# Hard to pronounce first names???



## Faliciagayle (Sep 9, 2007)

Our daughter is named Chaya, which is Hebrew for life. It sounds like Khiya, with a hard, back of the throat, sound for the "ch" (like chanukah, challa, l'chaim). The closest English phonetic equivalent is Hiya.

I love her name. I think it is beautiful. And yet, I am already imaging her in grade school, jr high school, and high school, wincing every time someone tries to say her name.

So those of you with LOs with unique and hard to pronounce names, share your experiences with me! Let's unite


----------



## wombatclay (Sep 4, 2005)

No great ideas... my dd1's name is Laia (pronounced like the last two syllables of "jumba*laya*") and even people who KNOW her mispronounce it pretty frequently. I get "Alia", "Leia", "Layla", etc all the time. It's really ironic since we thought it would be a really easy name to say! DH and I both have difficult last names so we were hoping to at least give our littles easy first names.

Anyway, I do use dd1's name frequently where others can hear it... trying to get the name into their memory banks. And I use the "jumbalaya" example when I introduce her. So maybe compare your dd's name to the example you gave above? So you (and later she) will be comfortable saying "Hi! Her/My name is Chaya... just like "Hiya!".

Good luck!


----------



## leanbh (Mar 22, 2007)

haha, i'm here!

we've got little Róisín which is a very common name in Ireland but not here! (it's Irish for 'little rose')....it's pronounced ROE-sheen

we actually got "why did they name their baby raisin?" smart people.

substitutes are going to be a fun experience.

we call her ro, roro, robot, and wiggle.


----------



## LawrenceDoula (May 2, 2007)

Boy do I know how you feel! I am constantly telling people it's pronounced 'Estraya' like tortilla!

People call her Australia, EstreLLa, and other weird variations. I thought Ephraim was going to be better, but I was wrong! I just repeat say it the right way in hopes someone will actually listen and pick up on it.

Unfortunately I think it's just something you have to live with. As long as the name fits the child who cares if anyone else gets it!


----------



## AoifesMom (Sep 7, 2007)

Aoife is also a very common girls name in Ireland but not here. It is pronounced just like Eva but with an "f" sound instead of a "v" sound. It gets butchered all the time, "Ahoy" is my personal favorite mispronounciation. Makes me laugh all the time. It will be good for weeding out telemarketers phone calls when she is older.

We are planning another hard to pronounce foreign name for baby number two, so I guess it doesn't bother me so much that no one can pronounce or spell her name.


----------



## greenmagick (Jun 6, 2006)

Cian....pronounced key-in


----------



## rugbymom (Mar 21, 2007)

I have a hard to pronounce first name, and love it. I love having a name different from everyone else. And, yes, it really does help to weed out the telemarketers. We named our son Brooks, which you wouldn't think is hard, but people somehow don't hear the S on the end. Oh well. Hopefully he thrives on being unique too.


----------



## jessica_lizette (Feb 3, 2008)

Our son's name is Giovanni, and it's pronounced like JOH-vanni. People ask "Like Geo Metro? The car?" And even after I correct them several times they still call him Geo for short.

They're even more confused by his nicknames, Gianni, or Gian (pronounced John).

Oh well.

I actually had one person tell me that my son was not going to have any friends because of his name. I told him that as long as I didn't raise him to be as rude as that, then he shouldn't have any problem.


----------



## Danielle13 (Oct 31, 2007)

well, my babies name isn't hard to say BUT its kind of different. Everyone and their mom is like

"oooh what a cute baby!! What's her name"

me: "Valley"

Them "what??" leaning forward

me: "VVVALLEY"

them: "like a Valley??"

me: "yep!"

them "oooooh......very long pause with a weird face....I see."
OR
them: "the valley of the shadow of dealth hahahahahahahha"







oh come on!!

Thats pretty much how it goes with out fail. I've had TWO people, TWO that said it was cute! LOL! BTW we REALLY liked Chaya for her first name! But when she was born, her name was Valley. She just screamed it (not verbally of course







)

Danielle*


----------



## genx77 (Mar 13, 2007)

We named our dd Carys (rhymes with Paris) because it's a beautiful name. We're both of Irish decent and we're going to go with something Irish but fell in love with the Welsh name Carys and decided to go with the traditional spelling. The Anglicized version Karis I thought would look too much like we went with a trendy K name and I think it looks too harsh. The lo next one will probably be another Welsh or Irish name.

We knew going in that it was going to be mispronounced all the time. So far we've gotten Cary and Cary with an s. We figure anyone who matters like family, friends and teachers will know how to pronounce her name. People at the DMV and the doctors office, who cares. My maiden name is a German name that no one ever gets right. It didn't bother me at all.


----------



## Diana! (Mar 5, 2008)

You wouldn't think that Gage would be a hard name to pronounce. But I remember we had a scare with DS when he was 3 weeks old and the ER doctor at our Hospital kept calling him Gag.

I was stressed out enough as it was, and to have someone keep referring to my sick baby as gag.


----------



## YummyYumYumMama (May 19, 2007)

i have an EXTREMELY hard to pronounce name, and while i sometimes wince because people absolutely BUTCHER it, it's not a big deal at all. and everyone always compliments me on how beautiful it is. and i got through school no problems. people will always make fun of you for something, whether it is your name or not. such beautifully-named LOs in this thread!


----------



## pianojazzgirl (Apr 6, 2006)

Dd is Djuna. The d is silent. No one ever knows how to pronounce it.


----------



## uccellina (Jan 26, 2006)

We're looking forward to our daughter having this issue in a few years. So far, when people stumble over her name, we just quickly say "we call her Mina."


----------



## Liquesce (Nov 4, 2006)

Ziad. (Somewhere between Zee-Add and Zee-Odd.) Which we chose explicitly to have something easy to pronounce in America. So far, exactly two people reading it have said it right, and *everyone* else asks for it to be repeated at least once







Mostly I just correct it with a smile and a remark that no one has an easy time with it so not to worry ... I just hope my son grows up as unconcerned.


----------



## Faliciagayle (Sep 9, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jessica_lizette* 
I actually had one person tell me that my son was not going to have any friends because of his name.











I am so glad I'm not the only one. This post was inspired by our frequent outings at our local library for infant lap sit program, where we sing a welcome song... and despite regular attendance for MONTHS everyone stumbles over DDs name, every time.


----------



## newmama8824 (Jul 8, 2007)

ds is named bryer.... not hard to say, or pronounce but people constantly are spelling it briar, like the plant. I wanted it to look more masculine so i changed up the spelling.

i get weird reactions, too. "Bryer like a briar patch?" "Bryer like Breyer's ice cream?" "bryer like the horses?" haha or they ask his name and then it's "ohhh, i like that.. it's umm... different."


----------



## Lily Eve (Feb 15, 2008)

Ours isn't hard to pronounce so much as it's not a terribly common American name. It's Lucien, which is French and derived from Lucius which means light. I've always loved the name Lucius and Lucien just seemed right to me, especially as DS is hugely enamored with every light he sees. He has two interesting middle names also -- Aslan, from the Chronicles of Narnia and also Turkish (DH is Turkish) for lion. Kubilay is his second middle name and was his grandfather's first name and comes from Kublai Khan, the Mongol leader which is where Coleridge derived his gorgeous poem Kubla Khan from. All in all, it's a unique set of names!


----------



## aylaanne (Mar 7, 2007)

My son's name is Matrim, and we call him Mat. now you know how to say it, don't you? But people are constantly calling him "Mate-rim" instead of "mat-rim" which is how it's spelled. I don't know how I could change the spelling to make people use the short "a" sound. I joked with my mom that maybe we should have put "Mat"rim on his birth certificate, just to help people out. lol. I love his name, though, and I wouldn't change it for the world.

