Names you can't pronounce.

[wrathofkublakhan]

Ack - in the Riddlemaster of Hed there is a character (the bad guy) who's name is Ghisteslwchlohm.

 

It makes me blink twice when I come across it.

[Purple Poppy]

Hermione is a name I stumble over everytime. I know how to say it, but not fast enough!!

Poppy said ...

Some Irish names are tricky. I may have come across these in Maeve Binchy books. Sinead (Shh-naid), Siobahn (Shh-vaun), Niamh (Neeve)

 

Yep. they are difficult, and when I was younger, I couldn't see how they could possibly be pronunced how they sounded when written like that. I think I just about have my head round them now...well maybe not Niamh! They are very beautiful names, especially Niamh.

 

Pp

[Leona]

Some Irish names are tricky. I may have come across these in Maeve Binchy books. Sinead (Shh-naid), Siobahn (Shh-vaun), Niamh (Neeve)

 

my sisters name is Niamh (Neeve). she spent a summer in LA when she was in college and had a total nightmare trying to tell people how to spell and pronounce it!!!she's always cursing my mother for giving her an unpronouncable irish name, and i'm so jealsous of her, i love irish names

 

this thread reminds me of when i was young reading those enid blyton 'mallory towers' books- i thought Alicia was pronounced 'alicka'.

it was years before i twigged it!!!

[poppyshake]

I pronounce it as Alay.. how else was it pronounced?

I heard the audiobook .. the narrator pronounced it Al-I-eese.

Some Irish names are tricky. I may have come across these in Maeve Binchy books. Sinead (Shh-naid), Siobahn (Shh-vaun), Niamh (Neeve)

Yes I struggled with Eilis in Colm Toibin's 'Brookyln' .. she was the main character and everytime I read her name I came up with something different, in the end I googled it and (though there were variations) it came up with Ay-lish .. I was happier then.

[Kell]

I always pronounced Alais as Al-ayz (with a very soft, almost-but-not-quite-silent "z")because I had a French boyfriend when I was 15 and his little sister was called Alais and that's how he pronounced it. When I read Mallory Towers, I always pronounced Alicia as Al-I-cee-a. it wasn't till years later I heard it pronounced as Al-ee-sha and I had a face-palm moment - LOL!

[Easy Reader]

You are right!

 

Mma is the term used to address a woman, and may be placed before her name. It is pronounced "ma" (with a long a)

 

Rra is the rough equivalent of "mister". It is pronounced "rar", but with a slight rolling of the second r.

 

Found here: http://www.bookbrowse.com/excerpts/index.cfm?book_number=1173

 

I had problems with this too until I watched the tv series and soon picked up with Rar but still just use my own version of Mmmm for Mma.

[Easy Reader]

Some Irish names are tricky. I may have come across these in Maeve Binchy books. Sinead (Shh-naid), Siobahn (Shh-vaun), Niamh (Neeve)

 

I have learnt to look up Irish pronounciations before getting stuck into Irish books now after reading a Marian Keyes book and calling one character (Clodagh) Clod-Ga all the way through and looking it up to find it pronounced Kloo-da

 

But I have been know just to use characters first initial if there names are difficult or long

[Peacefield]

I come in contact with people all the time who pronounce my name 'Mar-see-ah,' which boggles my mind for some reason. I spell my name Marcia but I pronounce it like Marsha, and it feels perfectly natural to me. When I meet people named Patricia, Alicia, etc, I use the 'sh' sound, so I wonder why people think it's different for my name?

 

I'm very polite about it, but I always have to correct people because it's one of my pet peeves . It's either the people who mispronounce my name or laugh and say oooh "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" from the TV show the Brady Bunch. *sigh*

 

I love learning about origins of names though, and I love asking people how to say their name and what roots it has. It's fascinating!

