S/O Naming babies: Am I the only one who allowed people to mispronounce her name?

[LunaLee]

My dd's name is Aleena-pronounced just likes it's spelled: Uh-lee-nuh.

 

For the first 6 mos of her life, my dad couldn't pronounce it correctly so he just called her by her middle name (which he picked out).

 

It was almost never heard of when we chose it so people would always call her Allen-a, Alaina, Alannah... I always corrected them and she always has too.I think some people just can't get their mouths to say it right. Her softball coach could NEVER prounounce it right no matter how hard he tried. So she told him he could call her Leena which was easier and what most people call her anyway.

Edited October 11, 2009 by LunaLee

[Brindee]

Now "misspelling" is a whole other thing...I agree! I often accuse my mom of misspelling my name at birth. LOL... it's because she expected a boy and had planned on naming him "Dean", so to make it feminine, she figured just add an "a". So, it's pronounced "DEEEnuh" not "DeAnna".

 

You're right though, what I think is the most logical spelling, certainly doesn't mean it's the same logic as everyone else.

My name is Deena, sounds the same as yours, but is spelled right! :tongue_smilie::lol: Even though I think the spellling of my name makes it clear what the pronunciation is, people have pronounced it all sorts of strange ways. I get Deanna a lot, even Darla! Huh? I think they glance at the first and last letter and fill in the middle with whatever comes to their mind!

 

We have friends who have a dd named Annika, and they all call her Aw-nee as a nickname. I love the name Annika, but we wouldn't have Awnee as the nickname either!

 

Our dd's name is misspronounced a lot. When she was 3 and 4 she would get frstrated with people and correct them. Now she lets it go, as I do when people miss-pronounce my name still! My parents almost always spell my dd's name wrong! Most people spell my name wrong. That doesn't bother me much, though, becasue there are so many ways that my name is and could be spelled!

 

yes and no. With Ceilidh we correct every time, but the names they call her without the correction are so not even close it is really necessary (she had been called ceiling, Seelid, See-lid-a but her name is pronounced Kaylee).

Wow, I would've never come up with Kaylee from that spelling! How'd you decide on that? It's cool, but hopefully people aren't expected to get it right from the spelling! Otherwise, I'd lose! ;) Edited October 11, 2009 by Brindee

[Cera]

My oldest daughters name is very easy to pronounce if you pay attention and follow standard phonics rules but very few people do. It is a name that I personally had never heard before and does not appear in the social security top 1000. She will answer to a few different pronunciations that are fairly close and it doesn't really phase her. The shortened version of her name which we generally call her when we are out uses a short vowel sound and many people switch it to a long sound when calling her by name. She will answer to either and has never complained about it.

[EthiopianFood]

My oldest daughters name is very easy to pronounce if you pay attention and follow standard phonics rules but very few people do. It is a name that I personally had never heard before and does not appear in the social security top 1000. She will answer to a few different pronunciations that are fairly close and it doesn't really phase her. The shortened version of her name which we generally call her when we are out uses a short vowel sound and many people switch it to a long sound when calling her by name. She will answer to either and has never complained about it.

 

It's like this is a critical thinking question! :lol: Does anyone have a guess? :tongue_smilie:

[stripe]

People go for conceptual connections. Like, Daisy may be called Tulip or Rose or Violet. And then there are the "sound alikes" (or start alikes!) like Melissa and Michelle. And then there are confusing spellings that bear no resemblance to the pronunciation, and one cannot blame a person for needing help. But they should do it gracefully!

 

My son has a fairly common name, but because we're a bilingual family, my husband and his family pronounce it slightly differently -- which is how my son says it. I've heard my kids discussing to each other that so-and-so says his name a different way, and then they laugh. But they never have corrected anyone. My daughter, on the other hand, is plagued by people skipping one letter of her name, and we correct occasionally, but at somewhere like the emergency room, it's just one of those things I figure is a waste of time and EVERYONE has their name messed up.

