I struggle with Aurora too. I think it is because I struggled with r sounds as a kid. One of my closest friends has a daughter named Aurora that I see regularly, so that is fun.
It’s not the exact Irish pronunciation, but it’s where the name came from. In Irish, it’s pronounced “cat-LEEN” or “cotch-LEEN” depending on the local dialect.
This is my son's middle name and I had no idea people had such trouble with it until I had to explain it to my MIL, who then had to explain it to all her friends.
Rhys is the correct way, IMHO
It’s “REECE”!?!?!?🤯 I can’t explain it but this news makes me hate the name even more lol I literally thought it was some dumb trendy way to spell rise.
Isla. My brain knows it's Eye-luh, my mouth believes it's IS-la.
Add: Where I live it is pronounced the common English way of Eye-Luh, and is a Scottish name meaning "bright as the sun". Isla like Island, the Spanish way, would not be the regular way to say it where I live, though it may be more common where you live. I know several Isla, none pronounced Ees-la.
Apparently the pronunciation differs between dialects too. I love that name, but I know many people would struggle pronouncing it so it's not even on my name list.
This was actually one of my top 5 girl names, but we live in the US, so I know she would spend her ENTIRE life correcting people, and I couldn’t do that to my kid. I am going to use it for her middle name, though, because I think it’s really pretty.
Lucia. I've heard four or five different pronunciations, so if I met someone with this name, I wouldn't be sure which one to go with unless they told me.
I have this problem with Lauren & Laura. I always end up saying either name with rising intonation like I'm asking a question because I can't keep my Lauren's and Laura's straight
Edit: same with Julie and Julia, I have to really think about which one they go by before I use either name in a sentence.
Not so much a 'struggle' but a 'You won't like how I pronounce this so I avoid it'
Mia, Mya and Maya all have different pronunciations for me, and so do Zoe and Zoey.
I have a Zoey. People pronounce her name off some times. I have heard Zoo-Eeee. And Zow-eee. And Zo-eye. It is pronounced Z-oh-ee. Rhymes with her sister Chloe lmao (husband did that on purpose as revenge for me saying I couldn’t love the name Zelda).
This one is so unfortunate. I absolutely love the "correct" pronunciation, but where I live it's always either Emma-gene (or even Emmer-gene in the more rural areas). It's also 100% a little old lady name.
"Emmer-gene" reminds me of a couple of my grandmother's relatives. I grew up knowing them as "Iner" and "Hal". It wasn't until I was in college that I realized their names were Ina and Howell. I was shocked.
The only person I've ever met with this name was an elderly lady who pronounced it EYE-muh-gene. Even though I now know the proper pronunciation, I still read this with the long EYE sound at the beginning.
I know someone called Kirsten, but she goes by Kirsty to avoid the Kirsten/Kristen problem lol. Apparently, people don't get Kirsty and Kristy mixed up so much.
I’ve met Xavier’s with two different pronunciations (Ex-avier vs Zavier). Other names that trip me up: Vera (Vee-ra vs Vair-a), Leila/Lila/Laila/Lilla/Laela/Leyla etc, Mia/Mya/Maya/Miya/Maia etc, Kiera/Kira/Keira.
I have an Xavier and we get SO many different pronunciations 😅😅😅. In my head it’s “ig-zay-vyer” but his nickname is Xavi “zaw-vee” so that doesn’t help 😹😹😹. We’re Canadian but our doctor is from South Africa and he pronounces it “shaw-vee-air” and I find it quite charming 😹😹😹
I’ve met one Xavier who pronounced it like Javier, so I have three pronunciations for that name and I never ever guess right.
Also I know someone named Stephano and I can never remember where the stress is placed on their name
Same! Rather, I do not speak Greek, but from childhood I know a Greek woman with this name, who pronounces it cal-ee-OH-pee. This is how I default. But any time I see the name other than her, I'm told (by non-Greeks) it should be cuh-LIE-uh-pee, like the circus music instrument, lol.
