Baby Names

Feeling frustrated by pronounciation.

Our son was born 8 days ago. We named him Roan. I thought it met some of our criteria beautifully. Short, no obvious nicknames, easy to pronounce and spelt like it sounds.

That is until he was born and now everyone calls him Row-an. :-(
It honestly never even crossed my mind that I would have to correct pronunciation with this name. There is nothing wrong with the name Rowan if that were his name. Even after correcting people and pointing out the 'oan' sound, loan, moan, Joan, etc people still mispronounce it by throwing in the nonexistent W. I'm feeling frustrated that he will forever need to correct people which is exactly what I didn't want. This is more a vent than anything else I guess, I'm just struggling because I did not think this was a difficult name to read and pronounce.
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Re: Feeling frustrated by pronounciation.

  • If it helps I thought it was pronounced like Joan when I saw it... But it is also very similar to a last name in my family (they spell it with rh).
    Roan is a nice name, and some people are going to spell or pronounce any name wrong. My grandparents never once spelled my name right. I know older folks in my family have a hard time with some of my cousins names too. Don't let it get you down, most people will learn :)
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  • I think this is one of those names that he will need to correct people sometimes, but only once and then it will be easy enough to remember. I get the frustration, our DD is Layla and we thought it was simple and easy to spell, but she gets Leila all the time. My DH also really wanted her to have a different enough name that she wouldn't always be one of many (his name is Michael), and she had another Layla in her preschool class, and one this year in her second grade class. I think you just can't always predict everything, but it's a great name and shouldn't be a huge inconvenience down the road!
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  • Sorry, I thought "Rowan" too.
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  • I read it as row-nn, rhymes with groan.
    I think he'll have to constantly correct people if they read it or have to spell it.
  • I read it Rowan, too, but it'd stick if you corrected me. It happens. I'm Leah and I get lay-uh, lee, lay, etc. when I pronounce it lee-uh. I respond to all of them and correct it if it's someone I'll be regularly talking to... And mine is (I think) a pretty common name!
    I think it'll be fine in the long run, it's probably more annoying because he and his name are so new!
  • You could always move to an area with more cattle.  I knew exactly how to pronounce it because I've heard of roan cows. Actually, I feel like I may know it from high school biology.  Don't they use roan cows to talk about codominant genetic traits?
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  • Thanks everyone. Blu-eyedwife I actually live in a very high agriculture / livestock area. Haha.

    I will just continue to correct and hope people catch on. I do love the name, it's history and meaning. I am just taken by surprise by the difficulty.
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  • I think it's just not that familiar of a name to most people.

    It's a lovely name though, so just hang in there. 

     

    BFP 1- EDD 2/09/11 Missed MC DX @11 weeks D&C- 7/25/10 BFP 2- EDD 12/22/11 Natural MC @ 5w 2d BFP 3- EDD 1/25/12 DD Josephine born 1/16/12

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  • Just keep correcting people and they'll eventually get it unless they're idiots. My name is Karen, but my grandfather always called me "Kay-ren." Sometimes it just doesn't matter how normal a name is, it'll still get mispronounced. Roan is a great name, don't second guess yourself.

    Me (31) Him (31)
    Married: 5/2013
    CP: 9/18/14 (4w:4d)
    BFP: 10/16/14 EDD: 6/21/15

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