 

But I hate people who read a list of names, and then get to some names and pause and then "sound them out" in a very ugly way, only to remark, "I'm not good with names" -- that drives me crazy. I also hate people who ask if you'd like to be called (insert nickname) -- I was asked this a few times by teachers. One actually apologized to me later, but this one old professor asked me as well as all the Chinese students, clearly thinking he was being helpful. (My name is not remotely difficult to pronounce, and there are several "old timey" songs with my name in it, so I don't get the issue.) I find offers of giving me a nickname to be offensive.

Edited October 11, 2009 by stripe

[OrganicAnn]

My name is Ann and my daughters name is Mary. So don't have that problem. I wonder if parents who had this problem growing up, then name kids with easily pronounceable names or not.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

There is obviously something gravely wrong with my daughter's name. She has two names and neither of them is difficult. All together it comes to three syllables. Many people just can't manage it and this is what drives me crazy: mer Grace. Her name is Mary Grace. You woulnd't think that's difficult but . . . you'd be wrong. There are several people who just cannot commit to those particular three syllables in a row. My name is Rebecca and most normally functioning adults can manage those three syllables in a row (though many choose not to) but it seems that Mary Grace is just too much to ask from some people. I used to know a woman who was really THE worst about it. It actually sounds like mr Grace but the mr souds like it's spelled: mer. A lot of ppl want to call her one or the other too: Mary or Grace. Now that she's older the world seems to have wised up but when she was smaller . . . grrr. I fill our forms by putting MaryGrace as her first name so that it gets closer to right but still . . .

 

My own name? Why do people call me Rachel? I never answer to Becky or any other variant except with an old priest who unaccountably used to call me Becca. Somehow I didn't have the heart to correct him but everyone else I just ignore. If someone ran into the room and yelled "Becky, come quick it's an emergency!" I'd just look around and wonder who it could be. I'm so much a Rebecca and so not even close to a Becky that it doesn't even ring any small bells somewhere in the recesses of my mind. But Rachel? It's just confounding. Not that it happens but how often it happens. and I actually answer to it.

[Catherine]

I guess I thought there would be few ways to mess it up, it seemed like a pretty straightforward, simple name when we chose it. By far the commonest mistake is "Jare-ett", but "Gare-ett" is also frequent. Wha?? It has no "t", and no "g"-why would they insert one? I also am frequently told how unusual it is. By people who've never ventured beyond their own very tiny circle of friends, family and geography I assume.

[MyThreeSons]

as far as pronunciation goes, but both my maiden name and my married surname are commonly spelled differently than "our" way. It bugs me when someone spells it incorrectly.

 

I tell my guys that getting someone's name correct is a matter of respect for that person. If a guy's name is Michael, and that's what he wants to be called, it's disrespectful to call him Mike. If his wife's name is Diana, it's disrespectful to call her Diane.

 

Two of my boys have changed what they prefer to be called as they've grown older. I do tell them that it may be hard for those who've known them since they were young to make the change, but that they may politely request the new version. They are not to be angry about it, though.

[mrsrevmeg]

My first name is Kelli. (with an I). My mother named me after a friend, but didn't want it to be exactly the same. (Thanks, mom) Nobody spells it right. What really gets me is on email or facebook WHERE THEY HAVE IT ON THE SCREEN IN FRONT OF THEM and they still spell it wrong. My last name is a doozy. Gilliland. Nobody pronounces it the same. We get Gill-and, Gill-il-land, Gill-il-il-il-iland, and Gilligan (huh?). Our kids names are Nathaniel, Benjamin and Samuel. Nathaniel is pronounced Na(short A) than ee uhl. People say it with a long A at the beginning, he has been called Nat, Nate and Nathan. He has even been called Daniel. My younger two, Benjamin and Samuel, get called Ben and Sam. Benjamin does not mind being called Benj, just not Ben. It really irks Samuel. He has a friend that has been told repeatedly it is SAMUEL. Oh, well, people are just weird. :tongue_smilie:

[christielee7278]

My maiden name has a *ei* at the beginning and most people use the short e sound when saying it when actually it's a long e. I always corrected but not in a big way. They say my last name (for whatever reason, calling my name or whatever) and I'd just respond by saying it the right way (instead of "here", "yes?" and such).

