Sometimes Pronunciation Makes All the Difference

Helenahhandbasket · December 2013

RE: the name Caroline. I like it well enough, but it doesn't excite me or anything.

There's a new girl at work-- and this is her name. Her parents are French and the French pronunciation is Cah-roh-leen. It's so lovely. I will admit that it took a few days for it to become automatic for me (I keep wanting to call her cah-roh-line), but now it's NBD.

Any names that are make it or break it based on the pronunciation for you?

Irishcurls · December 2013

Can I just say the French get it so right.

Bsitt16 · December 2013

Madeline. It's mah-duh-Lin not mad-uh-line lol

Helenahhandbasket · December 2013

Bsitt16 said:

Madeline. It's mah-duh-Lin not mad-uh-line lol

Well-- there's Madeleine-- which can be said as -leen or-lyn.

Madeline is an English variant and can be -line, -leen, or -lyn.

I personally am loving -leen names at the moment.

sunflowermama42212 · December 2013

I love dutch and french accents on names. Also I can't stand when spanish names are mispronounced. its like nails on a chalk board. Juan is pronounced like huan with a H sound but so many people pronounce it waun with a W. Makes me cringe.

Helenahhandbasket · December 2013

Mwhigham22 said:

I love dutch and french accents on names. Also I can't stand when spanish names are mispronounced. its like nails on a chalk board. Juan is pronounced like huan with a H sound but so many people pronounce it waun with a W. Makes me cringe.

This is my husbands name. People are always puzzled when he has to give his name for anything. They often think he's saying Ron or Han (whatever that is).

I find it so odd because it's SUCH a popular and familiar "foreign" name.

Helenahhandbasket · December 2013

Joy2611 said:

Mairead. Once I heard it pronounced, I was in love.

EDIT: Not exactly in line with you topic, but it was the first thing I thought of!

I didn't like this name until DD's babysitter (who is Irish-- off the boat style and has the prettiest brogue) said it to me. It's her sister's name. I made her write it down for me. She probably thinks I am insane.

draeray · December 2013

My cousin's husband is Martin. But he is spanish so it's pronounced MarTEEN. My husband can't stop calling him the American version of Martin. Drives me crazy! I am always saying MarTEEN but he says "It's spelled Martin!". LOL

Helenahhandbasket · December 2013

Darbie914 said:

I love Xavier but pronounced "Ex- Zayvier" and not "Zay- vier".

Also, DH's family is Latino and I would hate it if they pronounced it as "Hah-vier."

Oooh-- that's a good one.

I do say zayvier, because that was the name of my brother's high school (St. Xavier). I believe that "zayvier" is the way the Catholic saint's name was pronounced.

I will also say I PPH Javier.

4BoysAndABaby · December 2013

How do you pronounce Mairead?

sunflowermama42212 · December 2013

Helenahhandbasket said:

Mwhigham22 said:

I love dutch and french accents on names. Also I can't stand when spanish names are mispronounced. its like nails on a chalk board. Juan is pronounced like huan with a H sound but so many people pronounce it waun with a W. Makes me cringe.

This is my husbands name. People are always puzzled when he has to give his name for anything. They often think he's saying Ron or Han (whatever that is).

I find it so odd because it's SUCH a popular and familiar "foreign" name.

I'm always like do you pronounce jose like wo-say? no you pronounce it ho-say lol so jaun is not waun. can you tell it gets on my nerves. Or when people pronounce the H in the begining of a spanish name. The H is silent.

draeray · December 2013

I say" ho-say" for Jose but only because I had a roomate with that name and that's how he said it. Not sure of the 'correct' way.

Helenahhandbasket · December 2013

@mwhigham22

You just killed me with wo-say. Jose is actually my BILs name. I think we will start to call him wo-say.

Also-- my MIL used to call my DD Josefina (ho-se-fin-ah), which was fine and is pretty, but just not really her name. So it's like the opposite of what I am usually complaining about.

Helenahhandbasket · December 2013

draeray said:

I say" ho-say" for Jose but only because I had a roomate with that name and that's how he said it. Not sure of the 'correct' way.

You are saying it correctly.

sunflowermama42212 · December 2013

draeray said:

I say" ho-say" for Jose but only because I had a roomate with that name and that's how he said it. Not sure of the 'correct' way.

I was just making a point. And to make people understand I use Jose because everyone pronounces that right but has trouble with juan for some reason. In spanish J sounds like an H unless it has a foreign origin and got introduce into the culture later on.