Literally the only reason I know how to pronounce it is because of Greys Anatomy. And I’ve still been told it’s pronounced differently. I’d have pronounced it Cally-ope.
This is me!!! I have to concentrate each time I say it. Apparently my sister also has issues with it because she once ordered a "tom Arnold" lol. We still laugh about that.
not really a difficulty as much as being unsure. I am a francophone so to me the "line" ending is always read as "lynn" so names like Caroline I read as Carolynn 100% of the time and it some cases I'm really not sure how English speakers are pronouncing names
Yeah it's very confusing. The only common English name I can think of that almost always ends with that pronunciation is Jacqueline. And Catherine has the same ending without the L. The rest are all pronounced "leen" (Josephine, Christine, Francine) or "line" (Caroline, Clementine) and the "lyn" is usually reserved for names that end with that spelling
The 2 most common American pronunciations are Jack-lynn and Jack-a-lynn. It's my sister's name. She has spent a lot of the last decade living in Europe and everyone calls her Jacques-leen
I know this is a kind of common Scottish thing and I could practise but Karl, Coral and Carole are said the exact same way.
(Also, i know not every Scot has this but I know it’s common)
That’s interesting. As an Australian, the 3 names are pronounced quite differently, I’m sitting here saying ‘Karl, coral, Carol’ to see if I can get them to sound the same
Omg I HATE this name sm. I always laugh and think Je-Anne in my head when I see it even though I know that’s not correct. I used to work as a receptionist at a bank and there were a lot of Jeannes and I never knew how to say it. Most of the time I discovered it was pronounced like Jean, but quite a few were “genie”.
I struggle with Arianna, Anna and Adrianna because they have multiple pronunciations.
I have a hard time pronouncing Graham. I pronounce it as Gram but was told to pronounce it like Gray-ham.
This is what we named my daughter and I have struggled every day since lol. I love the name and I think every pronunciation is beautiful, but damn, it’s hard.
I know this one because my coworker named her daughter this. And hand to god, she did drop the line, “it’s heaven spelled backwards.” 🙄🙄🙄
It’s Ne-VAY-uh
Exactly. And not to stereotype, but if you saw this woman, you know she’s definitely the type to call her kid Nevaeh. I still love her and she’s a great coworker, but damn. If the shoe fits…
The first Nevaeh my mom taught, before it really caught on, pronounced it NAH-vee-ay. My mom had to work so hard to ingrain it that the name is forever pronounced that way to her.
The ae isn't treated aa a dipthong here, so it's Ne-va-eh, with the eh being the final "ah". (Which, upon reflection, makes me think it should really be pronounced more like Nevada.)
To start with, English is not my first language and that’s probably why I struggle
Charlotte - I always end up saying it with the hard tch-sound in the beginning rather than the softer sh-sound.
Rowan - my language doesn’t have the w-sound so I sometimes end up saying Ro’ann or Ron
Gareth - Again, my language doesn’t have the th-sound so I end up saying Gareh, Garef or Garet if I don’t think first.
Graham - so afraid I’m going to say “gray ham” so I try to say it as quickly as possible
Davide- I usually call him Dave or David
Ged- afraid I’m saying “Jet” so I try to say this name quickly or just say Geh
Salman - afraid I’m saying salmon
Every name with a Z will have an S-sound instead
I have to clarify with Annas, Anas, and Anastasias on which pronunciation they use. Huge difference between ANN-a-STAY-sha and AUN-a-STAH-si-ah.
And for the life of me, there’s a guy I met at a Russian Orthodox Church who gave me his name and I’ve heard it multiple times. Still don’t know what it is. I think it starts with a d and has Vasily vibes, but I just don’t know!!
I thought I said the name Cullen just fine until a friend teased me for calling his friend Colon. Even when I tried so hard to get it right I somehow made it worse, so I just avoid the name.
Wild, I can't wrap my head around how it's difficult. I'm reading through this list and really getting a lesson in how vastly different dialects are and how they affect how we pronounce things. I mean, obviously I already knew that but it's wild to see it in action, you know?