 

My twin sister's name is Megan with a long e. She gets called Megan with a short e or long a all the time. Sometimes she corrects and sometimes not, just depends on the situation. I used to correct people all the time when they said Megan wrong. Bugged me for some reason.

 

Dh and I chose easily pronounced names for the boys, but every now and then Gabriel will be called Gabrielle if someone is reading his name out loud. Our priest called him that during his baptism...over and over again, even after I corrected him a couple times. We just giggled mostly though. :lol: A lot of the folks at mass that day were shocked later on to see we actually had a BOY named Gabriel instead of a girl named Gabrielle. :D

[christielee7278]

My first name is Kelli. (with an I). My mother named me after a friend, but didn't want it to be exactly the same. (Thanks, mom) Nobody spells it right. What really gets me is on email or facebook WHERE THEY HAVE IT ON THE SCREEN IN FRONT OF THEM and they still spell it wrong. My last name is a doozy. Gilliland. Nobody pronounces it the same. We get Gill-and, Gill-il-land, Gill-il-il-il-iland, and Gilligan (huh?). Our kids names are Nathaniel, Benjamin and Samuel. Nathaniel is pronounced Na(short A) than ee uhl. People say it with a long A at the beginning, he has been called Nat, Nate and Nathan. He has even been called Daniel. My younger two, Benjamin and Samuel, get called Ben and Sam. Benjamin does not mind being called Benj, just not Ben. It really irks Samuel. He has a friend that has been told repeatedly it is SAMUEL. Oh, well, people are just weird. :tongue_smilie:

My sil's name is spelled Kellie, and is actually short for Kellien. People spell it wrong all the time too. My first name, Christie, is spelled so many different ways. When someone who will be writing my name asks what it is my response is always "Christie, C-H-R-I-S-T-I-E."

 

We also don't shorten our boys names. My husband can't stand that. Every time we have a child, family tries to shorten his name and dh lets them know there will be no nicknaming. I guess because his long first name was shortened into something he couldn't stand as he grew up....he went with a totally different name when he and his family moved during his junior year of high school. Most people here don't even know his *real* name now. :D

[FeFe]

I don't have that problem with pronunciation but I do with spelling. My name is Fay and most everyone (including some family members) spell it Faye. I just let it go.

 

Now, my bigger problem is that Fay is my middle name that I go by because my first name is also my mother's name. This creates a big problem when people ask for my first name because if they want the legal name, it's not the name I go by. So, the "first and last name" is always something I have to think about before I give an answer. Doctor's offices, anything official...it's just a pain. I made sure that all of my kid's first names are the ones that they go by.

[Caribbean Queen]

j

Edited October 11, 2009 by Caribbean Queen

[*Inna*]

People always mispronounce my name here. It's "e-nna" not "i-nna". But I don't make a big deal out of it.

[jujsky]

Well, as you can see, my name is Kathleen. I've actually had people tell me it's too hard to pronounce and they refuse to do it so they just shorten it to Kathy (one friend in college called me Leenie and a boss I had called me Kayleen). I HATE the name Kathy - not other people whose names are Kathy - just when I'm called that.

 

My cousin, Kathleen, gets Kathy a lot as well and HATES it! She will correct people. The people she's close to call her Kay, K.C. (her first & middle initials) or Leenie. We used to call her Katie-Corn when she was a kid to annoy her ;)

[jujsky]

Now "misspelling" is a whole other thing...I agree! I often accuse my mom of misspelling my name at birth. LOL... it's because she expected a boy and had planned on naming him "Dean", so to make it feminine, she figured just add an "a". So, it's pronounced "DEEEnuh" not "DeAnna".

 

You're right though, what I think is the most logical spelling, certainly doesn't mean it's the same logic as everyone else.

 

One of my dear friends growing up is also a Deana, and would get DeAnna ALL the time! It drove her nuts, and she never hesitated to correct people. She never understood how anyone could mispronounce it since it's Dean with an A. She always made the argument that if her name was DeAnna, it would have 2 Ns in it like Anna.