ETA: spelling

NerdyLucy · December 2013

Mwhigham22 said:

I love dutch and french accents on names. Also I can't stand when spanish names are mispronounced. its like nails on a chalk board. Juan is pronounced like huan with a H sound but so many people pronounce it waun with a W. Makes me cringe.

Oy. I'm pretty sure I'm guilty of this. I'll stop though. I always hear it with a W, though that obviously doesn't mean it's correct. I'm going to keep this in mind.

Helenahhandbasket · December 2013

NerdyLucy said:

Mwhigham22 said:

I love dutch and french accents on names. Also I can't stand when spanish names are mispronounced. its like nails on a chalk board. Juan is pronounced like huan with a H sound but so many people pronounce it waun with a W. Makes me cringe.

Oy. I'm pretty sure I'm guilty of this. I'll stop though. I always hear it with a W, though that obviously doesn't mean it's correct. I'm going to keep this in mind.

LOL.

Sometimes, when people ask me H's name and I say Juan (huan) they look at me like I have 5 heads and ask me to repeat myself. If I say it closer to "wan" they somehow magically understand.

So basically, @nerdylucy, I am trying to say that I think most non-Spanish speaking people say it like you might be saying it. No foul and now you know.

sunflowermama42212 · December 2013

i hope i'm not offending anyone with my rant lol My husband makes fun of my english all the time. so i'm by far not perfect.

spinsoffresonance · December 2013

I love the names Aurore and Emanuelle in French but I can't say them in English at all.

NerdyLucy · December 2013

Mwhigham22 said:

i hope i'm not offending anyone with my rant lol My husband makes fun of my english all the time. so i'm by far not perfect.

No, I WANT someone to tell me this stuff.

When I was in high school, we had a foreign exchange student named Jonas from Germany. We all called him Jonas with a J sound (like how you say Jonas brothers). Right before he left, it was brought up that he was called Jonas as in Yonas back home--a Y sound. I asked him why he never corrected us and he just shrugged. I wish I'd have known that we were all saying his name wrong.

Now I've probably been doing this to multiple men/boys named Juan and they've all been too nice to tell me.

:P

lifeonthehill · December 2013

I hate Dominic but we have a french canadian student who pronounces it Dough-Min-Eek(his explanation) and I love it!

Irishcurls · December 2013

I am SO guilty of wuan. Even though I know better, I just can't get with it. I do agree with pp about not being corrected, I'd rather be corrected and learn to say it right!

I still wish I was French.

Irishcurls · December 2013

HisGirlFriday929 said:

Irishcurls said:

I am SO guilty of wuan. Even though I know better, I just can't get with it. I do agree with pp about not being corrected, I'd rather be corrected and learn to say it right!

I still wish I was French.

I am part French, but unfortnately have no lovely accent to go along with it. I definitely favor my Irish heritage.

Makes me love you even more....

strawberrytree · December 2013

I think a lot of French names sound really unattractive with an Americanised pronunciation. For example Genevieve- I read it on this board and think "Oh, Zhuh-nuh-vyehv, nice! Wait...no, it'll be Jenna-veeve." It's nails on a chalkboard to me.

NerdyLucy · December 2013

strawberrytree said:

I think a lot of French names sound really unattractive with an Americanised pronunciation. For example Genevieve- I read it on this board and think "Oh, Zhuh-nuh-vyehv, nice! Wait...no, it'll be Jenna-veeve." It's nails on a chalkboard to me.

This is part of my issue with Genevieve. I don't dislike the Jenna-verve pronunciation, per se, but if I say it like that, I feel WRONG. If I say it the French way, people here think I'm nutso and pretentious. It's a shame because I find the name to be beautiful either way.

queenbone · December 2013

I love Regina, Teresa, and Magdalena pronounced the Spanish way with the E like an A. Ta RAY sah is so pretty, Tur EE sah not so much.

Manderlin923 · December 2013

My friend's name in French class was Genevieve and it was pronounced jean (as in Jean-Paul Gautier) vee-ev. I always thought it was so pretty.

I love Carolina with the last part pronounced leena.

Tikvahc · December 2013

I'm obsessed with French names, especially for girls!

I would totally use the name Caroline or Vivienne if I knew they'd get pronounced the right way. This baby's middle name will be Brielle so at least I have that

brooksidebride · December 2013

Joy2611 said:

4BoysAndABaby said:

How do you pronounce Mairead?

mah-raid. It rhymes with parade.

Oh wow that is pretty!

brooksidebride · December 2013

queenbone said:
I love Regina, Teresa, and Magdalena pronounced the Spanish way with the E like an A. Ta RAY sah is so pretty, Tur EE sah not so much.

Yes! To me, Ta Ray Suh is so much prettier than Ta Ree Suh.

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