If he was a girl, the name we picked out was Aiobhlinn Ishbel, which is pronounced "ahv-LEEN sha-bell", and we were going to tell people to call her "Evelyn" (the american version) or "evey". If our next baby (not yet conceived) is a girl, that will still be her name.


----------



## PatchChild (Sep 1, 2006)

I admit, I stayed away from a lot of interesting potential names for just this reason.


----------



## amber913 (Jun 4, 2006)

My kids are Xander (for which we most commonly get "Egg-zander") and Sabra (pronounced SAY-bruh, tho we've gotten everything from Sah-bruh to seh-BRAY). People will mispronounce ANYTHING! I only wish people could make an attempt to hide their confusion or disgust and force themselves to smile and say, "Wow, what a great name!" No matter what it is. I get the weirdest looks when I tell people their names, and I can't, for the life of me, figure out what's so darn bizarre about them!


----------



## To-Fu (May 23, 2007)

My son is named Aesop (pronounced EEE-sop, like _Aesop's Fables_), and we get a lot of "ACE-op" pronunciations.

My name is Tasha (Tah-shah), which a lot of people seem to have a hard time with.

To PPs: I love some of these names! Djuna was one of our top two choices for a girl. Matrim reminds me of one of my favorite characters from a book series by Robert Jordan. And I have a very good friend named Ziad (such a fantastic name).

I always think that if you're not sure how to say something, why not just ask?


----------



## kristen1978 (Dec 27, 2006)

My DSs name is Curran (ker-in). It's Welsh, and means "hero." In Spanish it is a verb, means to heal/cure. No one has ever heard it here in the US, of course, which is why we like it. People do ask us to repeat it, though, and often think that it's Corrine, and that he is a girl. I tend to say, "NO, like current, but without the 't'". They always look at me stangely, but who cares!


----------



## salmontree (Mar 29, 2004)

Our Dd's name is Azalea. I never thought it would be hard to pronounce. It's the name of a relatively common flower but people still ask me to repeat it for them and seem to stumble over it from time to time. Anything even slightly out of the ordinary seems hard for a lot of people to get used to saying.


----------



## ~Katie~ (Mar 18, 2007)

Okay, maybe it has something to do with where I'm from, but I assumed DS's name, Liam, would be the easiest name to pronounce. WRONG. I've heard Lamb, Lelum, Leland.....I always have to say his name a few times because people don't understand it. Then I have to start naming actors and musicians with the same name until they get it. People will mispronounce anything.


----------



## Sabo (Sep 22, 2006)

Even my father has trouble with Aili, which is especially sad since he was married to my mother for 19 years and my daughter is named after my mother's grandmother. He knew the woman! Now, I understand not feeling able to pronounce it based solely on the spelling, but once you've been told, "Smiley without the 'sm,'" you should remember.

Whenever strangers ask her name, I say, "Aili, after my great-grandmother. She was Finnish." This prevents them from giving me too weird a reaction.

I guess that we should all name our children Jacob, Emily, Michael, Emma, Joshua, Madison, Ethan, Isabella, Matthew, or Ava (not that there's anything wrong with those names; they were just the most popular names of 2006) and then no one would have any issues pronouncing our children's names. Of course, based on mispronunciations of Tasha (how else would you pronounce that?!), maybe there would still be problems.


----------



## frontierpsych (Jun 11, 2006)

My name is Kati. it's pronounced Katie. Not so hard, right? Yeah, tell that to the people who read my name and call me "Catty" or "Cat-eye"... wtf?


----------



## GiGiQ (Feb 8, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kristen1978* 
My DSs name is Curran (ker-in). It's Welsh, and means "hero." In Spanish it is a verb, means to heal/cure. No one has ever heard it here in the US, of course, which is why we like it.

I love Curran! I have a good friend in his 30s named Curran, but he's the only one I've met in the US.

My name (Gillian) was mispronounced quite a bit growing up, but I like it now and all the names on our list are uncommon, which makes them inherently difficult to pronounce for some people, even if the spelling is obvious and the sounds aren't actually difficult. I really think that some people are just bad with names and will mess up anything that's not in the top 10 of classic names used by English speaking Americans (John, William, Elizabeth, etc).


----------



## audy82 (Oct 11, 2006)

We had so many issues with our original spelling of our ds name we changed the spelling at 11 months! I got tired of people asking me "what language is that" or "why'd you spell it like that?" or people constantley saying "that's weird" or just mispronouncing it, especially family







I was worried he'd hate it! The original looked like "E paul low" and that's how every one pronounced it. (I don't spell it out as one word because when you google it that's all that comes up!) I told them the E was pronounced A like the E in Elizabeth or Elijah (Apollo!) We ended up changing it to Apaulo I just wish we had done it sooner, he has so much baby stuff with his original spelling on it. I do miss his old name but not the drama!


----------



## leighi123 (Nov 14, 2007)

My grandpa still thinks Levi's name is Eli (he always says 'hows that baby Eli?'), I didnt know Levi was so hard! I wanted an interesting name but also chose something easy to say (or so I thought)

telmarketers can never pronounce my name - Leigh-Ann and I always have to spell it as well, some lady at the bank told me my parents should have kept it simple and spelled it 'Leann' but its spelled the way it is for a reason ('leigh' means 'from the medow' or something which TMI for me to know, but was where I was concieved.. and 'ann' is a family name from both sides of the family)
My middle name is even worse - its 'Birr' (my moms maiden name) - I always get 'Bear' (its 'birrr' like 'birr im cold')


----------



## ambersrose (Mar 20, 2007)

I have Ciara (the girl version of the Irish boys name Ciaran and pronounced like Key-rah) and Ruarai (Rory). I had a nurse at the ped. office once tell me that I was mean to do that to my children. MEAN?! to give them names from their heritage?!


----------



## PlayaMama (Apr 1, 2007)

i love unusual names and my husband is mostly fine with it.

we have our son Lazlo (Laz like Taz the cartoon character and lo like low) it seems pretty straightforward to me but we get a lot of Laws low or Lazalo.
and i knew our daughters name was going to be hard to pronounce. it's Linnaea, like lynn-nay-uh, after the botanist Linnaeus. i couldn't think of a spelling that was better, except maybe Linaya but we didn't like the way it looked.

i love the telemarketer idea!

it's great to see so many neat names here. and fwiw, my name, Carrie, is totally common but i still have to spell it every single time because of all the spellings. i figured if they have to spell their names, they might as well have cool ones!


----------



## aylaanne (Mar 7, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *To-Fu* 
Matrim reminds me of one of my favorite characters from a book series by Robert Jordan.

Not a coincidence! That's exactly where we got the name. I had considered it and discarded it, but DH and I were arguing about a boy name, and we were talking about how RJ had just died, and I suggested Matrim again, and DH agreed, and we were happy.


----------



## PlayaMama (Apr 1, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aylaanne* 
and we were talking about how RJ had just died,









are you kidding? i've been out of touch with the wheel of time for a few years, tell me...did he finish it? i think i only have one more to go before the final one.

he had so many cool names...i tried for perrin, aviendha, min, faile, dh wasn't into any of them. though i almost had perrin for our daughter.


----------



## kriket (Nov 25, 2007)

this is fun!

No kids but DH's name is Jacques, Like Jacques Villeneuve the racecar driver, or custeau the SCUBA guy.

no one, I mean no one can pronounce his name... and It's not that uncommon!! Half of everyone say its "jack-kwese". wtf, how is that pronunciation easier then "j OCK" !?

my name is rachel. Like in the bible, I had a HS gym teacher _argue_ with me over the spelling, because he thought it was always spelled racheal or rachael.


----------



## sunkist33 (Sep 19, 2007)

I love unusual names, but prefer ones that everyone (at least most) can pronounce & spell








I have an Orange & an Ocean.
Although once at the health clinic, the nurse called for "Or-ran-gee" and "Oh-cee-on" LOL


----------



## Faliciagayle (Sep 9, 2007)

All the names here are beautiful! I'm getting ideas ...


