Naming your child something that is difficult to pronounce in English.

[showersandflowers]

I have a foreign name. My parents are European. I'd really like to call my daughter a name from their country that I've always loved.

It's difficult to pronounce in English. This child will almost certainly grow up in the uk and only speak English. Is it cruel to give a name that she will spend her whole life explaining?

I've done it my whole life but I've loved having a unique name that points to my heritage. Thoughts please.

I think it depends how much the mispronunciation would annoy you. When we were looking at Danish names (husband is Danish but we live in the UK) he preferred something that most English speaking people would have half a chance of pronouncing. It rules out an awful lot of Danish names, even ones that look phonetically simple are often just about impossible for a native English speaker to pronounce correctly according to a Danish person.

There are a lot of Danish names that i still can't pronounce correctly, despite knowing how to in theory. I can hear the sound in my head and i can hear other people pronouncing them incorrectly, but I just can't create the right sounds. We accept that with the best will in the world, I'm never likely to pronounce Dorte as a Danish person and I accept that many non-english speakers won't be able to pronounce the th in my name and it's not through lack of effort

DH just glares at people and says it extremely slowly till people get it. I wouldn’t change any or our names for anyone.
Even though your husband sees it as a reason to be hostile to people you've just met?

Make it a middle name.

I allowed my non English father to name my child. I do love the name but discovered later on that it's the equivalent of Doris in her grandfather's country. It's not a problem though because it's a really pretty name. Having said that, it is one of those names that get mispronounced because of the way it's spelt. She hated it when she was younger but loves it now.

Effie is beautiful

Disagree.
Some Gamons/Reform voters/Tories simply don’t attempt or entertain a name if it isn’t Ingerlish
Be it Irish,Scottish,Welsh , Dutch,or African names - the ingerlish just won’t go there and make up excuses oh it too hard to pronounce
Utter Rubbish! Every name can be broken down phonetically for pronunciation

There are sounds in many languages which cannot be replicated and make pronunciation, even phonetically, nigh on impossible regardless of the persons dis/inclination to try.

Take the Ll sound in Welsh, names like Lleucu, Llewelyn, Esyllt would be very difficult for anyone not exposed to the sound in childhood to replicate.

Yes but in most cases there is a similar sound or a way to facilitate pronunciation

I have three kids and all three have names that are either hard to pronounce or present opposite sex in the country we live in. Kids say they do not mind it, but I mind it, because people butcher their beautiful names. If I were to do it again, I would definitively pick different names of spell them differently at least. Definitely give her a name that people around her can pronounce and your favourite name can be her middle name so you can call her that.

My parents, well grandparents really, were from a selection of different cultures!

My middle name is weird looking to Anglophile eyes, not quite pronounced how it's spelt and very unusual, it's a place name (from my dad's country) rather than a commonly used given name (from any culture). Along with my awkwardly spelt Irish surname, I am quite pleased that's it my middle name.

Obviously dad couldn't let me fly under the radar with my first name either. It's a well known name, but so very heavily linked to a particular literary character that my childhood was peppered with constant references to her.

Don't do it, everyone will just pronounce it wrong. I know so many people who have had to change their names to something 'easier', it shouldn't be necessary, but unfortunately it is

Yes. Very cruel. I was that child. Bullied and teased my whole school life because of it. I told my husband that when we had children, I would veto any name which put my child in the awful spotlight of being the one with the tricky name, he was happy with that, and all ours have middle of the road classic names. I beg you not to give your child a tricky (in England) name.

Our heritage is Scandinavian. The children are bilingual.
We have adapter the childrens' names so they are well known in English.
They work in Scandinavian too but the names are pronounced slightly different.
It's so much easier than a 'strange-foreign- name' and the child known for thatsll the time.

My children have mixed heritage. We chose English names as first names and other heritage names as middle names. All spelled correctly and easy to spell, pronounce and shorten. It isn't difficult and as parents we need to make sure our children can navigate society as painlessly as possible.
Giving a child a child a name nobody can pronounce or spell is cruel and egotistical.

My husband wanted to give our son a Welsh name that requires one to be able to roll their r's really easily - Arfon, and the f is said like the English v. I can't really say it properly as being born and bred in England we're simply not taught to roll our r's with ease. So he has a different name. My son now wishes he was given that fairly unusual Welsh name, he speaks Welsh and can pronounce all the letters easily, he thinks it would have been really cool to have an unusual, very Welsh name. Despite the fact that his Grandad would have called him Half-on (dropping the H).

My husband has a fairly unusual Welsh name his mum loved (and I struggle to say!) but she gave him a very English easy middle name in case he'd rather something less unusual. He stuck with the original first name but has a whole range of nicknames from locals and English friends, which he is totally happy with!

I'd say go for it if both of you love it, your husband may get it eventually, give her a easy English option as a middle name?