Is there such a thing as Creative Pronunciation, and isn't it a bit...

[Mahauld]

...mad?

I mean where people use pronunciations they have decided on which are obviously wrong.
Is it really bad manners to correct them and isn't is just 'creative' pronunciation.
Or is it acceptable to make-up your own pronunciation as some make-up names?

[Buda]

Why thank you CurlyCasper!

[PuppyMonkey]

Yes, the way an Irish person would pronounce Catriona would be similar to how they pronounce film as fil-um. It's not a definite extra vowel... it's a cute little effect.

[Peaceflower]

The Devil Wears Primark - that really tickled me, I can see myself having secret giggles about this all day!

[Iklboo]

The wife of a bloke I work with works in a Registry office. She swears that a couple came in wanting to call their son 'Gooey'.
She asked them to repeat it a couple of times. Each time they said 'Gooey'.
So she asked them to spell it for her.
They said: G-U-Y

[MamaLazarou]

I've heard that story before. Urban legend? Not questioning your honesty, Ikboo!

[bellissima]

Blimey things got a bit tense on here! Well I'm the dumbster who admitted that she couldn't pronounce Siobhan at school - until she very gently corrected me. No doubt would have made the same mistake had there been a Catriona in my class...

I think CurlyCasper that the (I agree) incredibly irritating habit of immediately calling you by some diminutive or just plain wrong version ('y' instead of 'i' - thus every name ending in ine becomes 'yn' - Kathryn, Carolyn, Jaclyn) is - at the risk of offending yet another group - an overwhelmingly American trait. I can't stand it.

As for surnames, I can't stand Snotface-Smith and Poshtogs-Brown - just ridiculously Hyacinth Bucket - there's nowt wrong with Smith or Brown.

[Bucharest]

The point with hypenated surnames now is that they are the polar opposite of "Poshtogs-Brown". They are used by the same people who call their children "unique" names.

[bellissima]

Oh - and I've got a stepbrother Guy (as in eye) and a BIL Guy as in Gee - as I said, just depends where you come from.

[ludog]

My middle dd is Catríona, which is pronounced Cat-ree-uhna. The accent (or 'fada') over the i lengthens the vowel sound so the 'i' becomes 'eee'.

[MrsSid]

Is it a Scottish / Glasgwegian thing to pronounce Christina as Chris-t-eye-na ?
I've often wondered. Polite answers on a postcard - sorry posting - please...

[bellissima]

It certainly seems to be a Geordie thing to pronounce Anthony as An-thu-nee...

[wigglybeezer]

There are some weird Scottish pronunciations; my Granny was called Isabella, quite common for her generation but pronounced 'eye-zah-bella", "eye-zah" for short.

[CurlyCasper]

Isa is common in Scotland, yes.
but christ-eye-na? no, never heard of it!
(Ina = eye-na on its own, is commonly used though)
i think "different" would be a better word than "wierd"

[KERALA1]

Did make me snigger when DH shared a room with an odd man who got terribly terribly angry because everyone in the office (and in fact the world) pronounced his name the "wrong" way. He just would not accept that it was the other way round and his way of pronouncing it was actually "wrong". He would get into arguments on pretty much a daily basis with all and sundry about it. Exhausting.

[TinyPawz]

My DD middle name is Cassie but should be pronounced Case-y....drives me nuts but the xh middle name was the same.

I am forever correcting people....

[poppyknot]

Curlycasper - thanks for describing the Catriona pronunciation. A family friend with a sister of that name pronounced it in this way and I was trying to work out how to describe it.

On the Eye-na thing. She told me when I introduced my DD1 to her (Georgina) that she had had a girl in her class (Scottish school in the 40s) whose name was pronounced George-eye-na. Eeeeek!

Also it seemed to be a truism that everybody in Scotland had an Aunt Ina so common was the name

[florence2511]

But Tiny, if you wanted your DD's middle name to be pronounced Casey, why didn't you spell it Casey. That to me is how it should be spelt.

Cassie to me is pronounced Cassie (rhymes with Lassie) (short for Cassandra).

[mathanxiety]

Two consonants together makes the preceding vowel short; one consonant following the vowel makes the vowel long, in the case of these names. General rules of English spelling that most people are aware of will lead them to assume Cassie sounds the way most people pronounce it (like Florence said). Plus, Casey is well known as a name and surname (cf Sean O'Casey) with a recognised spelling too, with just one s.
C-a-s-s is cass (short a)
C-a-s-e is case (long a)

The name Maria was often pronounced Mar-eye-a in Ireland in olden days.

[bellissima]

And in Northumberland Marie was 'Mar-ie', as in the old dance 'Marie's Wedding'. (Actually I prefer that pronunciation).

[MaggieNollaig]

i think Wivoney is an urban legend... my friend's SIL is Yvonne, and her family sometimes call her Wivoney for a 'joke'.. ha ha.

I'd spell it Wivoney though, not Yvonne, Y.V.o.n.n.e!! ffs
'
Re: Catriona. It's not hard. CaTREEunah. The 'u' is just touched on. You don't make a meal of the uh, but it's there.

[Bathsheba]

I've definately heard Eye-zabel for Isabelle (one of the main reasons I'm not a big fan of the recent resurgence of Isabelle/Isabella) and I've heard Christ-eye-na for Christina too.

My Mum talks of lots of "eye-na" names when she was at school - basically any boy's name became a girls name with the addition of "eye-na" - including in her school class a Donaldina and a Hughina

[skihorse]

I'm East coast Scotland, bf is West coast - he says Katreena I say Katreeuna.

I've grown up with two gaelic names... always a delight having them mangled by English tongues!

[ilovegreenbeans]

bit late to join, but my mom knows 2(!) small Aislins, pronounced ASE-LYNN. Noone around them seems to bat an eyelid or think it's unusual. Took me ages to convince her that although it's their choice, it's a little bit like calling your child SEE-O-BAN.
(I had never realised about Caitlin! )

[nulgirl]

A woman who worked at my dd's nursery (in glasgow) was called christina pronounced chris-t-eye-na. It just sounded a bit forced and wrong when I first heard it but assume it must be a scottish thing.

Agree with skihorse that in the west we say katreena

[cyteen]

Bathsheba, Hugh-eye-na sounds like 'you whiner' Slip of the tongue on that mother's part, maybe?