----------



## aylaanne (Mar 7, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PlayaMama* 







are you kidding? i've been out of touch with the wheel of time for a few years, tell me...did he finish it? i think i only have one more to go before the final one.

he had so many cool names...i tried for perrin, aviendha, min, faile, dh wasn't into any of them. though i almost had perrin for our daughter.

Yes, he died, and no, he didn't finish it....though he did leave notes and his wife chose another author to finish writing the series based on those notes. Wikipedia has the info, and some google-fu will find the rest for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jordan

I liked Moiraine and Nynaeve for girls, and I even like Geofram for a boy, if we're struggling again. However, I think our next boys name will be Henry Riordan (or Riordan Henry), and we'll call him Hank.


----------



## Sabo (Sep 22, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aylaanne* 
However, I think our next boys name will be Henry Riordan (or Riordan Henry), and we'll call him Hank.

Well, you have the stamp of approval from my dh for Hank Riordan. I was reading through some of the replies here and he said, "Tell her I like that. It sounds like an awesome name, like he's an author."


----------



## KaliShanti (Mar 23, 2008)

I'm in this crowd!

My son's name is Praetorian (pray-TOR-ee-an). We call him Tor a lot of the time, so at least that is easy!

My name too. It's Kali Shanti (KAH-lee Sh-AH-n-tee).


----------



## aylaanne (Mar 7, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Sabo* 
Well, you have the stamp of approval from my dh for Hank Riordan. I was reading through some of the replies here and he said, "Tell her I like that. It sounds like an awesome name, like he's an author."

My DH says your DH can name _his_ son that, then.


----------



## prothyraia (Feb 12, 2007)

Conchobhar, which is the old Gaelic form of Connor and is pronounced pretty much the same way. Most people don't even try...

My father does enjoy calling his grandson CON-CHO-BAR!, though.


----------



## dianna11 (Dec 3, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Sabo* 
*I guess that we should all name our children Jacob, Emily, Michael, Emma, Joshua, Madison, Ethan, Isabella, Matthew, or Ava* (not that there's anything wrong with those names; they were just the most popular names of 2006) and then no one would have any issues pronouncing our children's names. Of course, based on mispronunciations of Tasha (how else would you pronounce that?!), maybe there would still be problems.

















, even then, it's trouble! My DH's name is Michael, and even he gets people mispronouncing it, or asking if it's spelled "Micheal" Mish-EE-l? Seriously?!?! You would think that having a common name would save you from people getting it wrong. Not so, it seems. My name is Dianna (di-ANN-a) like Princess Diana, not hard, yes? I get Deanna, Deena, Dianne, etc.

Our DS's name is Kaiden (k-EYE-den), and everyone calls him k-AY-den. DH came up with a good plan for that though - when he introduces him he says "His name is Kaiden, but we call him Kai (k-EYE) People usually get it then.


----------



## acp (Apr 15, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *leighi123* 
I didnt know Levi was so hard! I wanted an interesting name but also chose something easy to say (or so I thought)

It depends - how DO you say it? I'll never assume I know how Levi is pronounced, since I've known kids with both the Hebrew pronunciation (like a levee) and Levi like the jeans. My friend whose son is Levi (Hebrew pronunciation) hates when people pronounce it Lee-vye, like the jeans, though she's resigned herself to the fact that that will often happen.
I've just realized, with a lot of names, you simply have to ask - it's not always easy to know how they're pronounced. And I think if you have a tough-to-say name, you just have to accept that many people won't know initially how to say it, and realize that their attempts aren't from bad intentions. And hopefully they're open to learning.

That said, I love a lot of the names in this thread. Beautiful!


----------



## Dea (Sep 26, 2006)

this is a good thread!
I named my baby Beatrix, like the author.
We wanted something classic but easy to spell and pronounce.
sigh, not so much.
When I introduce her people always repeat "Beatrice?" and I say no with an X... sometimes they get it.
Or I get Be-ah- trice or x, when it's Be-uh-trix.
I feel I've condemned her a little.
And I know a little about it. I'm De-uh-dra, not De-ah-dra
I thought at least my family would get it, so far my in laws do not.


----------



## Belleweather (Nov 11, 2004)

We have a little boy named Rhys (sounds like "Reece"). You would never believe how many people studder over trying not to say "Ooooh... like the peanut butter cup!" even though I use that as my example. I'm totally over expecting people to know how to say his name, though. Too many stupid people have been sticking random y-s into their children's names and then prouncing them wrong for anyone to have any idea what to do with R-H-Y-S.


----------



## Lady Lilya (Jan 27, 2007)

Love the thread.

For those of you who wrote the supposedly-difficult names and then shortly after explained the pronunciation, I almost always read them the correct way. I didn't think most of them were that difficult, except maybe the Irish ones.

DS is Rostislav. (Raw-stee-slav) We use Rosti with English speakers, and we call him Rostik. I don't expect English speakers to know the O is pronounced like AW. We get a lot of Rah-stee. Sometimes even Rusty. But it doesn't bother me.

I am Leigh. Pronounced Lee. I am used to spelling it for everyone, and having people spell it or say it wrong. For a while, I had considered changing it to Li, with an accent mark on the I. Just because.

(Leigh-Ann, FTR Leigh means "meadow" or "sheltered place".)

DH is Danil. (Dan EEL) He just goes by Daniel to make it easier. People often say Dan-ill.

Most of my family has easy names. Bill, Elizabeth, Frances, Anne, John, Alison, Lynn, Michael, Joseph, Marie, Linda, Lisa, Chris, Barbara, George, Meghan, Dawn, Michelle, Richard, Joanna, Angela, etc.


----------



## Claire and Boys (Mar 27, 2007)

I don't think my son has a difficult name. Seamus, pronounced Shay-mus. But people keep wanting to call him Seee-mus. Drives me batty!


----------



## mntnmom (Sep 21, 2006)

We were going to name them Anais(ah-NAH-ees), Seamus and Riordan, but we have a last name that invites jokes, so we purposely chose easy first names. Eileen, John and Ryan.
But even so, people are ALWAYS asking how we spell them!! I guess they're so acustomed to unusual names. Makes me wish we'd just used the "odd" names we liked anyway!!! (We did give them unique middle names though, so they'd have options later)


----------



## Twinklefae (Dec 13, 2006)

I didn't worry about it because A: Everyone seems to be creative with naming these days and B: Even if you have a "normal" name like say, Sarah, you spend all your time spelling it for people.

We named our son Orion. Pronounced O-RI-AN. We occasionally get OR-EE-ON, but I just say "Orion, like the constellation" They generally say "That's smart". Cuz, hey, Orion is a smart name. (







No idea)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *leanbh* 
we actually got "why did they name their baby raisin?" smart people.









My 10 year old niece, looking over her mother's shoulder at the computer when he was born asked "Why did they name him Onion?"







That whole family still call him Baby Onion. I didn't like it at first, but now I think it's kinda cute.


----------



## mom2cash (Sep 24, 2007)

Haven't read the whole thread yet but wanted to add myself and my son Cashion (pronounced CASH-un. Like fashion with a C) to the list. The name is my DH's maternal grandmother's maiden name. When he mentioned it to me while I was pregnant after MUCH name deliberation I fell in love with it. We do call him Cash some of the time... especially when introducing him to people when I don't feel like explaining the spelling and pronunciation- I bring him to work with me so he gets introduced to new people pretty often. We do get the "That's... interesting." comments when we say his name and some poorly informed friends and doctor's offices have pronounced it Cash-ee-on.

ETA: DH is also named Skyler (Sky) which you think wouldn't be that hard but he has to go by "Joe" at work because clients always think he says Tyler or Scott.