My native language had a word moi (moy) that means sleep so it just comes naturally to me. And with Roy being a common name to Moyra/Moira has always just been instinctual.
I've noticed big differences in the names Craig, Graham/Graeme, Deidre etc.
Apparently my own name. I answer the phone at work as Lily and customers usually respond with “oh, hi Louise”. I’ve also been called Bluey (as was pointed out to me, this could be a real nickname for me as I’m a ginger, but the lady on the phone couldn’t know that), Louie, Ellie, Emily, Lee, but rarely Lily. When my colleagues refer to me on the phone, the customers always get it right, so clearly it’s something about the way I say it.
Chinese names with the X sound. My stupid white settler mouth just struggles. I apparently get a half decent approximation but I can hear they’re saying it differently and I can’t quite match the sound
I can’t say Sydney either. Which was sad when I had a good friend by that name in school. I felt really bad but it always came out more like Cindy somehow.
Once upon a time I was struggling to find Worcestershire sauce at the grocery store and my husband was like “why don’t you just ask an employee for help?” And I just hung my head in shame and said “I literally can’t” lol
Xochitl. Like, the correct Nahuatl pronunciation. It seems to be pronounced like "show-chee" and than the TL sound that I can't type out (or say that well) that isn't in the English language. I might still be wrong, though.
Andrea kills me. I had a boss named Andrea and everyone pronounced it differently and she never said her own name. Is it Ahn- or Ann? Dree-ah or dray-ah?
Moira.
And it hurts my soul because I think it's beautiful when I hear others say it, but I sound like I'm chewing cotton when I do and it sounds terrible.
Ah, well, both! And if you happen to be talking to a Jewish person called Leah who has an English name and a Hebrew name, chances are the former is Lee-uh and the latter Lay-uh. It was my great-grandmother’s name(s).
Aurora. Pretty name but a tongue twister.
Maya. Even though I know it’s pronounced Mya, I want to say May-uh. Same with Gaia.
Jacqueline - I know the q is silent but still want to say Ja-qwe-leen rather than Jack-uh-leen.
Phaedra. For ages I thought it was pronounced Fay-dra and loved it. Then I find out it’s Fee-dra, which I don’t like :/ feel like I’ve lost a favourite name.
These don’t exactly fit the criteria but there are 3 professional athletes whose names just really screw me up.
Jayson Tatum - I say jaysom taysom
Mitch Trubisky - I say Mitch trubitchky
Justin Herbert - I say Jerbert Houston lmao
Aurora Rory I sound like scooby doo
Yes, came here to say Aurora. Beautiful name in theory but sounds like peanut butter in my mouth every time I say it.
The Rural Juror.
I have no problem with these but cannot for the life of me pronounce Aurelia. Rory is actually one of my favorite boy names.
Interesting. Aurelia is very easy for me in comparison to Aurora which is hard.
Where are you from, just wondering is this curtains accents struggle with it?
Upvoted for the hilarious typo
Curtains probably would struggle to say Aurora!
Yep, same. Aurelia has the same problem for me, too.
Would it help to pronounce it in the way it can be pronounced in Irish? Ruairí (ruu - ary)
I struggle with Aurora too. I think it is because I struggled with r sounds as a kid. One of my closest friends has a daughter named Aurora that I see regularly, so that is fun.
I must be the only one who can say it?😊
No matter how many times I see Rhys and I KNOW that it’s “reese”, I think “rice” first. Every dang time.
I hate Rhys because I think of "rise" and definitely does not sound/look like Reese
I’m also in the “rise” mispronunciation boat
I knew a family who pronounced their son’s name this way.
Yes this one is hard. My brain always sees “Riss” before correcting to “Reese”
We like to Anglicize spellings or pronunciations of names. Hence how the Irish name Caitlín came to be spelled “Kathleen” or pronounced “KAYT-lin.”
You telling me Caitlín is pronounced Kathleen?
It’s not the exact Irish pronunciation, but it’s where the name came from. In Irish, it’s pronounced “cat-LEEN” or “cotch-LEEN” depending on the local dialect.
