Pronouncing Scandinavian names - pet peeve

[dylexicdementor11]

This is meant as a friendly reminder to all the Liv’s, Sören’s, Astrid’s, Freya’s etc out there.

As a Scandinavian, I think it’s quite charming that Scandi names are all the rage. However, if you do not speak a Scandinavian language and you decide to name your child a Scandinavian name, or if you have a Scandinavian name please be aware that you are probably mispronouncing the name.
So if a person that actually speaks the language correctly, pronounces the name, please don’t throw a hissy fit and correct them. 😊

Lol, are you my husband? He's Danish and it's one of his pet peeves. Along with randomly replacing vowels in words with å æ or ø to make them look 'cool'

Oh gosh, I feel your husband’s pain. Here’s looking at you Häagen-Dazs!

Poor old Holger Rune.

I'm sorry you had bad experience with meeting a new person, but some of Scandi names simply became global, therefore, people who are named Freya, Astrid etc, made new way of pronouncing these names... within their own country.
Pronunciation of names changes all the way when said names get introduced in new cultural context. Otherwise, people wouldn't pronounce Emmeline as Emma-line.

How is Freya meant to be said? Sorry someone had a hissy fit at you. I'd be intrigued to learn more about the pronunciation not annoyed!

Thanks for your condolences. I’ll survive I’m sure. 😉
It’s fine if people mispronounce Scandinavian names - but I do take issue with having someone tell me that my pronunciation is wrong.

Oh yeah, that's absolutely short sighted.

How do you pronounce all those names?

Apologies in advance for the quality of this video, but the child in it pronounces her name in both English and Swedish.https://youtube.com/shorts/Y6fxdwyeM4M?si=8aoR8onPCZjIBo-U

Ah thank you - I love that! Although I would likely butcher the correct pronunciation with my Northern Irish accent, but it sounds lovely.

Hang on.

We are in the UK and speaking English, so surely the way she pronounces the name in English is the English pronunciation.

Edit because I pressed too soon.

Like the way some names are pronounced differently in English and French, so Marie for example. In English Maree in French Mari.

Catherine is the same, different pronunciations.

Your example of Freya isn't a good one as it is also an Arabic name.

I think English Freya is entitled to have her name pronounced in the way it has become accepted in the UK.
Bit like Sara can be Sarah or Zara, and expect it to be correct most of the time, I don't think Freya will appreciate someone calling her Freja.

The issue is people correcting the Swedish or Danish pronunciation. Not how it's said in English. It's like if an Irish person says an obviously Irish name is a certain way, and you go and correct that Irish person to the English pronunciation.

Like Caitlín maybe, which is not pronounced Kate-lynn in Irish?

But to tell the truth, having listened to the video, not only would I find it difficult to say Freya the Swedish way, I'm not sure I'd even recognise it as the name if a Scandinavian person said it correctly. Maybe people are just confused?

Throwing a hissy fit whatever that manesfested as is rude, but as the person isn’t in Sweden letting you know you’re pronouncing it wrong to how they say it isn’t rude, names adapt and change and people pronounce them differently.

This is interesting. I heard that Kirsten is pronounced "Shashtin" in Scandinavia - is that right?

My son is Oscar. Is that pronounced the same as the "English" way?

Names have been adopted from one language into another since Adam was a boy. They often don't retain their exact original pronunciation, not least because some sounds may not exist in the other language. It's polite to call people the version of their name as they pronounce it (once you're aware of how they pronounce it).

Of course there is no reason to have a hissy fit if someone pronounces your name incorrectly. Neither is there any reason to gatekeep names which originated in your language or allow yourself to get cross about them being pronounced differently in other countries.

Yes, I'm thinking of names like Caitlin or Ciara. They are popular outside of Ireland. The later is pronunced like Sierra in the US.

Ultimately the way to say a name is the way the bearer of said name wants it to be said.
So fair enough if you pronounce it Scandi style but if the person who's called that name wants it pronounced differently then you'll have to accept that.

No, but it varies. it's near Shishten in Norwegian, Kishten in Swedish. Keersten elswhere I think.
Feel free to correct me if you know otherwise.

There are lots of nouns we use like country names, food, and peoples names that we don’t pronounce how they are in their country of origin and often it’s weird to suddenly add an accent to what you’re saying in order to say it ‘properly.’

Regardless, If someone tells me how to pronounce their name I just say it how they like because that is polite, and it’s rude to do otherwise once they’ve asked you.

Reminds me of the time the English mother of a Sorcha corrected my (correct) pronunciation and said ‘oh it’s pronounced sore-sha. It’s Irish’.

I just smiled.

Mispronunciation is mispronunciation. There is no 'English'way' of pronouncing Caitlín, for instance. It's a mispronunciation that's arrived back via Irish America and the diaspora. If you want to call your child a name that is said 'Kate Lynne', then call your child Kate Lynne, Kate-lyn etc. Similarly, if you want to call your child Sy-Anne, call her Sy-Anne, not Sian.

I think that you have a point, but hopefully that means you will also be magnanimous when I point out that if you are going to write in English, you should not take offence when a native speaker tells you that apostrophes are not used to create plurals…

To be fair, every time I hear Sorcha pronounced it seems to be said differently. I met one at the weekend, who was very much in the Surr-a-ka camp, but worked with one last year who was Sor-ka.