[Kylie]

I come in contact with people all the time who pronounce my name 'Mar-see-ah,' which boggles my mind for some reason. I spell my name Marcia but I pronounce it like Marsha, and it feels perfectly natural to me. When I meet people named Patricia, Alicia, etc, I use the 'sh' sound, so I wonder why people think it's different for my name?

 

I'm aware that there are some Marcias who would pronounce their name 'Mar-see-ah' but my first inclination would always be to go with 'Marsha'. That's by far the most common pronunciation, around here at least.

 

It's either the people who mispronounce my name or laugh and say oooh "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" from the TV show the Brady Bunch. *sigh*

 

Sorry to laugh, but .

 

I love learning about origins of names though, and I love asking people how to say their name and what roots it has. It's fascinating!

 

Not that you asked me specifically (and I may regret mentioning this), but my name is Aboriginal for 'boomerang'. Yes, you can all now make jokes about how you can't get rid of me because I'll keep coming back.

[chesilbeach]

Peacefield, I'm guilty of mispronouncing your name. But, here's the reason why. I'd never seen a name with -cia at the end before I read the Mallory Towers books by Enid Blyton when I was about 8 or 9, and we didn't get The Brady Bunch over here, and I'd never heard of anyone called Marcia or Alicia, as it's not a common name in England. So when I read the name Alicia, I'd only ever heard the name Alice, so I assumed it was Alice-ia and in my head pronounced it that way. When I did come to hear the name Marcia, I assumed it was spelt Marsha, and never connected the name with the spelling of Marcia, which I put in with my Alice-ia. Now I have been shown the light, I will never again pronounce your name incorrectly, and I humbly beg your forgiveness.

 

Kylie, as I'm old enough to remember when Neighbours first started over here and the Kylie and Jason phenomenon hit the UK, I also remember all the press coverage about Ms Minogue, and the fact the Kylie is the aboriginal word for boomerang was always one of the "10 things you need to know" type questionnaires that magazines and newspapers publish. So, no jokes from me about your name, and why would we want to get rid of you anyway?

 

My name is probably one of the easiest names in the world to pronounce - Claire. The problem I have is with spelling. Everyone spells my name wrong. It's so irritating, especially when people send emails at work as my name is in full in my email address so they've had to get it right, and then they still spell it wrong in the main text of the mail! Some of the misspelt versions are understandable, I often see Clare, but I've also had Clair, Clara, Clary, Klair, and Klare.

[Peacefield]

Claire and Kylie. I'm glad I could shed some light on my name pronunciation!

 

That's so cool about your name translated from Aboriginal, Kylie. I had no idea and now have this great little fact at my disposal . I've heard there are people who pronounce their name Marcia with the 'see-ah' at the end, but I have yet to meet them in person. I might have trouble stopping myself from pulling a 'disappointed' face at them .

 

Seriously? Klair?? Wow. Many times people just don't pay attention, especially through email. It's funny though, because slight misspellings are understandable, yet coming up with a completely different name, like Clara? People make all sorts of mysterious leaps!

 

 

[chesilbeach]

I actually know someone who spells her name Klair, so it is in use, but to misspell it in an email when it's spelled correct at the top of the window is just plain annoying.

Edited May 30, 2011 by chesilbeach

[Kylie]

Kylie, as I'm old enough to remember when Neighbours first started over here and the Kylie and Jason phenomenon hit the UK, I also remember all the press coverage about Ms Minogue, and the fact the Kylie is the aboriginal word for boomerang was always one of the "10 things you need to know" type questionnaires that magazines and newspapers publish. So, no jokes from me about your name, and why would we want to get rid of you anyway?

 

Hehe. I should have known that that Kylie would be responsible for people knowing the origin of the name. One day I'll replace her as the Kylie who doesn't need a surname because she's so famous. I haven't worked out what I'm going to do to get so famous yet, but I'm working on it...