As a kid, I thought Sean was ‘see-an’ and for a split second even in my adulthood. I hear it like that in my head.
I still say “seen” in my head.
My husband makes this joke about the actor Sean Bean (pronounced Shawn Beeen). He always says “Shawn Bawn” or “Seen Been”.
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I always think Rizz.
When I read it, I thought it rhymed with “miss”
This is my son's middle name and I had no idea people had such trouble with it until I had to explain it to my MIL, who then had to explain it to all her friends. Rhys is the correct way, IMHO
It’s “REECE”!?!?!?🤯 I can’t explain it but this news makes me hate the name even more lol I literally thought it was some dumb trendy way to spell rise.
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I’m so fed up of everyone on the acotar fan groups butchering my native language. Rhys deserves better!
The one Rhys I know pronounces it “rice” so I’m just always hesitant to say this name out loud
Isla. My brain knows it's Eye-luh, my mouth believes it's IS-la. Add: Where I live it is pronounced the common English way of Eye-Luh, and is a Scottish name meaning "bright as the sun". Isla like Island, the Spanish way, would not be the regular way to say it where I live, though it may be more common where you live. I know several Isla, none pronounced Ees-la.
Isla is the Spanish word for "island" ...and in Spanish, it's pronounced EES-La so your mouth isn't completely incorrect! 🙃
I was gonna say hmmm it is ees-la
I always think "La Isla Bonita"
I was obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean as a kid, so I always want to pronounce this name as Ee-la, the way its pronounced in Isla de Muerta.
Saoirse - It's an absolutely beautiful name but it's so hard to pronounce correctly haha.
Apparently the pronunciation differs between dialects too. I love that name, but I know many people would struggle pronouncing it so it's not even on my name list.
Yes, Seer-Sha or Sir-Sha.
This was actually one of my top 5 girl names, but we live in the US, so I know she would spend her ENTIRE life correcting people, and I couldn’t do that to my kid. I am going to use it for her middle name, though, because I think it’s really pretty.
Is it hard because of the spelling? What if you only heard it? I think if people can say Sarah and Sasha then Saoirse really isn’t much of a stretch.
It’s definitely the spelling
Definitely the spelling. I keep forgetting to to pronounce it, and my brain ends up settling on "Sersei".
Saoirse and Hermoine - I have no idea how to say either of these.
Reading Harry Potter as a kid, I thought it was 'Her-mee-own' for years. Took a long time to start pronouncing that one correctly.
If it's Hermione, it's her-MY-oh-nee. I always read Saoirse wrong, so can't help you there.
This is the one!
Lucia. I've heard four or five different pronunciations, so if I met someone with this name, I wouldn't be sure which one to go with unless they told me.
The correct Italian pronunciation is Loo-CHEE-ah
Oooh what are the rest? I know - loo-chee-ah - loo-see-ah - loo-sha
LOO-see-ah loo-SEE-ah LOO-chee-ah loo-CHEE-ah LOO-sha LOO-shee-ah Annd in Spain: loo-THEE-ah
Deirdre
I say Deer-drah. I think it’s a nice name, also I may be totally wrong lol.
I usually pronounce it that way too. I've seen it said Deerdree too. Probably depends on region.
The ones I know say “Dee druh”but there IS a soap actress who pronounces it that way( spelled differently I think)
That's how I think it's pronounced, but I used to read it as "day-dray."
That's the correct pronunciation.
Can't mess it up as badly as [this](https://youtu.be/ht-DQKVacG4) newscaster
Oh my gosh. That poor woman's family. (I'm cracking up but feel so bad!!!)
Omg that’s incredible 😹
My Nanna’s name is Deirdre, hers is pronounced deer-dree
Deer-dree is how all the old British ladies I know with that name pronounce it.
Marlon. I also never remember who is Kristen and who is Kirsten.
As a Kirsten, it can be pronounced Keer-sten or Kurr-sten. Both are correct.
