Friday, December 19, 2008

A rose by any other name...

I have encountered a problem that I wasn't expecting when we named Julianna. Some people pronounce it Juli-aw-na. But it's Juli-anna. Just like it looks. Don't get me wrong. Juliawna is a fine name, but it's not my daughter's name. So what do I do? So far I have let it go if it's someone we rarely see, like the doctor. If it's someone who we see often I just make sure to say her name correctly a few times hoping they'll catch on. I honestly never thought there would be a problem with the pronunciation or spelling of her name. (Apparently you can spell it Juliana, too.) I hope that she doesn't spend her life correcting people about her name. I can just see her in 15 years rolling her eyes and saying, "It's Juli-ANNA."

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Our plan is to name our first son Benjamin, but I've heard some people when they say Benjamin, they say it like Benger-man which is totally annoying. So I'm kind of worried about that. Anyway, I think it's ok to correct people when they mispronounce a name. Nicely, of course :)

Katrina said...

We have a friend back in Tri-Cities named Anna, pronounced "Ah-na". After being corrected (or hearing her mom correct others) a thousand times, it was really hard to remember to pronounce Anna Crump's name "An-na". However, the person who chose the name--or wears it--clearly has the last say, and it's perfectly find to correct people. I prefer that to finding out years later that I was pronouncing it wrong all along! LOL!

Katrina said...

find=fine

MarmiteToasty said...

Its such a pretty name, you make sure people get it right.....

My friends little girl, well she is now 15 is called Bebhinn...... yep, all her life she has had to tell people the correct saying of her name lol its Irish ya see, all 4 of her kids have irish names and its pronounced 'Bevin' ......

x

Anonymous said...

I think Alyssa has given up trying to correct people! I still regularly hear her name mispronounced. And by people who have known her for years. I wonder how many years it took to get to that point or if it was just never that big of a deal to her. She does have a lot of irons in the fire! Now I, I have answered to Mrs. Dupey, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Teston (don't know who that is, but I think the girl kept doing it just to get a rise out of me, I finally called her on her intentional misuse. she stopped), Mom (not by my own children), Grandma (that one hurt), even Dad and Grandpa. Apparently I reminded the kid of some old man. However, if you try to call me "Katherine", you WILL be corrected.