 

My name is probably one of the easiest names in the world to houthe most common tpronounce - Claire. The problem I have is with spelling. Everyone spells my name wrong. It's so irritating, especially when people send emails at work as my name is in full in my email address so they've had to get it right, and then they still spell it wrong in the main text of the mail! Some of the misspelt versions are understandable, I often see Clare, but I've also had Clair, Clara, Clary, Klair, and Klare.

 

 

Goodness me! I've never heard of so many variations to the name. Surely Claire would have to be most common spelling though. Come on, Clara and Clary wouldn't even be pronounced the same way!

 

I have a short, snappy surname of 4 letters that people manage to spell in 3 different ways and to pronounce in 2 different ways.

Edited May 30, 2011 by Kylie

[poppyshake]

I always pronounced Alais as Al-ayz (with a very soft, almost-but-not-quite-silent "z")because I had a French boyfriend when I was 15 and his little sister was called Alais and that's how he pronounced it. When I read Mallory Towers, I always pronounced Alicia as Al-I-cee-a. it wasn't till years later I heard it pronounced as Al-ee-sha and I had a face-palm moment - LOL!

But I think Enid intended it to be Al-I-cee-a Kell (and certainly the audiobooks back it up), Aleesha is the American pronunciation I'm pretty sure. I've heard of women who are called Al-I-cee-a .. although I think it's a name of the past.

 

My name is probably one of the easiest names in the world to pronounce - Claire. The problem I have is with spelling. Everyone spells my name wrong. It's so irritating, especially when people send emails at work as my name is in full in my email address so they've had to get it right, and then they still spell it wrong in the main text of the mail! Some of the misspelt versions are understandable, I often see Clare, but I've also had Clair, Clara, Clary, Klair, and Klare.

My name Kay is the easiest name in the world to pronounce and spell but still they get it wrong .. they stick an e on it of course but worse than that .. some people .. and I'm talking mainly boys .. thought it was spelt with just a K The awfulness of that paled into insignificance when saddled with my maiden surname which was Cox .. I won't tell you what they used to say my middle name was at school and I won't tell you how they spelt it .. you can probably guess. Boy was I glad to get married

 

Claire and Kylie. I'm glad I could shed some light on my name pronunciation!

 

That's so cool about your name translated from Aboriginal, Kylie. I had no idea and now have this great little fact at my disposal . I've heard there are people who pronounce their name Marcia with the 'see-ah' at the end, but I have yet to meet them in person. I might have trouble stopping myself from pulling a 'disappointed' face at them

I had a best friend at school called Marcia .. and she pronounced it Mar-see-ah. I'm pretty sure she stole one of my boyfriends so you can pull a great BIG disappointed face at her Peace

Hehe. I should have known that that Kylie would be responsible for people knowing the origin of the name. One day I'll replace her as the Kylie who doesn't need a surname because she's so famous. I haven't worked out what I'm going to do to get so famous yet, but I'm working on it...

Have you tried the gold hotpants? .. seriously all it would take is a new Kylie in new hotpants and the old Kylie would be history .. and what's more the new Kylie reads .. mega!

[Kylie]

My name Kay is the easiest name in the world to pronounce and spell but still they get it wrong .. they stick an e on it of course but worse than that .. some people .. and I'm talking mainly boys .. thought it was spelt with just a K The awfulness of that paled into insignificance when saddled with my maiden surname which was Cox .. I won't tell you what they used to say my middle name was at school and I won't tell you how they spelt it .. you can probably guess. Boy was I glad to get married

I'm glad you got married too, otherwise you would be sharing a surname with my ex. I hope you're not related to him. I guess the good thing about us breaking up is that I never had to tell him I wouldn't be taking his name if we got married. I always wanted to keep my name anyway, but I would be even more determined if I had to change it to a name for which I would be teased!

 

Have you tried the gold hotpants? .. seriously all it would take is a new Kylie in new hotpants and the old Kylie would be history .. and what's more the new Kylie reads .. mega!