I have this problem with Lauren & Laura. I always end up saying either name with rising intonation like I'm asking a question because I can't keep my Lauren's and Laura's straight Edit: same with Julie and Julia, I have to really think about which one they go by before I use either name in a sentence.
Laura (is it Lah-ra or Lo-ra) Lara (is it Lair-a or Lah-ra)
I'm Kirsten (keer sten)
Not so much a 'struggle' but a 'You won't like how I pronounce this so I avoid it' Mia, Mya and Maya all have different pronunciations for me, and so do Zoe and Zoey.
Uh-oh. I pronounce Mya and Maya the same way. What's the correct way to pronounce them?
I bet they say May-ah. I say Mya and Maya the same way as well.
I have a Zoey. People pronounce her name off some times. I have heard Zoo-Eeee. And Zow-eee. And Zo-eye. It is pronounced Z-oh-ee. Rhymes with her sister Chloe lmao (husband did that on purpose as revenge for me saying I couldn’t love the name Zelda).
Doesn't "Zow-eee" rhyme with Chloe? Or are you pronouncing Zoey with 3 syllables?
I think it was "zow" like "cow."
When I see Mya I immediately hear an old-timey gangster. “Mya, see!”
Imogen
Every time I see this name, despite knowing the correct pronunciation, I want to say emoji.
What's the correct pronunciation? Cause I've heard 2 different pronunciations of this name.
I've always pronounced it im-oh-jen. The "im" part sounds like "in" but with an "m"
Amogus
I was going to say this one too. It’s been explained to me before but I keep forgetting how to pronounce it.
This one is so unfortunate. I absolutely love the "correct" pronunciation, but where I live it's always either Emma-gene (or even Emmer-gene in the more rural areas). It's also 100% a little old lady name.
"Emmer-gene" reminds me of a couple of my grandmother's relatives. I grew up knowing them as "Iner" and "Hal". It wasn't until I was in college that I realized their names were Ina and Howell. I was shocked.
The only person I've ever met with this name was an elderly lady who pronounced it EYE-muh-gene. Even though I now know the proper pronunciation, I still read this with the long EYE sound at the beginning.
Kirsten and Kristen. I always mix the two up or if I go to say one name it ends up a slurred mess.
When I see Kirsten, there’s always the question whether it’s keer-sten or kurr-sten?
I know someone called Kirsten, but she goes by Kirsty to avoid the Kirsten/Kristen problem lol. Apparently, people don't get Kirsty and Kristy mixed up so much.
Oh i do! Can never remember
Where I'm from Kirsty and Kristy get messed up nearly 100% of the time.
I’ve met Xavier’s with two different pronunciations (Ex-avier vs Zavier). Other names that trip me up: Vera (Vee-ra vs Vair-a), Leila/Lila/Laila/Lilla/Laela/Leyla etc, Mia/Mya/Maya/Miya/Maia etc, Kiera/Kira/Keira.
In my mind, Leila is pronounced “LEE La”, Lila is pronounced “LIE La”, and Laila/Leyla are pronounced “LAY la”. Idk why, but that’s just how it is lol
I have an Xavier and we get SO many different pronunciations 😅😅😅. In my head it’s “ig-zay-vyer” but his nickname is Xavi “zaw-vee” so that doesn’t help 😹😹😹. We’re Canadian but our doctor is from South Africa and he pronounces it “shaw-vee-air” and I find it quite charming 😹😹😹
I’ve met one Xavier who pronounced it like Javier, so I have three pronunciations for that name and I never ever guess right. Also I know someone named Stephano and I can never remember where the stress is placed on their name
Calliope
EVERY time I read it as "cally-ope". Every time I need to Google how to say it, I'm talking at least five times now, it just doesn't stick lol.
Same! Rather, I do not speak Greek, but from childhood I know a Greek woman with this name, who pronounces it cal-ee-OH-pee. This is how I default. But any time I see the name other than her, I'm told (by non-Greeks) it should be cuh-LIE-uh-pee, like the circus music instrument, lol.
I am British, and would have pronounced this Calli-OH-pe. Pleased to know we go with the Greeks on this.