----------



## jessicarae (May 8, 2007)

I knew my daughter's name was unusual but thought it was easy to pronounce and spell. It's Stellina, which means "little star" in Italian. I'm surprised that people rarely get it the first time when I say it. They usually hear "Celene" or "Selena". I'll tell them what it means, and say, "It's like Stella with -ina at the end," and they'll smile and nod and say, "Hi, Selena!"









But I've gotten lots of compliments on it, too...


----------



## Onemagicmummy (Jul 27, 2007)

My names unique, its Krystie pronounced KrisTEE. i have been called Kirsty, Krystal, Krispy, Krissie, Krusty, and its been spelt wrong too, with a Ch or a C. used to bugs me no end, i am used to it now. also i was given a double barreled name Krystie-Marie, i HATE it, i always drop the Marie (HATE HATE HATE IT)

ok so if it boithered my that much why did i doom my kdis to she same fate.
Benjimin-Samuel with an I not an A ( i spelt it like is ay it)
Abbiegael-Grace just looked "right" to me
Harrisons-William is straight forward i guess
and
Evangeline-Lillian i have had letters addressed to Evangleine how hard is Ev Angel ine.
my eldest has Gage in his name too (he has 3 middle names, the middle two have 1 middle name and Evangeline has 2)

i have already picked names if i have any more in a few years
Jacob-Constantine or Gideon-Nathaniel/Nathaniel-Gideon for boys, not sure about girls

Kiz


----------



## sarah0404 (May 28, 2006)

My dds name is Eilidh. The way its written gives no clue as to how you might pronounce it. It's Gaelic, pronounced A-Lee. Kind of like Hayley, but without the H. It is quite a popular name here. People usually have more trouble spelling it.

My name is Sarah, and you wouldn't believe the trouble some people have trying to spell that! Shara, Sahra, Sara etc


----------



## BeanyMama (Jul 25, 2006)

dd is camila. pronounced ca-mee-la, we get camilya, camileeya, and camilla alot. i just tell people we call her mila (meela) which still gets mispronounced. ds1 likes to correct people









so many great names on this thread! mntnmom- I also love the name anais. in hs i read all anais nin's work and planned to name a dd that one day. memories!
i'm also crazy about to-fu's aesop


----------



## twilight girl (Mar 7, 2002)

Well, imagine our surprise ... Our son was born in Costa Rica, so we knew he would have a bi-cultural life, we wanted to chose a name that would be *easy to pronounce in both English and Spanish.*

So, we settled on Teo. Turns out that nobody in either language can figure it out! In Spanish it purely phonetic, but nobody has ever heard of it, so I have to explain,

Me: "it's Teo, like Timoteo."
Them: Oh, so he's Timoteo.
Me: No, just Teo.

I'm sure they still think that it's a nickname for Timoteo.

In English, if they pronounce it right, they spell it wrong (Theo). And if the spell it right they pronounce it wrong (Tee-o).

The very best misunderstanding was from a former colleague of my husband's who is Mexican-Ethiopian. Mind you both my husband and I talked to him on the phone, we both pronounced the name and spelled it. I spoke to him in Spanish, my husband in English.

They showed up at our house to meet him, and brought a blanket and bib embroidered with his name: Tale.

You should have seen the look on his wife's face! She was mortified!! We will keep that blanket for him forever though1!!


----------



## russsk (Aug 17, 2007)

DS is Eyal (ay-AHL). Even when I tell people how to pronounce it, most say AY-ahl, or they sound uncomfortable.


----------



## eunytuny (Jan 19, 2007)

I have an Ocean and I always get "how do you spell that" Like if having the name Ocean isn't going to be challenging enough I didn't want to throw a crazy spelling into the mix. I also had a father of one of the kids in ds's play group say "Your son's name is OCEAN? He is so going to get beat up on the playground."







:


----------



## starwishful (Apr 12, 2007)

My DS is Caelan. We pronounce it Kay-len, as that was how the pronunciation was listed in the baby name book in which we found it. Apparently, though, the original Gaelic pronunciation would have been Key-len. In any case, the biggest pronunciation issue we have in terms of other people is with the second half - people say "lyn" instead of "len." This makes it sound really girly, so people often ask if DS is a girl (he's a very pretty boy!)... or they mishear me all together and hear Kaitlyn.


----------



## Katerz2u (Jul 14, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *greenmagick* 









Cian....pronounced key-in









I have a Cian too!


----------



## miche28 (Sep 16, 2006)

Well, when you got our dog, we named him Rui (roo-EE) and it caused no end of frustration for us ("Rui" "No, like Rudy without the D" "No, not Rudy, _like_ Rudy!!" "Ok, fine, call him Ruby....". Coupled with my sister always complaining that she is constantly correcting the spelling of her name (Cristine, not Christine), we decided to go with something nice and simple: Isabelle.

But she _constantly_ get Isabella (my dad is Italian, so people assume??) and her name really only gets spelled correctly 50% of the time.

So, I say pick the names you love - people will mangle them anyway







.

(And at least your kid won't get "Michelle? Oh.. 'Michelle, my belle...'" (the Beatles' song I have heard a MILLION times).)


----------



## jazzybaby9 (Feb 27, 2007)

dd's name is AIYANA and we get "I-ona" and "Ariana" DO YOU SEE AN R IN THERE ANYWHERE??? Idiots. Aiyana is pronounced "A" - ON - UH....is it really that hard? ugh.


----------



## pear-shaped (Dec 1, 2007)

My lo's name is Kathleen, which wouldn't be hard to pronounce if we lived in an English-speaking country. But the 'th' sound doesn't even exist in Italian so when I say it, people just look at me funny. Dh and I really agonized over what to name her- we wanted to name her after my mom, but we knew the name would cause problems. We thought about translating it into Caterina or Catalina (I really liked the second one of those) but in the end decided that since we wanted to name her after my mother, she should have my mother's name. Anyway, we always have to write it out whenever anyone asks for it, and I'd say that about 90% of dh's family still haven't figured out how to pronounce it. They tend to pronounce it Katrin.

Oh well. I like that it makes her different and that when she gets older, it'll be a reminder that she has two cultures!


----------



## ZZsMama (Apr 27, 2007)

Ds is Zalmen, not so difficult to pronounce but misspelled all the time. Sometimes people think he's Solomon, which is pretty much the same name anyway, so depending on whether I'm going to see them again, I don't always correct.
Does anyone else get, "Oh, what an interesting name. What do you to call him?" No offense to anyone who uses a nickname, but why assume that I'm not going to call my child by his name? If I had wanted to call him by something that wasn't his name, I would have given him a standard easy to use legal name, and called him Zalmen. I don't mind if he picks up some nicknames along the way, and there are definately people in his life who are calling him different things already. I guess we'll see if anything sticks. I'm sure eventually he'll tell us what he wants.


----------



## crunchymomofmany (May 24, 2007)

DD is Kiara - pronounced KEE-uh-ra, it's Irish too. I thought it was an easier name than the one I originally picked - Aisling (Ash-leen), but I guess not. Oh well, we even have a Liam who is always being called Leo.

Thank goodness for Matthew, Lydia, Alex and Jack - everyone seems to get those right!


----------



## Sonya77 (Feb 20, 2007)

I've got an Aislinn, pronounced "Ash-lyn" or really more correct would be "Ash-leeng" ....it's Irish

I get "Alison" and Aslan all the time...


----------



## mclisa (Jul 26, 2004)

I really like Aine (Awn-ya), but I think I would use it for a middle name. My parents have a tough time with E's first name so when C rolled around we used my favorite name (Amelie - like the move) for a middle name.


----------



## lyttlewon (Mar 7, 2006)

Marah Jade is pronounced Sarah, DH and I added the H at the end to help people say it and it didn't help. They pronounce it Mar-ruh, like car, or when I say it they hear Mary Jane. If they read it they say Mariah.


