People not pronouncing unborn baby’s name right

[Anonymous]

I am currently 30 weeks pregnant and my husband and I have decided to name our baby boy Wesley (we already announced his name). We didn’t think we would run into any problems with this name, but unfortunately, some family members, especially my mother-in-law, keep pronouncing his name as Wez-lee instead of Wess-lee. We have politely corrected multiple times, but they continue to mispronounce it.

I'm not sure if it's just my pregnancy hormones or if I'm overreacting, but I really dislike the "z" sound and prefer the "s" sound in his name. I know it seems like such a minor difference to some, but ever time I hear his name mispronounced, it makes me consider changing his name altogether. FWIW my husband and I usually refer to him as Wes.

Should we go ahead and change his name or should I try to let it go? Please let me know your thoughts.

[Anonymous]

You’re going to have to let it go. That’s a very common pronunciation. It’s more of regional thing than an actual pronunciation, but also you can correct them by saying Wesley like Elvis Presley.

[Anonymous]

I think if that pronunciation bothers you that much you should pick a name where the pronunciation is more consistent across the US. Otherwise it will drive you crazy.

[Anonymous]

It will be a lifelong of either correcting or getting used to the mispronunciation. My longtime roommate was named Leslie and had the same trouble getting people to say the S instead of Z sound.

[Anonymous]

What is the regional difference? Is it Wes’s-Lee in the south and Wes-Lee in the north?

[Anonymous]

I would change it. The z sound is pretty common in my experience. If you’re annoyed by it already, thinking of hearing it and having to correct people the rest of his childhood! The only way around it would be insisting everyone call him Wes.

[Anonymous]

To me they are the same name. I guess I have a "z" pronunciation. And it's my grandpa and nephew's middle name.

I say get used to it. My kid is Matthew. People just randomly call him Matt even though he never introduces himself that way. We expected that. And we put up with it.

[Anonymous]

Oh my gosh, how often are you calling your unborn child by their name?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re going to have to let it go. That’s a very common pronunciation. It’s more of regional thing than an actual pronunciation, but also you can correct them by saying Wesley like Elvis Presley.

Won't work. I say Elvis Prezlee...it must be a regional accent.

[Anonymous]

Stop being a control freak…and you need to learn some tolerance. It is a diverse world, people come from many different linguistic backgrounds and aren’t going to pronounce every letter exactly the same way you do.

It doesn’t change his name. No matter what name you choose, you will never find a name that no one will ever say in any way except exactly the same way you say it. Regional dialects, accents, English as additional language speakers etc will have different ways to say names and words. Having a meltdown anytime people aren’t exactly the same as you is a rough and intolerant way to go through life

[Anonymous]

I would change the name. This will irk you forever. Consider it a blessing you found out when there’s still time to change it.

[Anonymous]

sounds like you’re having your first.

[Anonymous]

My son is named Martin and when he was a baby it drove me crazy when people would pronounce it "Mar-in" with a glottal stop, to the point where i wanted a different name. Now I realize I was just hormonal. This won't bother you in a year or so.

[Anonymous]

Don't even worry about it. My kid has a unique name that many people have a hard time pronouncing. My husband's grandmother couldn't pronounce it and said she was going to call him by his initials. And she did. We thought it was cute and funny. My father tried but still botched it. So he never said it correctly. I remember my son's 3rd-grade teacher having a really weird pronunciation. My kid is 24 now; it's fine. It'll be fine OP.

[Anonymous]

We didn’t announce the name before birth so I’m curious how this is coming up so much. Like how many times a day are people talking about a baby who isn’t born? Just say “baby” instead of the name if it bugs you.

My friend had the same problem with Wesley but her son goes by “Wes” 99% of the time so it’s not an issue. And no one says “Wez”