How would you pronounce Csilla?

emikat · March 2012

MH and I were discussing names last night and while we both like Csilla, I'm not sure it'll ever get pronounced correctly. It's Hungarian (his origin) and the Cs is normal there and not pronounced how I would have thought until I started learning the language. I'm hesitant to put it on my list due to these issues, so I'm putting it to you guys to see what you think. TIA!

jelina · March 2012

I would just pronounce it Sill-uh. I wouldn't be totally sure but that was what I thought first.

strawberrytree · March 2012

I don't speak Hungarian, so I would guess it is See-lah.

I just looked it up, and yeah, I would not have guessed that is the correct pronounciation.

SarahPLiz · March 2012

I'd say Silla, assuming the C is silent.

Unless you live in a heavily Hungarian area, or are teaching your LO Hungarian, the spelling might be an issue for both her and others as it doesn't translate into English phonetics. I think the same thing about some of the more popular Irish/Celtic names out there as well.

I think it looks pretty though.

CraftyKayla · March 2012

sill-uh.

although i feel like a lot of people in the US would butcher it!

emikat · March 2012

Thanks ladies. It's actually pronounced Chee-lah. I think it's best to avoid it. I wouldn't want it to be a lifelong problem!

rayskit10 · March 2012

I would say Silla as well. I do like it- both the real and wrong pronunciation. The things is, you need to decide if you can deal with the constant correcting people. I know some moms who go batshitcrazy having to always correct the way their child's name is pronounced. Is it worth the stress? On the other hand, people always call my son "Mathias" and his name is Mathis. I don't worry about it. It depends a lot on you.

If I was going to use this name, I would go with the Americanized pronunciation and you can always tell your daughter the Hungarian one eventually. While this probably sounds weird, my mom pronounces my unusual/made up name differently than I do and, subsequently, most people in my adult life do.

LyndseylovesHugh · March 2012

emikat:
Thanks ladies. It's actually pronounced Chee-lah. I think it's best to avoid it. I wouldn't want it to be a lifelong problem!

I know someone with this name and she pronounces it Chill-ah, so similar to your pronunciation. She has to tell everyone she meets how to say it, but once you hear it once it is not an issue, I never mispronounced it again.

g8trkim · March 2012

jelina:
I would just pronounce it Sill-uh. I wouldn't be totally sure but that was what I thought first.

This.

[Deleted User] · March 2012

Without knowing history/origin, I'd pronounce it See-silla in my head. If I had the opportunity to ask before pronouncing it aloud, I would do that.

gimmietimmies · March 2012

I would have been close, dh has a friend name Csaba. Pronounced Chubba. I guessed Chillah

AlphabetFish · March 2012

I know I am so, so wrong, but my first thought was "See-silla" and I wondered if it was some kind of programming language like C++.

It's... it's very late here, and I'm ever so tired.

ktpaladino · March 2012

theresat858:
I read it as Cis-illa... I do think there will be many issues if your LO is being raised in the US.

Me too. I would totally butcher it.

ObLaDi · March 2012

I know someone with this name. CHEE-lah. It's pretty.

People will for sure have to be told how to pronounce it, but I don't think that's a bad trade-off for having a lovely, unusual name.

Emiliana7 · March 2012

Without knowing the background to it, I'd butcher it too. I would say it like Cecilia.

Moneypenny424 · March 2012

emikat:
Thanks ladies. It's actually pronounced Chee-lah. I think it's best to avoid it. I wouldn't want it to be a lifelong problem!

I would never have guessed that--I thought Sill-a. I like this name though and I don't have a problem with people giving names from their backgrounds even if they will be hard to pronounce. My name is not that hard (Gillian, traditional spelling of the name), and I get called Gillian with a hard G (like Gertrude) at least once a week.

jdk033 · March 2012

I would butcher it horribly. I'd either say 'Silly-ah' or 'Cecellia'
I can't even think of a way of angloizing the name... at least its still not as hard as my best friend's mum's name: Tschicza

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