Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...And those are the easy ones! I'm fine pronouncing those ones (and maaaybe Grainne: it's like Gran-nya, right?) because they're quite common where I'm from but when you get to the likes of Aoibheann I'm clueless. Which is embarrassing since I have an Irish name too. It's more a problem in England than back home, but the amount of times I've got Clara or "sierra" is ridiculous.(Original post by medbh4805)
People seem to have difficulty with Irish Gaelic names, like Caoimhe, Niamh, Seán, Siobhán etc above.
My name is Gráinne - I've only once met an English person who pronounced it correctly the first go, and it was a philology tutor at Oxford. I was impressed.
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...One of my middle names is Eadoin. The amount of people who say Ee-ah-doyne.
Spoiler:ShowIt's I-deen.
Spoiler:ShowBut I'm not generally good with Irish Gaelic names - I only know Eadoin as I-deen and Colm as rhyming with Gollum not Stockholm.Last edited by Robinson's_Crusade; 22-12-2011 at 11:48. -
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...My name is always being mispronounced - both first name and surname. Henriette Barthelme. I think my parents hate me.
It's 'On-reet (with a bit of a French accent) Bartle-may'.Last edited by I<3GraphicNovels; 22-12-2011 at 12:14. -
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...Reading through these, I don't seem to be mispronouncing anyone's name!
There's a girl on my floor called Ebum and I've heard her pronounce her name about three different ways herself, so I have no idea how you're meant to say it, and I just go with phonetics
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...that's how it's pronounced? what?(Original post by xoxAngel_Kxox)
Caoimhe
..and I'm sorry, but can I be blamed? How on Earth does "kaym-he" equal "kee-vah"? *Cry* -
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...I always pronounce "Seamus" as 'sea-mus' instead of 'sha-mus'.
I'm sorry, Seamus Heaney... -
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...It is?! Oops
My mum used to read me Harry Potter before going to bed when I was little (the early ones). We never had any trouble with Hermione, but when the film came out we were all horrified to find out it was Hagrid rather than Hay-grid. After so many years Hagrid sounds better though
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...Eoin (as in Eoin Colfer)
I had read most of the Artemis Fowl books before I realised it should be "Owen" and not "E-oin" (Rhyming with coin) .
Judging by his website it must happen a lot ...
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...Not so much a name but I've always pronounced Edinburgh as Eden-Berg :P I still do, old habits!
Makes me think of Sean Bean - both his names end with 'ean' but are phonetically different, shouldn't it be pronounced "Shorn Born", or "Seen Been"? :P -
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...Niamh !! i've never had a problem with it because i've had a friend called niamh since yr 1. but soooooo so so many people get utterly confused when trying to say her name...especially teachers!
...It's pronounced 'Neev'.
Last edited by imy7; 22-12-2011 at 12:15. -
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...When I first read the HP books, I pronounced Voldemort as Vol-der-more. When the films came out and I realised everyone else pronounces it Vol-de-mort, I thought I was crazy one. Then I read this...(Original post by Temeraire.lee)
It is?! Oops
My mum used to read me Harry Potter before going to bed when I was little (the early ones). We never had any trouble with Hermione, but when the film came out we were all horrified to find out it was Hagrid rather than Hay-grid. After so many years Hagrid sounds better though
I've gone back to using Vol-der-more.
Last edited by TheSownRose; 22-12-2011 at 12:21. -
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...Being an Irish speaker they're all kind of straightforward for me(Original post by theciz)
And those are the easy ones! I'm fine pronouncing those ones (and maaaybe Grainne: it's like Gran-nya, right?) because they're quite common where I'm from but when you get to the likes of Aoibheann I'm clueless. Which is embarrassing since I have an Irish name too. It's more a problem in England than back home, but the amount of times I've got Clara or "sierra" is ridiculous.
I understand why people find it difficult; the spelling system in Irish is completely different from English and most Irish people when (or "if" in NI) they learn Irish find it difficult, so meh. It gets a bit annoying though. -
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...Teresa's a nice name.(Original post by fredscarecrow)
In my head I still say it 'sib-oh-han' but try and remember say it properly out loud.
It's not a name, but I say burial as 'bur-ree-all' rather than 'beh-rial'
People get my name wrong all the time. It's Teresa (Ter-ray-sa), not Theresa or Therese....(or any of the multiple options people provide me with). Te-rees-a drives me mad, but a lot of my associates call me it, and sometimes I just give up correcting them. -
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Re: Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...Siobhan
How the hell does that turn into Shavorn?
And also my middle name is (much to my embarrassment) Sian, which looks like Sy-ann. But no. It's Sharn.
Why parents just why
