particularly agree with it, but that seems to be the convention.

I have always read a lot so learnt how to pronounce many words from looking them up in the dictionary. If I didn't understand the IPA, I'd look for a word that I thought would sound similar, so I just sort of picked it up. (not showing off - there are lots of quite common words that don't get used often in daily speech).

I think schoolteachers have quite enough on their plate with adding IPA or Esperanto to the list. Teaching English properly that would be a start.

**I'm not criticising teachers, but not all teachers have good English-teaching skills.

Yeah, I was joking about making schools teach the IPA or Esperanto!

Oh! I see. We were taught all sort of weird and wonderful things in primary school but the focus was on the 3Rs.
I see reports on here of teachers writing incorrect e-mails and 'correcting' things to make them incorrect.

I would choose a different name. I think this thread proves that it doesn't work in both languages.

I think the thread's shown that there's no magic fix for this name. The answer could be to choose a different name, or it could be to decide that compromise is futile. Lots of children nowadays have unfamiliar names from different languages and cultures. It's always going to be a bit of a pain to have to explain your name, but it's not like every other child is going to be Sarah/Claire/Becky.

Yes I think you’re right! Thank you again everyone for your input, it’s much appreciated.

What did you decide on OP?