 

Oh, good lord, Poppyshake! I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Me in gold hotpants? Ewwww! I would make headlines all right, but not for the right reasons!

[Kell]

The one that confused me for many years as a child was the boy in The Snow Queen. I wondered why a boy would have a gil's name, for a start (he's called Kai or Kay - the spelling varies depending on the publication). It wasn't till many years later I discovered it rhymes with "eye" rather than "say" and that it's a boys' name in Denmark (where the writer, Hans Christian Anderson, is from).

[frankie]

It only took me 29 years to learn how to pronounce the name 'Seamus' I might still botch it but now at least I remember which pronunciation is wrong (I.e. the one I used before).

 

Hermione is another one. Someone recently taught me this easy memory trick to remember how to pronounce her name, (who could it have been? Kylie?) but I've forgotten about the trick and don't remember how to pronounce it anymore It had to do with my knee! I think.

Edited May 30, 2011 by frankie

[Easy Reader]

The one that confused me for many years as a child was the boy in The Snow Queen. I wondered why a boy would have a gil's name, for a start (he's called Kai or Kay - the spelling varies depending on the publication). It wasn't till many years later I discovered it rhymes with "eye" rather than "say" and that it's a boys' name in Denmark (where the writer, Hans Christian Anderson, is from).

 

my surname ends in kay that rhymes with "eye" rather than "say" and when I tell people what it is they say can I spell that and I spell it out and they ALWAYS write it down wrong and then repeat it back to me with kay that rhymes with "say" rather than "eye" even though I have just told them how to say it. I sometime wonder if they repeat it back to let me know that they thik I have pronounced it wrong - I think I know my own name.

 

bizzarly my sister has had a rant on facebook today about people always mis-spelling her first name she is fed up with people telling her that her email address is wrong when they have in fact missed out an "e" and it espcially annoys her when they are copying said email address from where she wrote it down for them

Edited May 30, 2011 by Easy Reader

[AbielleRose]

It only took me 29 years to learn how to pronounce the name 'Seamus' I might still botch it but now at least I remember which pronunciation is wrong (I.e. the one I used before).

 

Hermione is another one. Someone recently taught me this easy memory trick to remember how to pronounce her name, (who could it have been? Kylie?) but I've forgotten about the trick and don't remember how to pronounce it anymore It had to do with my knee! I think.

 

 

When I read the HP books I pronounced Hermione as 'Air- my-oh-nee' because I was studying Spanish and had gotten it into my head that the name had a silent H.

 

I work a job where I have to talk to people on the phone from all over the country. On average I take about 80 calls a day and have discovered that it is near impossible for me to say any kind of Thai name and most Indian names correctly. In books I rarely say Irish names correctly. The main one that comes to mind is Siobhan. I still have no idea how to say that one!

Edited May 30, 2011 by AbielleRose

[Easy Reader]

In books I rarely say Irish names correctly. The main one that comes to mind is Siobhan. I still have no idea how to say that one!

I went to school with a Siobhan - not sure how best to type it for you

 

sher - vaughan

 

sher - like the sher-bert

vaughan - like Johnny Vaughan (radio dj)- I see you are American and not likely to know who he is

Edited May 30, 2011 by Easy Reader

[AbielleRose]

I went to school with a Siobhan - not sure how best to type it for you

 

sher - vaughan

 

sher - like the sher-bert

vaughan - like Johnny Vaughan (radio dj)- I see you are American and not likely to know who he is

 

Ah, thanks! It would be really cool to study Irish, they have such a lyrical way of speaking... but some of the words are just crazy!

[poppyshake]

I'm glad you got married too, otherwise you would be sharing a surname with my ex. I hope you're not related to him. I guess the good thing about us breaking up is that I never had to tell him I wouldn't be taking his name if we got married. I always wanted to keep my name anyway, but I would be even more determined if I had to change it to a name for which I would be teased!

wise girl .. you don't need to be saddled with a name like that .. I have got rellies in Australia but they're not called Cox .. my Nan's sister emigrated years and years ago .. and she married so they ended up as Thompson's. If I was related though I'd send him a howler

Oh, good lord, Poppyshake! I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Me in gold hotpants? Ewwww! I would make headlines all right, but not for the right reasons!

