Lesson numero uno: you must enunciate, por favor!
How hard is it for people to pronounce your name?
Let’s discuss my name. My name is the easiest, one of the most popular female names in the world, because of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Mona is pronounced in English like, “Mowna.” That’s the most common way to pronounce it. I am so used to it, that I forgot that my real name, the way it is supposed to be pronounced in Arabic and most European languages, other than English, is like, “Muna.” A simple and quick ou sound on the vowel.
Simple. Ok? However, there are always the off people that think my name is magical and has an obscure pronunciation. This is the latest one that I have heard, “Maawna.” When some people call me that, I say, “Huh?” They tell me, “Well, my friend, that’s how she spells her name and pronounces it.” I say with a bit of confusion and utter disgust on my face, “Ok . . . ??” Then whispering under my breath, “Crack heads.”
People who pronounce the name Mona like Maawna need an ass kicking. Seriously! The name is so friggen simple! Why spell a name one way, and pronounce it a totally different way? Blah!
What’s your name dilemmas? Share with me, please.
Blah Blah, Confused, Funny, Ranting as usual!, They said what?, Whatever!
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Haha, I’m personally fine but I lovethis story about my friend who’s from Singapore. When he introduced himself to one of our tutors the tutor wanted to check he’d heard it right so repeated back what he’d heard with a really exaggerated oriental accent: “ohh, Yukoncahmedan, is that right?” “…no…I said ‘you can call me Dan’…”
My wife has a name shared by many Americans. But since she’s Indian, people insist on screwing it up. I have heard things like, “What’s that, I didn’t get that.” or they try to put an Indian spin on it which is funny because they don’t know any other languages other than English.
@Natalie
Hehehe.. funny story. It happens a lot eh?
@Leeroy Glinchy
What’s your wife’s name that makes it so obscure for people?
I usually solve the problem by saying Philip but with a D in front. Most don’t have problem with Adam though.
Okay smarty-pants, lets see if you can get my name right!
@Meyrick Kirby
You pronounce it, “MEY-RICK,” Right?
ive sometimes heard your name pronounced ‘munya’ like wish ya know…
Nope
One letter is silent.
It’s pronounced “ME-RICK”, where the ME has a sort e, as in “metal”.
@Meyrick Kirby
Why did you parents give you that name and spelling? lol
I married a guy with the last name McLeod (Mic-Loud, or put on on your best Scottish accent and say Mic-Lee-Owd). Considering the cult popularity of the Highlander films and TV show, I was amazed at how many people mispronounced the name. One of the great things about it was that you tell which phone calls were from telemarketers, since they stumbled all over it – and you could honestly tell them there was no one there by that name.
All my family but myself had slightly unusual first names, though the only one people mispronounced was my dad’s. Dealton is pronounced Del-Ton, not Deel-Ton – but he usually just went by Del, so it was no big deal.
Me, I think Mona’s a great name, and I can’t see why so many people have trouble with it. You could have some fun with the people who do, and horribly mispronounce their names. I wonder how many ways to mis-say “Ann” there are…
Maybe people should try facing mirrors and learn how to spell the names
My name is Tauqeer, pronounced Talk-Ear… but as you can imagine – people have a field day writing and pronouncing it.
But it’s all good – I know when I want to listen to people, so if they probounce my name wrong… I ignore them