----------



## mclisa (Jul 26, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Liquesce* 
Ziad. (Somewhere between Zee-Add and Zee-Odd.) Which we chose explicitly to have something easy to pronounce in America. So far, exactly two people reading it have said it right, and *everyone* else asks for it to be repeated at least once







Mostly I just correct it with a smile and a remark that no one has an easy time with it so not to worry ... I just hope my son grows up as unconcerned.

In grad school I had a friend whose name was Ziad. Quite a cool guy.


----------



## matey (Sep 15, 2006)

No one ever has any trouble with Jack. We have a last name that always gets misspelled and made fun of, so better to keep that first name simple.


----------



## lisavark (Oct 27, 2007)

Love this thread! This was the biggest problem for DH and me when we were choosing names; I like classic names







:and he likes unique names, so we had a terrible time agreeing.







I can't remember all the names he suggested...we both liked a lot of Gaelic and Celtic names, but I was scared of the spelling. Gethyn was his favorite boy name. Anyway, I was always saying I was worried about names being made fun of, so he would come up with ways to make fun of all the classic names. ("Mary! You can't name a girl that. Can't you hear them on the playground? 'Hey Mary, you wanna marry me?' That's just cruel!") LOL! (I didn't really want to name DD Mary; that was just the only example I could think of.) We finally settled on Anastasia...but DH keeps saying that it'll be tough when everyone starts calling her Anus.


----------



## dziwozony (Aug 27, 2006)

it is definitely annoying when people mispronounce your kid's name, but i think it's worth it to have a name that means something & isn't shared with 6 other kids in your town, you know? in some countries you have to pick your kid's name from a list of pre-approved names- isn't that awful?

my babe's name is miro, which is a native tree here. it's pronounced like "hero" but sometimes people say "my-ro." it was funny when i was traveling back to the states because when i told people his name, asians, african-americans, hispanics...just about everyone other than white folks picked it up easily...but average american caucasians had the hardest time with it! even though it's just a simple two-syllable name.

he's got 5 middle names, so we tried to keep the first one fairly straight-forward, but still interesting =)


----------



## Lady Lilya (Jan 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lisavark* 
Love this thread! This was the biggest problem for DH and me when we were choosing names; I like classic names







:and he likes unique names, so we had a terrible time agreeing.







I can't remember all the names he suggested...we both liked a lot of Gaelic and Celtic names, but I was scared of the spelling. Gethyn was his favorite boy name. Anyway, I was always saying I was worried about names being made fun of, so he would come up with ways to make fun of all the classic names. ("Mary! You can't name a girl that. Can't you hear them on the playground? 'Hey Mary, you wanna marry me?' That's just cruel!") LOL! (I didn't really want to name DD Mary; that was just the only example I could think of.) *We finally settled on Anastasia...but DH keeps saying that it'll be tough when everyone starts calling her Anus.*









DH's cousin is Anastasia. The standard Russian nickname for it is Nastya. (Stress on the first syllable.) Always makes me think of "nasty." But I guess it is better than Anus.

What about Ana for short? That has the sound of a nice classic name for you.

My friend had a cat named Anastasia, and they just called her Stasia. (pronouncing the "si" like a "zh".)


----------



## durafemina (Feb 11, 2004)

people always hear "Naomi" instead of "Noemi" (gNOME-EE) when we tell them our dd's name. Frequently her 3rd middle name "Anemone" (like a sea anemone) gets butchered to "Enema" (even by one of her grandparents!) which was a big factor in not using it as her first. I understand that just looking at the names might be confusing, but we say them really clearly and people seem to hear only what's familiar to them. . .


----------



## coobabysmom (Nov 16, 2005)

While my son's first name is a easy as pie my husband's last name is really hard! I couldn't even pronouce when we first met. I think unusal name are super cool.









Your daughter's name is beautiful.


----------



## *jeanine* (May 29, 2005)

nak

dc#1 is Jacek. it's polish but we use the americanized pronunciation Jay-sick. People always hear Jason. They read "uh...is it Jack? Jake-ick?" ugh. I didn't realize it was that hard. They never spell it right, either.

dc#2 is Kiena Rose. yes, that's her first name. i know it has two words but it's one name. if i introduce her as kiena rose, call her kiena rose (and that goes for you too, mil!!!) and it's kee-enn-uh not kee-on-uh.

dc#3 has a "normal" name. Jamison. trouble is, she's a girl. doesn't matter how much pink she's wearing, as soon as people hear "jamison" they think she's a boy. i'm going to start dotting the "i" with a heart









people always get mine wrong, too. they read jeannie. and they don't know how to spell it. wouldn't bother me if they spelled it Janine which is another "typical" spelling, but boy do i get some crazy spellings!!


----------



## Liquesce (Nov 4, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *To-Fu* 
And I have a very good friend named Ziad (such a fantastic name).


Quote:


Originally Posted by *mclisa* 
In grad school I had a friend whose name was Ziad. Quite a cool guy.









That is something else I hear surprisingly often. Although still after people ask me to repeat the pronunciation once or twice.


----------



## dubfam (Nov 4, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rugbymom* 
I have a hard to pronounce first name, and love it. I love having a name different from everyone else. And, yes, it really does help to weed out the telemarketers.

ITA with this BUT I Hated it growing up. I think that most ppl go through a phase of disliking their name though...

My Name is Sonrisa which means "Smile" in Spanish...ppl always ask if I am Spanish when I tell them that, and then I have to go into an explanation...it can get a little annoying to always repeat/ explain/spell your name but I think that it is worth it!!


----------



## Smokering (Sep 5, 2007)

Ach, you just can't win. DH is Dominic, and has been addressed as Dominique (in writing, even); 'Dom', which is how he introduces himself at work, has gotten 'Dan', 'Don', 'John'... And I'm Sarah, which is surely the commonest name in the book, but even there you have the Sarah/Sara issue.

We called our daughter Rowan Marie. SEVERAL people said 'Is that a boy or a girl?'. Erm, Marie? DH's uncle even sent a long, gushing email about what a joy sons are, followed by an equally long grovelling one when he realised his mistake.







Pronounciation-wise, though, 'Rowan' isn't too bad. Except my little sister found it hard to get her tongue around for a while and called her 'Warren'! (Which in turn is better than my other little sister, who FORGOT the name, and came out of her bedroom a few days after the birth looking perplexed and saying 'What's the baby called again?' She's ten...). I give up!


----------



## DashsMama (Dec 1, 2001)

My oldest is often called Josh by strangers, or sometimes Dasher...

um, my kid is not a flying reindeer, thank you very much

People often think my middle son's name is Corbett, which is not so bad a mistake.

Unfortunately, I have mispronounced almost every name people have posted here, and some I'm still not sure how to pronounce. Sorry.







I love the unique names though!


----------



## Onemagicmummy (Jul 27, 2007)

im love the name Dashiel. i first heard it on Minority Report.
its cool
kiz


----------



## Faliciagayle (Sep 9, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DashsMama* 
um, my kid is not a flying reindeer, thank you very much


----------



## lula (Feb 26, 2003)

Ok, name experts...I am meeting my friends dd. Her name is Chayala. Her sister's name is Chaya. I can pronounce Chaya just fine but I am wondering about Chayala. Are they similar in pronunciation?


----------



## BAU3 (Dec 10, 2001)

I thought that Schuyler was pretty cut-and-dry...but I've had alot of Shoo-ler. I guess you should just expect that some people will have a difficult time with names no matter what.


----------



## kehliouise (Aug 4, 2006)

our newest is name Koi like the fish. and I have to always say it that way, "koi..like the fish." If i just say koi people ask me to say it again. the thing is Coy is a pretty popular old person name where i live. I guess it is short for McCoy.

my dh's great aunt is pretty much deaf. we have been trying to tell her for months that his name is koi but she hears Kory. at this point we have just decided she can call him kory.


