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HelpRe: Ridiculous argument over Stephen
in reply to a message by Azula
As far as I can tell, Americans usually pronounce it with an "f" sound and Brits usually pronounce it with a "v", but I don't know about other countries/accents/dialects.
They're definitely both correct, I'm just amazed that this person hasn't heard of Stephen King or other famous Stephen-pronounced-Stevens.
But the fact is, if his parents named him STEEV-en, the spelling doesn't really matter. I know an Aisling pronounced "AYS-ling". That doesn't mean she pronounces her own name wrong, just that her parents named her AYS-ling but used a spelling that is normally pronounced ASH-ling. Maybe you could say that your parents spelled your name wrong, or spelled it weird, but you can't PRONOUNCE your name wrong because the pronunciation IS the name. A name is "what you're called", which is a sound.
This might be off topic but it reminded me of this -- I know someone named Naomi (nay-O-mi), but one of my friends who is from the eastern US calls her nye-O-mi ("nye" like Bill Nye). That annoyed me because that's not her name. The Eastern friend said "well that's just how we pronounce that name in the East", but this particular person wasn't born in the East, so her name is nay-O-mi, not nye-O-mi! (she doesn't actually care, but I think changing an entire vowel is too much when it's not really because of your language or accent.)
They're definitely both correct, I'm just amazed that this person hasn't heard of Stephen King or other famous Stephen-pronounced-Stevens.
But the fact is, if his parents named him STEEV-en, the spelling doesn't really matter. I know an Aisling pronounced "AYS-ling". That doesn't mean she pronounces her own name wrong, just that her parents named her AYS-ling but used a spelling that is normally pronounced ASH-ling. Maybe you could say that your parents spelled your name wrong, or spelled it weird, but you can't PRONOUNCE your name wrong because the pronunciation IS the name. A name is "what you're called", which is a sound.
This might be off topic but it reminded me of this -- I know someone named Naomi (nay-O-mi), but one of my friends who is from the eastern US calls her nye-O-mi ("nye" like Bill Nye). That annoyed me because that's not her name. The Eastern friend said "well that's just how we pronounce that name in the East", but this particular person wasn't born in the East, so her name is nay-O-mi, not nye-O-mi! (she doesn't actually care, but I think changing an entire vowel is too much when it's not really because of your language or accent.)
This message was edited 7/3/2020, 11:22 AM
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Replies
I've never heard anyone pronounce it with an F sound, and I'm American. I've only ever heard it with a v sound. Stefan is the usual spelling if it's pronounced with an F.
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Someone brought up Stephen King and Stephen Hawking, OPs take is yes, they pronounce their names stee-ven, but that they’re pronouncing their own names incorrectly.
I totally agree on your take about not being able to pronounce your own name wrong!
I love the name Naomi (nay), I’m from the US midwest and that’s always how I’ve pronounced it. It is annoying and frankly rude when people don’t even try to pronounce someone’s name correctly, geographical region isn’t an excuse.
I totally agree on your take about not being able to pronounce your own name wrong!
I love the name Naomi (nay), I’m from the US midwest and that’s always how I’ve pronounced it. It is annoying and frankly rude when people don’t even try to pronounce someone’s name correctly, geographical region isn’t an excuse.
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