[nukeswife]

My first name is Kelli. (with an I). My mother named me after a friend, but didn't want it to be exactly the same. (Thanks, mom) Nobody spells it right. What really gets me is on email or facebook WHERE THEY HAVE IT ON THE SCREEN IN FRONT OF THEM and they still spell it wrong.

 

I'm also a Kelly, but with the "Y" on the end. The biggest thing I got when I was younger was that spelling Kelly with a "y" on the end was the typical way to spell it for males where I grew up so people used to ask me why my mom gave me a Boys name. I've always disliked my name so I go by Kel because it's hard for people to spell that wrong. I have no middle name to use either, mom didn't give me one, so the only option for something else was to shorten what I was given.

[AngieW in Texas]

My sister is Deanna prounounced DeeAnna. My MIL is Deanna pronounced Deena. I'm just glad that I heard my MIL's name long before I ever saw it in writing. In fact, when I first saw her name in writing, I assumed that the person referred to was a cousin rather than her.

[Scarlett]

Many people just can't manage it and this is what drives me crazy: mer Grace. Her name is Mary Grace.

 

Do you mean they just sort of run the Mary into the Grace? I have to say I speak very quickly and I can see myself doing something like that. I will be more careful. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

My own name? Why do people call me Rachel? It's just confounding. Not that it happens but how often it happens. and I actually answer to it.

 

:lol: Hilarious!

[Tam101]

My name is Tammy and I say 6 out of 10 times I'm introduced to someone or introduce myself they repeat back Pammy. How many Pammy's do you actually know?! Pam, yes, but Pammy! and it isn't like Tammy is all that uncommon! LOL When I was younger I thought I wasn't enunciating properly, but it happens when other people introduce me as well. To answer the question, Yes I do correct them.

[TravelingChris]

My youngest's name is Natalia and people are always calling for Natalie. If they start mangling our last name, we may respond. None of us mind whether the person says Na-tahl-ya or Nu tah lee ya although the correct pronunciation is the first.

 

My name can be shortened many ways and I respond to almost all of them"CHristina, Christine, or Chris. My dh often calls me Tina but I didn't notice it for a long time. I wouldn't respond to Christy or Chrissy simply because I wouldn't recognize that the person is calling me.

 

My older dd's name is Kathleen and no one has ever called her Kathy or tried to. Katie is the diminutive that she's been called though as she has become older she prefers either Kathleen or Kate.

[Kathleen in VA]

My older dd's name is Kathleen and no one has ever called her Kathy or tried to. Katie is the diminutive that she's been called though as she has become older she prefers either Kathleen or Kate.

 

I'd settle for Kate, but no one has ever tried that. It would be weird to ask folks to start calling me that now that I'm 50, lol. Oh, well.:)

[radiobrain]

oh my pet peeve!

 

My name is Korin. Like "borin' " or "warren". Not core- IN, CORE -en. more of an eh than an ih sound.

 

I have ALWAYS repronounced it. Always make people say it the right way. Some people who I have known for a long time still can't say it, and I think it is that they just don't hear a difference. Or they're a bit lacking in the brain.

 

I am sick of doing it, but I have to. I also have a complicated maiden name so I was excited to get what I thought would be an easy name.. but people mispronounce my married name ALL THE TIME. ARG! Every one of my 4 names first, middle, maiden, married are ALL mispronounced and ALL misspelled! ALL THE TIME!

 

Then with my kids... People can't seem to spell the name Malcolm. that second L is just too much for most people.

 

My first name is the misremembering of a name from an Igmar Berman movie my parents saw. Through a Glass Darkly. So it is not exactly common.

 

 

thanks for letting me get THAT out of my system!

[MommyRyan]

My dd Leah, like LEE-uh, often gets LAY-uh, like the princess from Star Wars. Dd Katarina (4 syllables) is occasionally called "Katrina" (3 syllables). Both get pretty annoyed by it, and both are a bit shy about correcting people, so I've taught them to say something to the extent of, "Oh, it's pronounced LEE-uh, but gosh I wish it were Lay-uh! So much prettier!" to ease the awkwardness.

