Pronouncing some of those names...

[SoupDragon]

OK, have been giggling at the assorted humorous name threads but some of them I can't imagine how they're pronounced so help me out here...

Caoimhe
Trygve
Muireann
Seren (Not really hard to pronounce but is as in Serenity?)
Jago
Collum (Not Column, surely or was it a typo for Callum?)

Seren is practically impossible to mispronounce, I would have thought! the only differenc eI can see is that londoners might not roll their 'r's as a welsh person might.

Is it Seren like Sarah (emphasis on first syllable) or Seren like serenity (emphasis on second syllable) though?

emphasis on the 1st syllable

I know of a child called Laoise, pronounced 'Leesha'! I always thought people were mis-typing 'Louise' when I saw it on paper..

And what about poor old Siobhan.. (pronounced Shivonne).. that's my friend's sister's name. I always wonder how the poor girl coped as a four year old, trying to grapple with her name phonetically!!

SJ x

I love the way siobhan looks on paper though - don't think it's a reason for pity

Ooh hello Ellbell! Didn't see you there! Good job you and I have such a simple (boring! unimaginative!) name eh.. )

Not pity exactly..! I like the pronounciation.. it's a nice name... but you have to admit, a bit baffling to spell...

Gaelic phonetics are certainly not the easiest to get used to

Ah, but you'd think it was impossible to mispronouse "Karen" except for my friend Karen where it was pronounces Kairen. With Seren I wondered about the stresses and also whether it was more like Sarah

I, of course, have a dull as dishwater 1960s name. Sigh.

soupy, my SIL is a "Kairen" - MIL is from Belfast, not sure if it's a Northern Irish pronunciation or a Lancs one.

Aha! Lel you've cleared something up for me - we've not long moved to southampton and our road is calle dMousehole but I've heard people here call it Mousel and wondered what on earth they were on about!!

i have a Cornish name book, how would you pronounce Meraud ( var. Merouda), and do you like it?

This "Kairen" was of Manx origin I think, JanH.

Ghislaine is pronounced G (as in gate)i (as in it) lane. When I first started the job I'm in there was a girl called Ghislaine.

I love the spelling of Caiomhe.