Stop hiding your light under a bushel Kylie you never know until you try.

The one that confused me for many years as a child was the boy in The Snow Queen. I wondered why a boy would have a gil's name, for a start (he's called Kai or Kay - the spelling varies depending on the publication). It wasn't till many years later I discovered it rhymes with "eye" rather than "say" and that it's a boys' name in Denmark (where the writer, Hans Christian Anderson, is from).

Yes, there's the Danish artist Kay Nielsen isn't there (I love his pics) .. he pronounced it Kai. That was another reason for being teased at school, when 'The Snow Queen' was read out to us and Kay was the boy ... oh man, school was nothing but torture, there were traps all over the place.

[Kylie]

Hermione is another one. Someone recently taught me this easy memory trick to remember how to pronounce her name, (who could it have been? Kylie?) but I've forgotten about the trick and don't remember how to pronounce it anymore It had to do with my knee! I think.

 

I can't remember if it was me, but I probably would have used 'my knee' to explain it. You're pretty much there with the pronunciation if you can remember that bit. It's 'Her-my-knee'. I had never heard that name before the Harry Potter books came along. I originally thought it was pronounced 'Hermy-own'.

 

I went to school with a Siobhan - not sure how best to type it for you

 

sher - vaughan

 

sher - like the sher-bert

vaughan - like Johnny Vaughan (radio dj)- I see you are American and not likely to know who he is

 

I tend to pronounce it more as 'Sher-von', but that's probably my lazy Aussie accent coming into it. We shorten anything wherever we can. I knew a Siobhan back in my early school days and I'm pretty sure we all pronounced it 'Sher-von'.

 

wise girl .. you don't need to be saddled with a name like that .. I have got rellies in Australia but they're not called Cox .. my Nan's sister emigrated years and years ago .. and she married so they ended up as Thompson's. If I was related though I'd send him a howler

 

A howler would be nice. I also know a Thompson family who emigrated from England! I'm not sure if they were Thompsons before or after they got here though (actually, I think they were convicts, so perhaps they're not related to you).

[frankie]

I can't remember if it was me, but I probably would have used 'my knee' to explain it. You're pretty much there with the pronunciation if you can remember that bit. It's 'Her-my-knee'. I had never heard that name before the Harry Potter books came along. I originally thought it was pronounced 'Hermy-own'.

 

It must've been you then. And I said 'recently'! That just goes to show how I'm still feeling like it's been only a few weeks since I got back from OZ, when it's actually over 6 months! Bizarre.

 

I did think that there was a knee in there somewhere, and I started thinking about it logically and figured it might be 'her-my-knee'. So your tutoring didn't all go to waste! I'd never heard of the name before the HP books either, in fact I still kind of think that it's a one-off name and nobody else has it... I thought it was pronounced 'Her-me-own' (probably because that's very close to how Finns would pronounce it).

[Hyzenthlay]

I can't remember if it was me, but I probably would have used 'my knee' to explain it. You're pretty much there with the pronunciation if you can remember that bit. It's 'Her-my-knee'. I had never heard that name before the Harry Potter books came along. I originally thought it was pronounced 'Hermy-own'.

 

Hahaha. Herm-own-ninny? I knew the pronounciation from my older brother telling me. Plus, it's explained rather thoroughly in the book, isn't it? In the fourth one at least.

 

I read the Icewind Dale trilogy when I was a kid. I always struggled with Drizzt's panther's name: Guenhwyvar. It actually still annoys me. Gwhenveevar? Anyone who can help me out?

Edited May 31, 2011 by Hyzenthlay