 

My son Parrish...oh boy.:001_huh: People can't believe it's a name.

 

As PP Rebecca being called Rachel, I am embarrassed to say I confused the two sometimes. I don't usually call a Rebecca "Rachel" or vice versa, but if I forget someone's name who is one or the other, I'll often confuse the two. I think it has something to do with being somewhat common, Hebrew R names...?

[bbsweetpea]

All of our names are pretty simple. I do get people that try to shorten the names though to a nickname. I did not name my children "Shel", "Matt" or "Abby". I named them Shelby, Matthew and Abigail. My son will tell people "my name is MATTHEW not Matt", as if they called him Steve or something else totally different. LOL He also will correct people that say the wrong name for Abigail or Shelby.

 

If people call my kids the wrong name I will tell them we do not shorten names. My name is Rachel and I am to be called ... Rachel. My husbands name is the only one that gets shortened and that is only because his friends have always called him Mike instead of Michael.

 

We do have nicknames for our kids but they are things like "sweetpea", "angel" etc

[Jenmomof3]

On the bright side, an uncommon name is great when telemarketers call. I had an unusual maiden name and could tell within the first couple of seconds if it was a telemarketer calling. It was always funny to hear the different ways they could mess up my name. Now that I'm married, I have a pretty easy to pronounce last name - much trickier to pick out those annoying calls quickly. Thank goodness for caller ID.

[Haiku]

I and all three of my children have names that are pronounced differently than most people would expect (not because we chose to do that: two of the kids kept the names they had before adoption, and my other child's name is pronounced the way I always heard the name pronounced until we had her, and then suddenly these hoards of people appeared who pronounce it differently). I do NOT let people mispronounce our names. I keep correcting them and keep correcting them until finally they are embarrassed enough to get it right.

 

My husband's name is Frank. No one pronounces that wrong, but they butcher our Eastern-European last name. I don't care so much about that. It's not actually hard to pronounce, but it's a nightmare on the eyes and easy to "hear" wrong because people aren't used to the combinations of consonants.

 

But my kids' first names are not hard, they are just slightly different than the American pronunciations. I don't let people get away with being too thoughtless or lazy to say them right. ETA: I sometimes make a joke about our names being an ethnic trainwreck just to lighten the mood but still get my point across to pay attention to the correct pronunciation.

 

Tara

Edited October 11, 2009 by TaraTheLiberator

[Ellie]

Many people just have no clue and think we named her after Anakin Skywalker but wanted it to sound girly.

Seriously? :001_huh: Some people need to get out more!

[Scuff]

LOVE THAT! I haven't seen that episode in a long time.

 

Our dd was named after the character 7 of 9 in ST Voyager. Her name before being assimilated was Annika. My dh and I loved it the moment we heard it and knew that was the name for our 2nd child (soon to be born) Many people just have no clue and think we named her after Anakin Skywalker but wanted it to sound girly. Others think we named her after the female golfer (dh and I don't golf and have no intention of ever doing that)

 

Her name is pronounced "On i kuh" Like open up and say "AHHH" with a short i in the middle. Most often people say it "uh KNEE kuh" with an emphasis on the middle and with a long e sound instead. She hates that . She also hated when my MIL thought it would be cute to call her Aunie "Aw knee" like "Aw isn't that cute" we all hated that and for the longest time after that dd insisted on being called by her first and middle name Annika Clare, which is just fine by me, my MIL didn't like it that we let a 4 year old choose what she'd prefer to be called.

 

My youngest is Annika too. We also get people thinking she's named after Anakin. I didn't even know there was a golfer with that name, but we sure know now! I do like it what schandinavian people say her name. They're the only ones who think it's common and it sounds so pretty when they say it. We also get a lot of people thinking her name is Monica. Um, no.

 

My middle ddis Eliana. She get's called Elaina a lot. Especially if someone has read it instead of hearing it. I do correct them, but often she'll just go by Ellie if they just don't get it.