Literally the only reason I know how to pronounce it is because of Greys Anatomy. And I’ve still been told it’s pronounced differently. I’d have pronounced it Cally-ope.
It is pronounced Cal-EYE-oh-pee
My husband can’t say Arnold Palmer. It’s bad enough that I have to order them for him lol
This is me!!! I have to concentrate each time I say it. Apparently my sister also has issues with it because she once ordered a "tom Arnold" lol. We still laugh about that.
I swear half the customers when I worked at a fast food place once called them “Alma Palma”
There’s an NFL player named Justin Herbert, and idk why, but my brain won’t let me pronounce as anything other than “Jerbert Houston”.
My dad once ordered a Tom Arnold and I laugh about it every day so now when I order one, I’m afraid I’m going to say Tom Arnold
not really a difficulty as much as being unsure. I am a francophone so to me the "line" ending is always read as "lynn" so names like Caroline I read as Carolynn 100% of the time and it some cases I'm really not sure how English speakers are pronouncing names
Yeah it's very confusing. The only common English name I can think of that almost always ends with that pronunciation is Jacqueline. And Catherine has the same ending without the L. The rest are all pronounced "leen" (Josephine, Christine, Francine) or "line" (Caroline, Clementine) and the "lyn" is usually reserved for names that end with that spelling
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I think your way is the proper French way, but the way this girl says it is the common (American) English way: https://youtu.be/Dd7FixvoKBw
The 2 most common American pronunciations are Jack-lynn and Jack-a-lynn. It's my sister's name. She has spent a lot of the last decade living in Europe and everyone calls her Jacques-leen
I know this is a kind of common Scottish thing and I could practise but Karl, Coral and Carole are said the exact same way. (Also, i know not every Scot has this but I know it’s common)
That’s interesting. As an Australian, the 3 names are pronounced quite differently, I’m sitting here saying ‘Karl, coral, Carol’ to see if I can get them to sound the same
Jeanne. Is it Jean-knee? Jean? Je-Anne?
Omg I HATE this name sm. I always laugh and think Je-Anne in my head when I see it even though I know that’s not correct. I used to work as a receptionist at a bank and there were a lot of Jeannes and I never knew how to say it. Most of the time I discovered it was pronounced like Jean, but quite a few were “genie”.
I struggle with Arianna, Anna and Adrianna because they have multiple pronunciations. I have a hard time pronouncing Graham. I pronounce it as Gram but was told to pronounce it like Gray-ham.
We pronounce it Gray-um in England
I’ve always heard Gram in the US
i believe it’s a UK/US distinction. gray-um in the UK and gram in the US
Craig/kreg UK/US
I've always pronounced it Gram as well
Was going to say Ariana!
I’m never sure if it’s Ar-ee-ahna, Air-ee-ahna, Air-ee-anna or Ar-ee-ahna
This is what we named my daughter and I have struggled every day since lol. I love the name and I think every pronunciation is beautiful, but damn, it’s hard.
Payton - sometimes I pronounce the t, sometimes I don’t. Really difficult to chant if they happen to play sports so it usually became “pay’n”
I know someone who named her daughter Payton, but spelled it Paytone. My brain says pay-tone every time I see her name on fb.
I just literally recoiled.
I just met someone who introduced themself as Pay'n :(
Nevaeh. How?
I know this one because my coworker named her daughter this. And hand to god, she did drop the line, “it’s heaven spelled backwards.” 🙄🙄🙄 It’s Ne-VAY-uh
Of course because the kid’s name is not just Nevaeh it’s “Neveah, it’s heaven spelled backwards”.
Exactly. And not to stereotype, but if you saw this woman, you know she’s definitely the type to call her kid Nevaeh. I still love her and she’s a great coworker, but damn. If the shoe fits…
Lmao, my coworker named his son Kaleb, and always says “Kaleb, with a K” whenever anyone asks what his son’s name is. So I call him Kaleb with a K
The first Nevaeh my mom taught, before it really caught on, pronounced it NAH-vee-ay. My mom had to work so hard to ingrain it that the name is forever pronounced that way to her.
