How do you pronounce your name in the States?

[caybee 21]

My husband's first name is Jamal. He pronounces it sort of like "Jamel," with a soft J. Most people here who read his name call him "Jamaul." I try to pronounce his first name the way he does. However, I Americanize our last name when I say it for people I don't know here, both to make it easier for them and so I won't sound like I'm stumbling over my name. Over time, though, I'm starting to move away from that.

[Alex & Rachel 78]

I actually love hearing foreign pronunciations of my name - it was fun to visit France and hear Rachel pronounced with a short 'a' and 'sh' instead of 'ch' - made it sound very soft and feminine.

Alex, too - he dislikes Alexander normally, but I pronounce it differently from Americans - more emphasis on the latter half of the name, long 'a' in 'and' - so he doesn't mind me saying it.

Perhaps it's just that American pronunciations are ugly...

[Mina76 0]

My husband took the American form of his name to make it easier for others to pronounce being that everyone he meets will always say his name wrong anyway, so he went from Coskun to Josh!

[Niels Bohr 72]

When I first know how to pronounce my state, I said " Massa-shoe-sh^t "

Edited March 7, 2008 by consolemaster

[almaty 19]

When I first know how to pronounce my state, I said " Massa-shoe-sh^t "

brother c'master..you prounced that miserable Eastern state..correctly

[eau_xplain 2]

My name is Xenia. Growing up, my family has always pronounced it Senya (like Kenya with an S). I get here and people start saying it like Zeenia (as in Xenia, Ohio) or Xena (hahaha.. I'm no warrior princess). I checked in the dictionary and Xenia is pronounced as zee-nee-uh or zeen-yuh. Oh well.

[Simply_Uno 1]

hello all, I'm late to the party.

My name is Yasmin pronounced Yahz'min, everyone pronounces it yassmin, yassmine, yazmin, yazzmeen, yazamen, yazmine, jazmin, jazmine. I do tire of correcting people on pronounciation, but what kills me is when I spell it for them "Y-A-S-M-I-N!" They question me and ask "didn't you leave out the letter "E"!!

[Mononoke28 135]

My maiden name is Cárdenas (Car-deh-nahs) but here I had to pronouce it Car-dee-nahs. I also had a French professor who used to call me "Dion" instead of Diana. It took a while to get used to it even though in Spanish it's pronunced Deanna.

Diana

(Just call me Di )

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

My name is Xenia. Growing up, my family has always pronounced it Senya (like Kenya with an S). I get here and people start saying it like Zeenia (as in Xenia, Ohio) or Xena (hahaha.. I'm no warrior princess). I checked in the dictionary and Xenia is pronounced as zee-nee-uh or zeen-yuh. Oh well.

you sure about that?

[Empress of Groovy 373]

When I was in Spain (near Bilbao) a while back, very few people were able to pronounce the "J" in Julie, so I was Yoolie. Suggesting that people call me Julia (Hoo-lia), the Spanish equivalent, didn't seem right. I preferred Yoolie. Close enough. If the sound isn't in your native language, it can be tough to get it right. I didn't want people to stress over it!

One of my friends is married to an Egyptian guy, Ahmed. I think the correct pronunciation has a sort of glottal stop between the syllables "Ah-Med," but I feel like an idiot when I try to pronounce it correctly. He said that running it together, which sounds like "Aaahmed," is fine and that's how everyone here pronounces it.

[eau_xplain 2]

My name is Xenia. Growing up, my family has always pronounced it Senya (like Kenya with an S). I get here and people start saying it like Zeenia (as in Xenia, Ohio) or Xena (hahaha.. I'm no warrior princess). I checked in the dictionary and Xenia is pronounced as zee-nee-uh or zeen-yuh. Oh well.

you sure about that?

Hahah...princess maybe...but not a warrior

[Sinergy 3]

I dont think getting upset over ppl pronouncing your name wrong is really healthy

I mean if its pronounced in a different country different then here in the US, correct ppl when they say it wrong. imo you cant really expect ppl to know how to say your name perfectly if they dont know the correct pronounciation. Most ppl are not familiar with names from other countries. Ppl call me Tar-ra like car-ra, and its Ta-ra like if it were spelt Terra. Tho i do blame mom for not spelling it Terra

[B'sA 0]

My name is not an unique name in Brazil nor here, but it is pronounced different. In Brazil people will pronounce the ''ne'' in Nessa different than in here, and I would really like for people to pronounce the way it is, not the way they're used to pronounce here, but there's nothing really I can do about it and I know if I pronounce the way it is in Brazil some people just won't understand or ask me again and sometimes I'm just not in the mood to say it twice I just pronounce the way they do to make it easier for them.

Anyone else has the same problem?

Oh yeah,i understand you so well.I'm even thinking to make up a nick name for those who won't be that important to me so i wouldn't correct every and each.

[nane1104 146]

My name is Nadine, which is actually a french name (also has some roots in Russia). In Europe, it is pronounced Na-din with the "a" sounding almost like in car, but here, everyone says Nay-deen and that's fine with me.

My husband always goes by J.R. even his name is Kenneth and nobody really has a problem pronouncing his name; except my mom. For some reason she makes every "J" a "Dsh", so she says something like Dshay-ar Oh and yeah, our last name starts with a J as well, so that's difficult for her..lol

[sweetpink 1]

not sure how many people noticed this, in Philippines most people have 2 names like for ex. maria francesca (considered as first name) + mother's maiden name (middle name) + family name. Here in US, the 2nd word in the name is considered to be the middle name.