[Night Elf]

Beth, how do you pronounce your son's name, just out of interest? (I can't work out any other way than Jeff-ree, that's the only way I have ever heard it pronounced)

 

I'm behind on messages so someone else might have commented. A varient of my son's name is Jefferey - notice the 'e' in the middle of the name. It is pronounced Jeff-er-ee, 3 syllables. My mom still says Jeff-er-ee but it's her accent. She stretches out any one-syllable name.

[stripe]

On the bright side, an uncommon name is great when telemarketers call.

Mine is completely phonetic and short. Almost no one pronounces it right. It's a great litmus test.

 

Thank you, Tara, for the encouragement to keep correcting people. I needed that. :)

[Word Nerd]

It baffles me when people do this--"I'm going to name my child Gwendolyn, and if they don't pronounce it "Jennifer," like I want them to..."

 

I think the fault is the parents'. If you don't like the way a name is pronounced, chose another one.

.

 

I agree, especially for common names. I know a woman whose name is spelled Joan but is pronounced jo-ANN. It's not at all surprising, offensive, or stupid when people who don't know her assume that it's Joan as in Joan of Arc or Joan Rivers or 98% of the other Joans in the world. If parents choose an unusual pronunciation of a common name, they have to know that the child is going to have to correct people constantly her whole life. It would be rude, however, if people continued to call her by the regular pronunciation of her name even after hearing the way she pronounces her name.

[zaichiki]

What about nicknames? Do people ever call you by a common nickname of your name *after* you have just introduced yourself by the *other* nickname?

 

Example: Kate/Kathy or Beth/Liz

 

This happens to my son all the time. Granted, his nickname is not a common American nickname for his given name. (It is common in another country.) BUT it really bothers me that some people think they can just change his name if they don't like it.

 

*One person even told me: "I'm not going to call him that. Boys' names don't end in -a." :001_huh:

[Jeannie in NJ]

My dd's name is Diana, but she is always being called Diane, Dana, Deanna or De AH nah. She does not correct people even tho it really bothers her. If I am with her, I will correct people as it is not a difficult name that people should get wrong.

 

On the other hand, I am always being called Jeannine or Jeanette or Jennifer, even Judy. I mean come on, Jeannie is not that difficult of a name either. In the case of my dd and myself, I do think that people are being lazy and not paying enought attention to what they are seeing written down before them.

[Laura Corin]

 

I tell my guys that getting someone's name correct is a matter of respect for that person. If a guy's name is Michael, and that's what he wants to be called, it's disrespectful to call him Mike. If his wife's name is Diana, it's disrespectful to call her Diane.

 

 

He doesn't use his formal first name because it always gets shortened to the wrong nickname. Now he doesn't find that this happens in Britain, but there are already three people with that name in his office, so he hasn't tried to revert to it.

 

Laura

[5knights3maidens]

Yes! My name is Margarete...

It is pronounced Margaraytuh. I get Margareetuh, Margaretuh, Margarita, etc....I have been trying to get people to really listen as I say it but some don't care. Even if I repeat it a few times. :glare:

[Laura Corin]

oh my pet peeve!

 

My name is Korin. Like "borin' " or "warren". Not core- IN, CORE -en. more of an eh than an ih sound.

 

 

It's not my surname but a family name that I use online. In the UK, it's a boy's name, but not much used now.

 

Laura

[Brindee]

Yes! My name is Margarete...

It is pronounced Margaraytuh. I get Margareetuh, Margaretuh, Margarita, etc....I have been trying to get people to really listen as I say it but some don't care. Even if I repeat it a few times. :glare:

I wouldn't have said it the way you pronaounced. HOWEVER, once I hear someone say how their name is pronounced, I always try to pronounce it the way they have asked it to be pronaounced. I just don't get why people don't---it's not that hard, is it? I may forget, since it IS different, and ask you, but I won't just not care and say it the way I want to! :001_huh: That's just not right!

[Aurelia]

I get called Melissa all. the. time. Also Melanie. Sometimes Michelle.