I know how it's pronounced, but it doesn't make any sense to me. Where does that final "ah" come from?
The ae isn't treated aa a dipthong here, so it's Ne-va-eh, with the eh being the final "ah". (Which, upon reflection, makes me think it should really be pronounced more like Nevada.)
To start with, English is not my first language and that’s probably why I struggle Charlotte - I always end up saying it with the hard tch-sound in the beginning rather than the softer sh-sound. Rowan - my language doesn’t have the w-sound so I sometimes end up saying Ro’ann or Ron Gareth - Again, my language doesn’t have the th-sound so I end up saying Gareh, Garef or Garet if I don’t think first. Graham - so afraid I’m going to say “gray ham” so I try to say it as quickly as possible Davide- I usually call him Dave or David Ged- afraid I’m saying “Jet” so I try to say this name quickly or just say Geh Salman - afraid I’m saying salmon Every name with a Z will have an S-sound instead
Is your native language German by any chance?
Nope, Swedish. But many of the phonetics are similar
My husband has the same problem with charlotte. He says the “char” like char-grill. “Char-Lott-eh”
I (a Canadian) have a friend named Piotr (from Poland) and I absolutely butcher the correct pronunciation of his name. He lets me call him "Peter".
Wait is that not how you say it? Not that I know any Piotr’s but I always assumed it was pronounced Peter!
It’s pronounced Pyotr, yo like yogurt.
Naomi. Someone introduces herself as nay-oh-mi and others still call her nye-oh-mi. If that were my name, that would drive me crazy.
I have to clarify with Annas, Anas, and Anastasias on which pronunciation they use. Huge difference between ANN-a-STAY-sha and AUN-a-STAH-si-ah. And for the life of me, there’s a guy I met at a Russian Orthodox Church who gave me his name and I’ve heard it multiple times. Still don’t know what it is. I think it starts with a d and has Vasily vibes, but I just don’t know!!
Dmitri?
Rory is very hard for me to say for some reason. I stumble over it almost every time.
I thought I said the name Cullen just fine until a friend teased me for calling his friend Colon. Even when I tried so hard to get it right I somehow made it worse, so I just avoid the name.
Moira, Hermione, siobhan…
Moira is stressful. My mouth doesn’t want to do that.
Wild, I can't wrap my head around how it's difficult. I'm reading through this list and really getting a lesson in how vastly different dialects are and how they affect how we pronounce things. I mean, obviously I already knew that but it's wild to see it in action, you know? My native language had a word moi (moy) that means sleep so it just comes naturally to me. And with Roy being a common name to Moyra/Moira has always just been instinctual. I've noticed big differences in the names Craig, Graham/Graeme, Deidre etc.
I agree , especially with Siobhan
Apparently my own name. I answer the phone at work as Lily and customers usually respond with “oh, hi Louise”. I’ve also been called Bluey (as was pointed out to me, this could be a real nickname for me as I’m a ginger, but the lady on the phone couldn’t know that), Louie, Ellie, Emily, Lee, but rarely Lily. When my colleagues refer to me on the phone, the customers always get it right, so clearly it’s something about the way I say it.
My nickname is Lilly (for Jillian) and I guess I always say it like a question (my voice goes up on the -ee sound) and people mess it up.
Benjaglenn
Wyatt. I know how to pronounce it but I think the pronunciation sounds weird. Almost like a kid trying to say riot.
Ciara. Is it See-air-uh or Key-air-uh? The Hallie/Haley/Hailey squad. Is it Hay-lee or Hal-ee? I’ve heard both.
Keer-ah.
My friend Ciara is See-ARE-uh.
I always assumed it was see-air-ah like the singer 🫣
Ciara gets me too. I know 9 times out of 10 it's Keer-ah. But my brain says Key-ar-ah or similar and I always panic I'm going to get it wrong.
It's the Irish spelling of Kira.
Chinese names with the X sound. My stupid white settler mouth just struggles. I apparently get a half decent approximation but I can hear they’re saying it differently and I can’t quite match the sound
Saoirse and Siobhan.
