View Message

Bad pronunciations/ spellings you've sighted?
What are some? I feel like being annoyed =PSome of the worst I've seen:
Zhane (f)- pronounced zah-NAY
Shakiaya (f)- shak-AY-yah, do not know what purpose the silent "I" serves
Xalia- XAY-li-yah, not XAR-li-yah like you would assume
Maya- pronounced like Maia
Thiarecce- TIE-reece, look again at how it's spelled
Jamieson- JEM-i-son, not jay-ME-son like you would assume
Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

Some I've collected over the years:Bhraedain (Brayden)
Pinnellopii (Penelope)
Kharlieeca (car-LEEK-a)
Tidjra (TEE-dra)
Bekuh (Becca- This was someone I went to middle and high school with, she decided to change the spelling of her name to be "unique")
vote up1
Kaileigh and Kylee both pronounced KAY-lee
Mikenna and Mekenah
Kalub (Caleb)
Konel (Conall)
Ryon (Ryan)
Jeneen (Janine)
Jennafer
vote up1
I'm sure someone's mentioned about Maya already, but that's how I'd say it... I can see it being MAY-a, but that wouldn't be the assumed pronunciation in the US (which seems like you're not based on your pronunciation of Xalia). :) I think either way makes sense. I mean, that's how you'd say it in "Mayan."My husband worked at an inner-city type school for a few years, and there were a lot of these sort of things. The only one I can think of right now is he had a student named Tatiana, but it was spelled Tytania or something like that.

This message was edited 3/9/2014, 2:03 PM

vote up1
How is MY uh for Maya bad? That's how we say it here, as a name and the tribe from the Yucatan Peninsula. Or is Maia not pronounced that way where you are?
vote up1
Generally in Australia, at least in my experience, Maya is pronounced MAY-ə and Maia is pronounced MY-ə. I have known two Mayas pronounced that way and one Maia pronounced like that. So I thought it was confusing when I met a Maya pronounced MY-ə. That's all I meant.
vote up1
My college roommate had a sister named Karen, pronounced KORE-en, with the first syllable sounding just like the word core, as in "apple core.". I have always thought that so ludicrous. Karen was a very popular name, so I can only imagine the constant corrections that are necessary, and Karen pronounced the usual way is much prettier anyway. Seemed to me so pretentious and silly. Now Karen's sister, my roommate, was named Zoe and was born in 1960, the same year that I was. Very few babies were being named Zoe in 1960, so I think it obvious that Zoe's and Karen's parents wanted unusual names, but I think that to take a common, popular name and insist on some counter-intuitive pronunciation is not the way to go about that.My friend had a daughter named Leigha, which I think is an abominable spelling.
vote up1
Chatarina - pr. ka-ta-REE-nuh
Cewin - pr. Kevin
Candrah - pr. Sandra
Thérésé - pr. te-RAYS
vote up1
I went to school with a boy named Ryne (Ryan) and a girl named Danna (Dana).
vote up1
I am assuming the Xalia pronunciation is an accent thing, in my accent you'd never put an R sound there. So perhaps she's just from somewhere that that would be the correct pronunciation.Maya and Maia are different spellings of the same name so I am not sure what is wrong with pronouncing it the same way?
vote up1
They weren't from somewhere else.Where I live, usually Maya is pronounced MAY-yuh, Maia is pronounced MY-yuh.
vote up1
I can't think of any off the top of my head but, in reference to Shakiaya, a lot of Russian names have an "I" in their names but I kind of like it. Viktoriya, Anatoliy, Anastasiya, Arkadiy, etc. Also, I see Maya more often than Maia. I actually pronounced Xalia zay-lee-uh when first seeing in. Like Xander or Xavier.
vote up1
What's wrong with those Russian names? The ending -iy is pronounced as two sounds in Russian, and -iya is pronounced as three sounds. Lots of Russian names are mispronounced in English.

This message was edited 3/9/2014, 12:07 AM

vote up1
I wasn't saying anything is wrong with them. I love Russian names.
vote up1
I know that a lot of names have an i and then a y, that's fine, they make the same sound. To me, Shakiaya should be said shak-EYE-yuh or shak-I-aya. But I find the i pointless in the correct pronunciation of this girl's name. We must have completely different accents when it comes to X names.
vote up1
I confused by Xalia and Maya ..... What's wrong with those pronunciations?

This message was edited 3/8/2014, 7:55 PM

vote up1
See my other two responses =)
vote up1