 

LOL. I work with a Melanie who is constantly called Melinda or Melissa and even Michelle.

 

My name is hardly ever mispronounced, just misspelled, but for some reason, DH's name (Daniel - how much simpler can you get?) is mangled by a lot of telemarketers either looking for Danny (never, ever, ever call him that, he hates it and will hang up on them) or Danielle. We usually tell them there is no one by that name. :D

[katilac]

It baffles me when people do this--"I'm going to name my child Gwendolyn, and if they don't pronounce it "Jennifer," like I want them to..."

 

 

No my name is Brian b-r-i-v-o-l-b-n-the number 7 and the letter Q!!!!!

 

((Brian Regan, of course))

[Shawna in Texas]

oh my pet peeve!

 

My name is Korin. Like "borin' " or "warren". Not core- IN, CORE -en. more of an eh than an ih sound.

 

 

 

My youngest daughter is Soren. It's a Danish boy's name, so not very common. I fell in love with it. I felt it was pretty straight-forward; easy to read, weird enough to be cool, but not too weird. :D

 

So, my aunt calls her Zoro, which is actually pretty cool nickname, but still...

Most people get it on about the third try after I've told them: It's Soren, like Lauren with an S. My niece, who was 13 at the time, thought I meant Soarin'. I said, "Yes, Soren." She said, "Cool. Like what birds do?"

 

Yes, like what birds do. :tongue_smilie:

[chaik76]

Tanya--are you saying your name is pronounced TUN-ya instead of TON-ya? I got hung up on that :) And I've never heard TAWN-ya. Which one are you? So many possibilities :)

I answer to a lot of B---Y names because people can't remember mine--I get a lot of Becky and Bethany, and some Bess. An elderly principal when I taught middle school was convinced it was "Bessie".

 

I try and correct people if it's convenient, but if they're just saying a quick, "Becky, something blah blah blah", I let it go--

 

The one I DON'T allow is putting a "uh" sound in for the "e" :) My 5 year old is having a LOT of pronounciation issues with short "e" and was saying, "Your first name is BUT-see" and we fixed that one quickly :) It really was a pronounciation issue--but I realized there are some names I won't put up with, lol.

 

Betsy

I've only ever heard it as Tawn-yah. I think she meant "Tan" as in the color tan, though.

[EthiopianFood]

My youngest daughter is Soren.

 

Mine too!! :D :D Only we do the slashed o. Well, and I only have one child. ;)

 

Most people get it on about the third try after I've told them: It's Soren, like Lauren with an S.

 

Oh lord, someone asked me if this was how her name was pronounced. I had never even thought of it before, but I wanted to say, "No, not like Lauren, just SOREN!" LOL

[Shawna in Texas]

Oh lord, someone asked me if this was how her name was pronounced. I had never even thought of it before, but I wanted to say, "No, not like Lauren, just SOREN!" LOL

 

You have a Soren?

 

You could always say, "Ya know, like what birds do." :lol:

 

ETA--Duh. I just saw your quote in mine. How cool. I considered doing the umlaut (is that the two dots?) and considered that pronunciation (something like Zuhren), but changed my mind.

Edited October 13, 2009 by Shawna in Texas

[EthiopianFood]

You have a Soren?

 

You could always say, "Ya know, like what birds do." :lol:

 

ETA--Duh. I just saw your quote in mine. How cool. I considered doing the umlaut (is that the two dots?) and considered that pronunciation (something like Zuhren), but changed my mind.

 

Yeah, we do the slash because we're dorks and thought it looked cool. :D We chose the name for the same reasons you did: it was unique without being hard to pronounce.

[AuntPol]

What really gets me is on email or facebook WHERE THEY HAVE IT ON THE SCREEN IN FRONT OF THEM and they still spell it wrong.

 

Yes that irks me too. My name is Ami. I don't care if the hostess writes Amy down to call for a table. However, My children's principal in school would forever write Amy and for my last name which is DeP---, she would write DiP --- with the --- usually mispelled too.

 

I gave my kids normal names with normal spellings. Our last name is hard enough and I always hated having to correct people's spellings.