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Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...

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Original post by Woodworth
Sean and Sian

Seen and See'an


is Sian not pronounced as 'See-an'? :eek:
The surname St John.
It's so counter intuitive that the t and o both sound like an i.
Original post by SimpleGirl
is Sian not pronouced as 'See-an'? :eek:


I think it's like "sharn". The one person I knew of that name pronounced it that way.
Reply 643
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Mequa
13
Original post by Village Whisper
"Sock-ra-teez" :smile:

In ancient Greek it was more like "Sock-rah-tess".
Reply 644
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Rhi_Chemo
I always used to say escalope wrong :frown:
It was usually spellings that people got wrong with me (Madyson, Madisyn, Madisen, Maddisyn, Maddison, Maddysyn) but I did used to get called Medicine and Mabby, and Maggie, Madeleine, Madalyn, Addison etc :tongue:

My nan has known my boyfriend for over a year and still can't pronounce his name right. It's Dafydd (Dav-ith, but the "th" is quite a hard sound kind of mixed with a v), but she pronounces it "Daffith" or "Daffid" with a soft "f" rather than the "V" it's meant to be. A lot of people assume you pronounce it the way they did on Little Britain but you don't! :facepalm2: For a few months she thought his name was "Dave" :facepalm:
Original post by SimpleGirl
is Sian not pronounced as 'See-an'? :eek:


It's a Welsh name and it's pronounced "Sharn". The only people I've ever known of to pronounce their name "Sian" as "See-an" or "Sy-an" were English and thick.
Original post by Mequa
Hah, that reminds me of a kid at primary school who pronounced "Penelope" as "peen-a-loap".


this made me laugh!! :lol:
Original post by Manitude
The surname St John.
It's so counter intuitive that the t and o both sound like an i.


It's pronounced "sunt JON" isn't it? where the 'sunt' isn't pronounced much
Original post by Dagnabbit
It's pronounced "sunt JON" isn't it? where the 'sunt' isn't pronounced much


Wikipedia says it's like saying Sinjin or Sinjun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John_(surname)

I've heard it said "stinjin"/"stinjun" too.
My Dad's name is Stevon because my grandfather spelt the name on the birth certificate.
Coincidently, my Grandparent's lodger is a polish immigrant called Stefon.

Learning that Stevon=Stephan was a shock, especially as I had been calling Stephen Fry/ Stephen Hawking/ various other famous people with Stephen in their names Stefon, which actually earns you a lot of odd looks and condescending explanations. :rolleyes:

Otherwise, when I was little, I had an awful lisp, so my brother, Jonathan, had to be put up with being called "wuffum" for about five years.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by nexttime
For a period i thought Niger was pronounced the same as the N word, rather than ni-jair. Could have been embarrassing.


It could. Because although I forgot the exact scenario I had to say Niger in some GCSE subject. So I pronounce it ******, teacher was black as well...awkward.:tongue:
Reply 652
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Mequa
13
Original post by SimpleGirl
this made me laugh!! :lol:

Another thing about the name "Penelope". A girl with that name once signed up to a forum I was moderating with the username "pene".

I had to inform her that her username was actually Spanish for "penis". :smile:
Reply 653
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TheDubs
2
Arkansas. Its actually Ark-in-saw, what the hell america?!
Original post by TheDubs
Arkansas. Its actually Ark-in-saw, what the hell america?!


...Seriously?! I thought they were two different places...So glad I've never said that out loud!
Reply 655
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TheDubs
2
Original post by Village Whisper
...Seriously?! I thought they were two different places...So glad I've never said that out loud!


I got it wrong during a game of trivial persuit. I kept saying arkansas (the way it Should be pronounced) and everyone was saying "ive never heard of that", i then preceded to call them idiots and uncultured, until my granny read the card, pronounced it right, everyone mocked me :frown:
Cheyenne - The first time I heard this pronounced I thought it was an American person pronouncing 'Sian' incorrectly. :biggrin:
Original post by TheDubs
I got it wrong during a game of trivial persuit. I kept saying arkansas (the way it Should be pronounced) and everyone was saying "ive never heard of that", i then preceded to call them idiots and uncultured, until my granny read the card, pronounced it right, everyone mocked me :frown:


Haha, oh dear! I probably would have been the same. I still can't believe it's pronounced like that...I've been reading it wrong for years :frown:


Original post by Dagnabbit
Cheyenne - The first time I heard this pronounced I thought it was an American person pronouncing 'Sian' incorrectly. :biggrin:


I'm gonna have a guess and say "Shay-enn"?
Reply 658
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Ruthie!
16
Original post by Mequa
And in the movie "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" they pronounced "Socrates" as "Sah-cratez."


Playing Articulate a while back and my friend (probably about 15/6 at the time) was trying to describe the person on her card to me.
Her: "The first bit is the first bit of my name" (Sophie)
Me: "So"
Her: "Yeah, the second bit is like what milk comes in" (She meant crate)

Time ran out before I could guess and after I asked her what it was and she replied "So-crates"
....
I nearly wet myself when I realised she meant Socrates, I had no chance of getting the right answer!!
(edited 12 years ago)
bronagh

i pronounced it bro-nag

but it's like bro-nuh

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