----------



## impchild (Nov 23, 2006)

i have the odder name though i cannot figure out why people have trouble pronouncing it when they see it spelled. my name is bronwyn... BRON-win... i can understand the people mis-hearing it (i get robin most often or brandy WTF?) there is a momma here whose dd has the same name and it always makes me smile.









ds is drake which most people want to make jake. i had no idea that there was a show drake and josh.







honestly if i had known i would have vetoed the name. we wanted an unusual name.


----------



## kehliouise (Aug 4, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *impchild* 

ds is drake which most people want to make jake. i had no idea that there was a show drake and josh.







honestly if i had known i would have vetoed the name. we wanted an unusual name.









That is funny because I have a Jake (named after his great-grandfather...otherwise I would not have named him that) and other kids often call him Drake.


----------



## sapientia (Apr 22, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Faliciagayle* 
Our daughter is named Chaya, which is Hebrew for life. It sounds like Khiya, with a hard, back of the throat, sound for the "ch" (like chanukah, challa, l'chaim). The closest English phonetic equivalent is Hiya.

I love her name. I think it is beautiful. And yet, I am already imaging her in grade school, jr high school, and high school, wincing every time someone tries to say her name.

So those of you with LOs with unique and hard to pronounce names, share your experiences with me! Let's unite









nak
and i haven't read any replies, but we also have a 'Kyah' named for the hebrew word for life as well-and she's never had any problems with school (she's 6th grade now). She gets a lot of compliments.


----------



## Ninnifer (Oct 17, 2007)

thing is these days there are so many ways of spelling the same name people get confused. perfect example being cayden / kaeden / caiden / kaden etc

plus some people are just stupid.


----------



## greenmagick (Jun 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BAU3* 
I thought that Schuyler was pretty cut-and-dry...but I've had alot of Shoo-ler. I guess you should just expect that some people will have a difficult time with names no matter what.









Ok, I am usually pretty good at names, but this is how I would've pronounced it....what is the correct way?


----------



## lisavark (Oct 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Lady Lilya* 
DH's cousin is Anastasia. The standard Russian nickname for it is Nastya. (Stress on the first syllable.) Always makes me think of "nasty." But I guess it is better than Anus.

LOL! I know, my Russian friend told me this...she kept saying, "You should call her Nastya," and repeating it so I could get the pronunciation right, but all I could think was...nasty?!?







I know, I'm so bad...!

Quote:

My friend had a cat named Anastasia, and they just called her Stasia. (pronouncing the "si" like a "zh".)
That is totally the nickname I was planning on! I love it...but now that we have her she seems kinda more like an Ana. We'll just wait and see what sticks, I guess. Or wait until she comes to us one day and announces that her name is now Princess Rainbow Beautiful Goddess Anastasiana Queen.


----------



## lynxeyedkat (Dec 7, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aylaanne* 
I liked Moiraine and Nynaeve for girls, and I even like Geofram for a boy, if we're struggling again. However, I think our next boys name will be Henry Riordan (or Riordan Henry), and we'll call him Hank.


Quote:


Originally Posted by *Sabo* 
Well, you have the stamp of approval from my dh for Hank Riordan. I was reading through some of the replies here and he said, "Tell her I like that. It sounds like an awesome name, like he's an author."

Henry "Hank" Rearden is a character from (IMHO) the best book ever, _Atlas Shrugged_, by Ayn Rand.







DH and I are considering Roark if we have a son, from _The Fountainhead_.


----------



## Bellita (Jan 23, 2007)

My name is Rhiannon--people butcher it all the time. The best was being called "MR. Lastname" on the first day of school because the teacher couldn't even figure out where to begin with it.

My sister was going to be Siobhan, but my mom thought one "unusual" name was enough, so she got a much commoner one.

That said, I like my name and it tickles me that people are into fairies and stuff like it, too, and use it as their handles on websites and whatnot. I've never been remotely interested in fairy fae whatever.

Oh, and I can't stand the singer Rihanna's version/misspelling. Ugh!!!


----------



## SparklingGemini (Jan 3, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bellita* 
My name is Rhiannon--people butcher it all the time. The best was being called "MR. Lastname" on the first day of school because the teacher couldn't even figure out where to begin with it.

My sister was going to be Siobhan, but my mom thought one "unusual" name was enough, so she got a much commoner one.

That said, I like my name and it tickles me that people are into fairies and stuff like it, too, and use it as their handles on websites and whatnot. I've never been remotely interested in fairy fae whatever.

Oh, and I can't stand the singer Rihanna's version/misspelling. Ugh!!!









Hiya!

My name's Rhiann and its a rare day when some sees the spelling and pronounces it correctly! I get Ray Ann, Brianne, Ryan, Rhino, Rain, Rhea and so on. So, I totally get where you're coming from!! And, nice to meet you, I've never met another version of Rhian/Rhiann/Rhianon before!







And...totally agree with you about Rihanna. Ick.

My DD is Allura which I think its pretty straightforward but people STILL don't say or spell it correctly. Even worse, is when people want to give her a mainstream nickname because the name is a bit unusual. Like Ally. Um, my DD's name is Allura! Urgh.

Quote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by BAU3 View Post
I thought that Schuyler was pretty cut-and-dry...but I've had alot of Shoo-ler. I guess you should just expect that some people will have a difficult time with names no matter what.
Ok, I am usually pretty good at names, but this is how I would've pronounced it....what is the correct way?
I'm pretty sure this is the Dutch version of Skyler, pronounced the same way?


----------



## thebee321 (Dec 13, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BAU3* 
I thought that Schuyler was pretty cut-and-dry...but I've had alot of Shoo-ler. I guess you should just expect that some people will have a difficult time with names no matter what.


Schuyler is one of those names that I *know* how to pronounce it, if I think about it, but it doesn't look at all to me like that is the way it should sound. So I have to remind myself how to say it when I see it spelled. Then I picture it in my head as "Skyler". But my immediate reaction is always "Shoo-ler"...sorry! I also could never remember that Worcester is like Wooster, instead of Wor-chest-er. (I grew up near Mass.)


----------



## becoming (Apr 11, 2003)

I named my kids very normal names--Chase, Anna, and Gavin. Spelled normally and everything. Guess what? They get called Chance, Hannah, and Devin/Kevin. ALL the time.


----------



## leanbh (Mar 22, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Twinklefae* 

My 10 year old niece, looking over her mother's shoulder at the computer when he was born asked "Why did they name him Onion?"







That whole family still call him Baby Onion. I didn't like it at first, but now I think it's kinda cute.

yes, our friends still jokingly refer to her as raisin ... we just shake our heads and laugh. she'll always be my little roro.


----------



## AlpineMama (Aug 16, 2007)

Well, I had a name that I would have loved - if I'd lived on the other side of the ocean. (Emese.) In the US I was teased mercilessly as a child, then as I got older it just became a PITA to correct people. No one could pronounce my name right, even after I corrected them. I finally changed it legally to my middle name, which I had been using since I was a teenager anyway. I still like my first name enough though that I kept it to use as my middle name. It has a great history behind it; it just wasn't great for everyday use.


----------



## BAU3 (Dec 10, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *greenmagick* 







Ok, I am usually pretty good at names, but this is how I would've pronounced it....what is the correct way?

Skyler... "sch" like school or schedule or scheme, sounds like sk.
There are alot of Schuyler place names around here and it just never occured to me that it could be mispronounced... However, I do NOT think anyone is less intelligent for mispronouncing it...


----------



## BAU3 (Dec 10, 2001)

Btw.. I now call her shoo-ler all the time,too...I think its the "u" that makes it difficult.."Schyler" may have been easier.


----------



## JamesMama (Jun 1, 2005)

:

My daughters name is Aldria. It is pronnounced All-Dre (as in dream)-uh.

I've gotten All-dre-ah, All-Dray-uh, Audrea, Andrea and my GMIL insists on calling her All-deed-rah. Which I REALLY don't understand.