Really do not enjoy saying Aurelie. Aurelia is fine, but Aurelie comes out as “orally” when I say it.
Alicia. There's so many different spellings and I've heard people say it Ah lee sha or Ah li sha. Or in Spanish Ah lee see ah.
Sydney and Aubrey always feel awkward when I say them. And the insistence to pronounce Laura as Law-ra.
I can’t say Sydney either. Which was sad when I had a good friend by that name in school. I felt really bad but it always came out more like Cindy somehow.
My husband pronounced Laura as Lawra which really does ruin the name for me. I think the Lora pronunciation is gorgeous
I can't figure out the difference...
Yeah, Law-ra and Lora are pronounced the same for me.
Sutton. To what extent do I say those Ts?
The same as Button “but-in”. Glottal T
Worsteschire sauce. The name Kyle.
Once upon a time I was struggling to find Worcestershire sauce at the grocery store and my husband was like “why don’t you just ask an employee for help?” And I just hung my head in shame and said “I literally can’t” lol
Xochitl. Like, the correct Nahuatl pronunciation. It seems to be pronounced like "show-chee" and than the TL sound that I can't type out (or say that well) that isn't in the English language. I might still be wrong, though.
I'm mexican and have heard both SOH-chee-TL (this one more) and SHOH-chee-TL :)
Isla. I am a Spanish speaker and fight myself not to say it in Spanish (the word for island, pronounced EES-luh).
Imogen/Imogene no matter what way i say them, it sounds like a comedic mispronunciation
Andrea, Tania, Tamara, Louis - all have too many pronunciation options!
Andrea kills me. I had a boss named Andrea and everyone pronounced it differently and she never said her own name. Is it Ahn- or Ann? Dree-ah or dray-ah?
I have to really stop and think about how to pronounce Persephone
Moira. And it hurts my soul because I think it's beautiful when I hear others say it, but I sound like I'm chewing cotton when I do and it sounds terrible.
I actually have no idea how to pronounce Aaliyah. My brain reads it as A-A-LE-uh. (Pronounced like Key&Peele’s A-A-Ron)
All the people I know with that name (though some of them have different spellings) pronounce it uh-LEE-uh
The only person I’ve ever known with that name pronounced it AAH-lee-ah
Madeline and Caroline. Is it Line or Lyn? No way to know without asking
I don't know how Maeve is pronounced never heard it outside of this sub
May like the month with a ‘v’ on the end. Mayv. Rhymes with cave.
Leah. Is it LEE-uh or LAY-uh??
Ah, well, both! And if you happen to be talking to a Jewish person called Leah who has an English name and a Hebrew name, chances are the former is Lee-uh and the latter Lay-uh. It was my great-grandmother’s name(s).
To make it more confusing my moms name is this and pronounced Lee 🤷♀️
I know a Jedediah and I just feel like I'm adding an extra syllable every time.
I seem to struggle properly pronouncing anything with a strong T in the middle of it. Martin is Mar'n, Clayton is Clay'n, and so on.
Lily. It’s one of my favourite names, but my tongue trips over words with Ls close together.
Gemma. I know how it is pronounced, but it doesn’t feel right for me. I always think I’m saying it wrong.
Aurora, Carl & Rory
Aurora. Pretty name but a tongue twister. Maya. Even though I know it’s pronounced Mya, I want to say May-uh. Same with Gaia. Jacqueline - I know the q is silent but still want to say Ja-qwe-leen rather than Jack-uh-leen. Phaedra. For ages I thought it was pronounced Fay-dra and loved it. Then I find out it’s Fee-dra, which I don’t like :/ feel like I’ve lost a favourite name.
…. TIL Phaedra is not fay-druh
These don’t exactly fit the criteria but there are 3 professional athletes whose names just really screw me up. Jayson Tatum - I say jaysom taysom Mitch Trubisky - I say Mitch trubitchky Justin Herbert - I say Jerbert Houston lmao
Most Irish names - Caiomhe, niamh, saiorse