Everyone is getting my baby's name wrong

[Laura3091]

So my baby girls name is Emila - It is pronounced as Em-ee-la.

Everyone keeps calling her Amelia and can’t get their head around Emila. Don’t think it’s that hard to grasp tbh but I know she is going to have trouble as she grows up with people mispronouncing her name.

Do we just shorten it to Mila? (Mee-La) to make it easier for everyone?

I’ve never met an Olivia in real life.

I have a friend who called her daughter Ameela - same issue but once I was corrected once I never got it wrong again. Wasn’t a big issue.

I read the name correctly in your post btw.

At least with Ameela it's pretty clear how it should be pronounced though. Double E is only ever pronounced one way in English.

You’ve purposefully chosen an unusual iteration of a common name. No wonder people aren’t getting it
You should have seen it coming

Think it’s ‘boring’ Laura by the looks of it.

I saw it as Em ih la, so even if I can read it’s not Emilia I’m still saying it wrong.

I honestly don’t think anyone can legitimately complain that people get a name wrong if it’s unknown in that country and there’s still various ways to interpret the correct spelling.

Ameela would make more sense if that is the correct pronunciation, no one can get that wrong.

I think it’s your own fault due to spelling it like that. I think you’re getting super defensive. No need to start calling the name Olivia boring🤣

Don’t be ridiculous. Firstly she will be meeting hundreds of different and new people throughout her life and that suggestion is a sure fire way for her to be friendless for most of it.

@BunnyLake , I've only knowingly met one Olivia. I know a lot of people who used the name for their DD (e.g. colleagues and acquaintances).

I had to reread to check her name wasn't Emilia, I would pronounce Mila as Mill-a so I'm not sure that would help

Suspect she'll end up going by Em as soon as she's old enough anyway.

Her name is beautiful. Pp slacking the name off are dicks

I think it is a lovely name!

I mean, you've written babies (plural of baby) when you should have written baby's (possessive of the baby).

People read (and write) too quickly and see what they think is there, without checking very carefully.

ETA I just made a typo from what to that and had to fix it. Didn't see it on first glance.

Not the first on this thread to make that mistake either 😂

We know several Emilias that exclusively use Emmy if that would be any good as a nickname and she could always starts using Emila again when she’s older and confident enough to correct people (if she wants to).

I think you are missing an I out of her name. I read it as Emilia

No one has ‘slacked’ (sic) the name off they’ve just said it looks so much like Emilia that mistakes are bound to happen. No need to call people dicks.

It's one of the pitfalls of having an unusual name, I'm afraid: a lot of people won't have a clue how to pronounce it. I totally get why people would think it's Emilia with the second "i" omitted.

It could be worse. I used to know someone who had a German parent and had been given the German name Beate. She reckoned that over 50% of English people pronounced her name "Beattie".

Sadly, too outing to share the various mangulations of her German surname!

Unfortunately it’s bound to happen. It’s an unusual name and looks similar to Emilia. I would recommend going with Mila. It might help realise the name is Emila, although don’t be too hopeful.

(I naturally read it as Emilia in your OP and auto correct keeps changing to Emilia too).

But it’s like calling your child Oliva and getting annoyed that everyone thinks it’s Olivia - it’s pretty predictable as an issue!

Fwiw I wouldn’t know whether to pronounce it like Emilia without the second I or like Emily with an a instead of y, so I would probably annoy you 😄

It's a lovely name.
As frustrating as it is, correcting people is something you'll all just have to contend with.
People saying "poor baby" etc are being ridiculous.

Just leave the name as it is - it's lovely. I swear there are more names that need spelling out than not - even Jane can also be Jayne, and then there's Claire / Clare, Emma/ Emer (that's Irish, before the spelling police start on me). Your daughter will be absolutely fine.

If you need to explain to people how to say the name, you have picked the wrong name. When your baby grows up they will spend the rest of their life correcting people just like you are now.

You need to think "month of May" then add the a.