----------



## Artichokie (Jun 19, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Danielle13* 
well, my babies name isn't hard to say BUT its kind of different. Everyone and their mom is like

"oooh what a cute baby!! What's her name"

me: "Valley"

Them "what??" leaning forward

me: "VVVALLEY"

them: "like a Valley??"

me: "yep!"

them "oooooh......very long pause with a weird face....I see."
OR
them: "the valley of the shadow of dealth hahahahahahahha"







oh come on!!

Thats pretty much how it goes with out fail. I've had TWO people, TWO that said it was cute! LOL! BTW we REALLY liked Chaya for her first name! But when she was born, her name was Valley. She just screamed it (not verbally of course







)

Danielle*

Do you call her MatSu?









Seriousy, though, what a pretty name.


----------



## lunasmommy (Jun 30, 2005)

Ok, so I definitely dont fall into the "super hard to pronounce" category, but...DD's name is Luna. And we frequently get, "oh, linda is a nice name" Yeah. Does that count??

Her middle name is Aislin, which none of the grandparents can say or spell.


----------



## Artichokie (Jun 19, 2007)

We haven't decided how to pronounce my LO's name yet, so everything is fair game.


----------



## Kat_shoshin (Feb 16, 2007)

I named my DS Rohan - pronounced like Rowan. We chose to spell it with an H because all the Rowans we were hearing about are girls recently. People only mispronounce it when reading it for the first time. My mother has a kind of a drawl and people hear "Roland" with her - which makes her mad and she now pronounces it Ro-HAN. Which makes me mad - but what can you do?


----------



## llamalluv (Aug 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Onemagicmummy* 
My names unique, its Krystie pronounced KrisTEE. i have been called Kirsty, Krystal, Krispy, Krissie, Krusty, and its been spelt wrong too, with a Ch or a C. used to bugs me no end, i am used to it now. also i was given a double barreled name Krystie-Marie, i HATE it, i always drop the Marie (HATE HATE HATE IT)


Mine is spelled Kristy and I get Kirsty/Kirstie or (and this drives me BATTY!!!!) "Christine/Christina". It really hacks me off in a formal setting, such as:

"No, Doctor Smith, you may NOT call me Christina - that's not my name. If my name was Christina, wouldn't I have put that on my registration form?! And you should be calling me "Mrs. Moore", unless you want me to call you "Debbie" and I prefer not to be on a first name basis with someone who will, in 5 minutes, be shining a light in my vagina, thankyouverymuch."


----------



## llamalluv (Aug 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BAU3* 
I thought that Schuyler was pretty cut-and-dry...but I've had alot of Shoo-ler. I guess you should just expect that some people will have a difficult time with names no matter what.

I would pronounce it "Shoo-lur" if I was just reading the name for the first time.

But then, my baby sister is Chylar (pronounced SHY-ler) and we always knew when it was our turn at the pediatrician, because the nurse carrying the chart would come out with a furrowed brow and scan the room looking for help.


----------



## Faliciagayle (Sep 9, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lula* 
Ok, name experts...I am meeting my friends dd. Her name is Chayala. Her sister's name is Chaya. I can pronounce Chaya just fine but I am wondering about Chayala. Are they similar in pronunciation?

haven't read the last page so I dunno if there's a reply BUT I would assume English pronunciation to be "Hi-EL-lah" with, if you can manage, the hard KH sound for the first part of the name...

HTH


----------



## Faliciagayle (Sep 9, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *coobabysmom* 
Your daughter's name is beautiful.

Thanks!









Also, regarding the Schuylar name - one of our groomsmen was named this.. I had only ever heard the name so I figured it was Skylar - thankfully I inquired about spelling BEFORE I wrote up our wedding program.


----------



## BAU3 (Dec 10, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Faliciagayle* 
Thanks!









Also, regarding the Schuylar name - one of our groomsmen was named this.. I had only ever heard the name so I figured it was Skylar - thankfully I inquired about spelling BEFORE I wrote up our wedding program.

Oh... in my case it IS skyler.... What was his name?

The "sch" says "sk"

edited to say...oh, i see... you're talking about the spelling....


----------



## mamabearsoblessed (Jan 8, 2003)

you wouldn't think so but apparently 97% of the population chooses to pronounce my dd name 'Nie-o-mee'. Instead of the correct pronunciation, and phonetically correct Nay-o-mee
(Naomi).








even when people say 'ooooh what is her name?'
'N*a*omi.'
'Oh , hello Nie-o-mee.'
goodness gracious









it drives dh and my other kids and I batty!! never thought it'd be an issue









nak


----------



## aylaanne (Mar 7, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lynxeyedkat* 
Henry "Hank" Rearden is a character from (IMHO) the best book ever, _Atlas Shrugged_, by Ayn Rand.







DH and I are considering Roark if we have a son, from _The Fountainhead_.









Shhh...don't tell DH! I like Roark, too, I forgot about that. Not that DH isn't about Ayn Rand, just not as much as I am, and he's forgotten the connection, so it would be like my little secret. Except, well, he's not a fan of Riordan anymore. It's a good thing we're not pregnant!

The other day, I had my baby out, and someone said, "Oh, what's his name?" and I said, "Matrim" and they said, "Oh, nice to meet you, Mate-rim". I just rolled my eyes and kept my mouth shut. I don't understand how people can screw up a pronounciation when you've just _said_ it for them.


----------



## mom4peace (Mar 5, 2008)

My ds is named Salim (Sa-leem), but everyone says Salem. My sister's dd is named Maren (rhymes with Karen) and everyone says Marienne. Our grandparents, in particular, struggle with their names.


----------



## mamabearsoblessed (Jan 8, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aylaanne* 

The other day, I had my baby out, and someone said, "Oh, what's his name?" and I said, "Matrim" and they said, "Oh, nice to meet you, Mate-rim". I just rolled my eyes and kept my mouth shut. I don't understand how people can screw up a pronounciation when you've just _said_ it for them.

yup~ this is exactly what happens to us








odd.


----------



## jessica_lizette (Feb 3, 2008)

I already posted about my son's name (Giovanni -- pronounced JOH-vahnni) but I had to share this. Someone asked what his name was yesterday and thought it was pretty cool that we named him JUMANJI.


----------



## dancebaraka (Dec 14, 2006)

Well... my name was odd until Barack Obama got famous








now everyone can pronounce my name.
Akasha's name is hit or miss.

Just goes to show that what's unusual one day is in the mainstream psyche the next..

I bet our kid's kids names are gonna be cool.


----------



## aylaanne (Mar 7, 2007)

Akasha, like the queen of the Vampires in Anne Rice's novels?


----------



## jessymama (Apr 5, 2008)

nak

DS name is Isa (pronounced Eesa).. it is the arabic name for Jesus... his name always always ALWAYS gets butchered.. especially by my family! They call him 'Izza' or 'Isah' most of the time







I'm getting SICK of correcting them! Geez, I thought it was pretty easy to say!


----------



## onlygirls (Mar 16, 2008)

My oldest is Cadence. Not hard at all, but people read it as Candace or butcher it completely by calling her Can-dance or something stupid.

Next we have Brielle. People pronounce it Bree-ill instead of Bree-ell. I constantly have to tell people it is the same as GA-brielle.

Next baby will have one of the names in the top 10. So instead of butchering her name, there will be 20 kids at school with the same name.


----------



## akaisha (Apr 14, 2008)

double post.


