Character names you can't pronounce

[lifeinagoldfishbowl]

I am currently reading a book where I can not for the life of me work out how to pronounce the name of the lead character so have given him a new name. Has anyone else done this?

no but im intrigued, what book is it?

what is the name??

I've done it for place names. Sometimes it's the only way.

i have just finished reading lady chatterley's lover, and there is a character in there called Michaelis, which I wasn't sure how to pronounce

it does annoy me i have to say

also, in a room with a view, there is a Lucia. They call her Lucy for short so I don't know how Lucia is pronounced

In the room with a view film it's Loocheeya I believe.

I was quite young when i first read the Harry Potter books i was pronouncing Hermione as 'Her-Moan' and Dumbledore for some reason was 'Dumble-more' when i watched the films i was outraged!

yes, i was pronouncing it Loocheeya in my head, but then i got to wondering if maybe it was Looseeya if they shortened it to Lucy?

overthinking it probably lol

Now I am doubting myself! Haven't ever read the book, I must buy it.

All the ones in the Russian novels like Razumikhin Dmitri Prokofych or Prince Stephen Arkadyevich Oblonsky

Bathesheba too, I put the emphasis on Bath but knowitallarseDH says it should be on the Sheba(!)

PD JAMES - Dalgliesh - I call him Dajeiling (as in the tea!)

I hate it if one of the main character's names is unpronouncable - I usually end up re-christening them (!), but forget what the real name is, so if ever talking to anyone about the book, I sound sooooooo stoopid as I'm talking about Helga instead of Hermione for example

MrsDanvers - I was going to say the ones in Russian Novels-(I just make a noise in my head)

A friend of mine got so fed up with the names in LOTR he made his own set up to remember them (this is prefilms btw) - Legoland (Legolas), Grimley (Gimli) and DwayneEddie (Dúnadan - Striders Elf name) etc.

actually not being English Hermione kind of escaped me

@ KK

The worst thing about the Dostoevsky novels is that the characters name change throughout them leading to even more confusion - they suddenly end up being called family names or pet names and you think who tf???

I remember before I read discworld, DH telling me all about his model that he made of "Detrius" (Deetreeus) - the penny dropped when I read "Detritus". Can never think of him as that though, he will always be Detrius.

lol kk
am reading anna k at the mo and i just think of them all as O, V, N etc - i hate it when there are two characters in a book with names that start with the same letter

Definately Anna K and War and Peace.

They all have 6 names which seem to change as the books go along.

I loved that name Sher-re-osha but never really knew how to say it (I just think thats how its said)