----------



## akaisha (Apr 14, 2008)

well im NMY, but if i get my three girls they will likely be:

carys seren brianna (my last name)
maya soleil brianne (my last name)
maeve anaya briannon (my last name)

carys = rhymes with paris (as opposed to the traditional welsh pronunication karh-iss). welsh for to love or beloved.
seren = seh-rehn (the proper way) or sairen (like serendipity) i haven't decided yet. welsh for star.

maya = meye-ah. sanskrit for dream, illusion, or illusion personified.
soleil = so-lay. french for sun or sunny.

maeve = may-v. irish gaelic for intoxicating or intoxicating one.
anaya = ah-neye-uh. sanskrit for completely free. but it has some other meanings in hebrew and some african languages.

for a boy we like:

keiran arthur briant (my last name)

or:

jesse or braeden

keiran = keer-in (not keer-on, keer-en, or keer-ahn). irish gaelic for little dark one or dark haired.
arthur = are-ther. irish gaelic for stone, celtic for bear, welsh for bear man or man of the bear.

jesse = jess-ee. hebrew for gift, god's gift.

braeden = bray-den. celtic for from the dark valley.

so i'm waiting for the vast majority of these names to be mispronounced.

(DP's name is brian in case you haven't figured that out, lol.)


----------



## RainbowEarthFaerie (Oct 11, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Lily Eve* 
Ours isn't hard to pronounce so much as it's not a terribly common American name. It's Lucien, which is French and derived from Lucius which means light. I've always loved the name Lucius and Lucien just seemed right to me, especially as DS is hugely enamored with every light he sees. He has two interesting middle names also -- Aslan, from the Chronicles of Narnia and also Turkish (DH is Turkish) for lion. Kubilay is his second middle name and was his grandfather's first name and comes from Kublai Khan, the Mongol leader which is where Coleridge derived his gorgeous poem Kubla Khan from. All in all, it's a unique set of names!









I have a Lucian. People keep trying to pronounce it Loo-shun, but it's LOO-see-un.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bellita* 
My name is Rhiannon--people butcher it all the time. The best was being called "MR. Lastname" on the first day of school because the teacher couldn't even figure out where to begin with it.

My sister was going to be Siobhan, but my mom thought one "unusual" name was enough, so she got a much commoner one.

That said, I like my name and it tickles me that people are into fairies and stuff like it, too, and use it as their handles on websites and whatnot. I've never been remotely interested in fairy fae whatever.

Oh, and I can't stand the singer Rihanna's version/misspelling. Ugh!!!









My best friend in jr high/high school was Rheanna. There was also a Rhiannon in our class.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aylaanne* 
Akasha, like the queen of the Vampires in Anne Rice's novels?

DH and I decided YEARS ago, that our next girl was going to be Akasha Mia. Not Akasha the vampire, but "the element from which all other elements are formed" or "the first"

I also have an Alexia, who is CONSTANTLY called Alexis.







: and a Loki. Come on, how hard is Loki? Low-kee.. Not Lock-ee, not Lo-kEYE


----------



## Fanny1460 (Jul 1, 2005)

I love Chaya and don't find it hard to say


----------



## moondiapers (Apr 14, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *audy82* 
We had so many issues with our original spelling of our ds name we changed the spelling at 11 months! I got tired of people asking me "what language is that" or "why'd you spell it like that?" or people constantley saying "that's weird" or just mispronouncing it, especially family







I was worried he'd hate it! The original looked like "E paul low" and that's how every one pronounced it. (I don't spell it out as one word because when you google it that's all that comes up!) I told them the E was pronounced A like the E in Elizabeth or Elijah (Apollo!) We ended up changing it to Apaulo I just wish we had done it sooner, he has so much baby stuff with his original spelling on it. I do miss his old name but not the drama!

Here, Elizabeth and Elijah are pronounced with a long E sound at the begining. My dd has Elizabeth (EE Liz uh beth) as a second middle name, after my grandmother. DD is Danielle Eileen Elizabeth _Lastname_.

The official pronunciation is [i-liz-uh-buhth]

I think prounciation of vowels is regional though. Like here we say radiator [ray dee ay ter] but in NY many people say [RAD ee ate-er]


----------



## dancebaraka (Dec 14, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aylaanne* 
Akasha, like the queen of the Vampires in Anne Rice's novels?









that's new info to me

Akasha, like the Sanskrit. The memory of the Universe.


----------



## momtopea (May 7, 2007)

my dd is named Rhea (ray-uhh) named after my middle name of Rae. We get a lot of Ree-uh and even Rae pronunciations. I don't mind it a bit b/c I love unique names and am glad my dd has one. I also grew up pronouncing my name for everyone (Alea, pronounced Uh-Lee-Uh) and liked that it was different than most. I love hearing unique and/ or uncommon name. People are just rude when they comment on other individual choices of names







:.

The names I have read in this thread are simply FANTASTIC!!!


----------



## akaisha (Apr 14, 2008)

OT:

re: Akasha, the reason anne rice named her character that is because it has those meanings: the memory of the universe and the first from which all others come. in the novels Akasha = the first vampire.

anyway, i love love the name, both because of the character, she kicks butt, and because of the meanings. my SN is derived from it and has a few other meanings too.


----------



## RainbowEarthFaerie (Oct 11, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *akaisha* 
OT:

re: Akasha, the reason anne rice named her character that is because it has those meanings: the memory of the universe and the first from which all others come. in the novels Akasha = the first vampire.

anyway, i love love the name, both because of the character, she kicks butt, and because of the meanings. my SN is derived from it and has a few other meanings too.

I was just specifying that when we chose that name, we were choosing for the meanings, not to name a child after a character.


----------



## MrsAprilMay (Jul 7, 2007)

Since we have a llllooooonnnnnggggg last name, I gave the kids short first names. Lyela is pronounced lye-la. Like Lila, except there's a little more vowledge going on in the ye. But for most people, it's just Lila. For whatever reason, my ****** inlaws can't remember this. It's always Layla (which I wanted to name her, but DH vetoed). And they can't ever take the time to learn how to spell it, either. I get lehla, leila, layla, leela, lehlah, lelah, leilah, and whatever other combination you can come up with. It's really frustrating since I took the time out of my life to learn how to spell and pronounce their names, KWIM?

Yuri hasn't been too bad. Everyone wants to spell it Uri, but people can generally pronounce it. He's named after my grandpa George (Yuri is a Russian variation on the name), so people at church call him Boy George.


----------



## RainbowEarthFaerie (Oct 11, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MrsAprilMay* 
Since we have a llllooooonnnnnggggg last name, I gave the kids short first names. Lyela is pronounced lye-la. Like Lila, except there's a little more vowledge going on in the ye. But for most people, it's just Lila. For whatever reason, my ****** inlaws can't remember this. It's always Layla (which I wanted to name her, but DH vetoed). And they can't ever take the time to learn how to spell it, either. I get lehla, leila, layla, leela, lehlah, lelah, leilah, and whatever other combination you can come up with. It's really frustrating since I took the time out of my life to learn how to spell and pronounce their names, KWIM?

Oh, I know what you mean. My little sister's name is Ahlena. ah-LEE-nah. Not hard. But she always gets (even from her grandparents) ah-LAY-nah. And it's never spelled right. Aleena, Alhena, Aleenah...etc.







:


----------



## wombatclay (Sep 4, 2005)

Quote:

It's really frustrating since I took the time out of my life to learn how to spell and pronounce their names, KWIM?
I know! I posted way back in this thread, but dd1 is "Laia" (like the end of "jumble-LAYA) and dd2 is "Rowan". My ILs can't spell or pronounce either name. Come on people, I can barely, almost, maybe, from a distance, understand stumbling on Laia the very first time (but not for 3 fraqin' years) but Rowan? She is going to be a year old in June and a good half of my relatives still can't pronounce or spell her name. Her holiday cards actually said "to Laia's little sister" in some cases! Grrrr! We spent a lot of time trying out names that would be interesting and unique but not too hard to pronounce.


----------



## dancebaraka (Dec 14, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *akaisha* 
OT:

re: Akasha, the reason anne rice named her character that is because it has those meanings: the memory of the universe and the first from which all others come. in the novels Akasha = the first vampire.

anyway, i love love the name, both because of the character, she kicks butt, and because of the meanings. my SN is derived from it and has a few other meanings too.

ah! so cool


----------

