Do you know how to properly pronounce your surname?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our Germanic, ‘W’ initial name should be pronounced with a ‘v’ sound. That’s just silly in an English speaking country.

Is it silly when people pronounce Jorge as hor-hey instead of more like George? In English J isn’t pronounced like an H.

I’ve known two Jorges. They were both happy to respond to being called George as well. They treated it like a fond nickname,

OP here — My poor colleague Jorge was insistent on the George pronunciation, and he got it from every direction. His grandparents/great-grandparents came from Mexico(?) (it’s been 20+ years since I last saw him.) He didn’t speak Spanish. He only knew a little from HS. More recent immigrants or people of Hispanic heritage would give him grief (eg, why aren’t you proud of your heritage?) or tease him. Others would be completely dumbfounded because they couldn’t reconcile his pronunciation with his appearance.

Again, I pronounce names, as best I can, the way a person wants it. I just find the whole subject fascinating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My surname is Americanized. It pronounces fine.

The original was Wyszyński. We had to change it because Starbucks never put the accent mark over the n, and I couldn't tell if the order was mine.

I love you! Keep posting please.
I also have a Slavic last name. The butchering of it.... ilitch? to Ukuch?

OP again — I’m glad ń and ł are now showing up on this site instead of ? when submitted. So many sites can’t handle much beyond ñ or é.

[Anonymous]

All so fascinating!

My married surname is Americanized German and is vaguely recognized as German but has caused a German acquaintance to very politely inquire, “what happened to your name? One half is vaguely German and the rest a hot mess.

Can’t think of an example but I’ll try:

Original German name something like:

der Einwohner

And now:

Derreinvon

[Anonymous]

I knew a woman whose last name was “Nigro” (we met in Italian class). The proper pronunciation for that Italian name is knee-gro. Is it okay with you that they pronounce it “nigh-gro,” for what are fairly obvious reasons? Or do you just think everyone should try to pronounce their names according to the old ways?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I knew a woman whose last name was “Nigro” (we met in Italian class). The proper pronunciation for that Italian name is knee-gro. Is it okay with you that they pronounce it “nigh-gro,” for what are fairly obvious reasons? Or do you just think everyone should try to pronounce their names according to the old ways?

You obviously haven’t read the thread, and have something crawling up your rear.

[Anonymous]

We know a family with a Spanish last name that is “misspelled”- it was Americanized/changed over 150 years ago and the family gets lots of questions, inadvertent corrections and amendments. Think Migel = Miguel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our Germanic, ‘W’ initial name should be pronounced with a ‘v’ sound. That’s just silly in an English speaking country.

Is it silly when people pronounce Jorge as hor-hey instead of more like George? In English J isn’t pronounced like an H.

Okay. I have to speak up about this one. OP are you absolutely sure if this person’s ethnicity? I ask because if they’re if Portuguese origins, then Jorge is definitely pronounced like George. In Portuguese the name sounds like Georgie but a native Portuguese speaker would be very confused if you tried to convince them that J is supposed to make the H sound even though that’s not how any J-words are pronounced in Portuguese.

OP, could part of this be ignorance on your part? You’re so sure people are mispronouncing names. Maybe you’re not aware that there are different languages in the world and Portuguese and Spanish are different languages?

Thanks PP for the clarification. A few years ago I met a Brazilian man whose name was Jose and it was pronounced Josay not Hosay like in Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our Germanic, ‘W’ initial name should be pronounced with a ‘v’ sound. That’s just silly in an English speaking country.

Is it silly when people pronounce Jorge as hor-hey instead of more like George? In English J isn’t pronounced like an H.

Okay. I have to speak up about this one. OP are you absolutely sure if this person’s ethnicity? I ask because if they’re if Portuguese origins, then Jorge is definitely pronounced like George. In Portuguese the name sounds like Georgie but a native Portuguese speaker would be very confused if you tried to convince them that J is supposed to make the H sound even though that’s not how any J-words are pronounced in Portuguese.

OP, could part of this be ignorance on your part? You’re so sure people are mispronouncing names. Maybe you’re not aware that there are different languages in the world and Portuguese and Spanish are different languages?

Thanks PP for the clarification. A few years ago I met a Brazilian man whose name was Jose and it was pronounced Josay not Hosay like in Spanish.

OP — Could be, but the problem for him remains the same. People were always telling him he was pronouncing it wrong, and because he wasn’t close to being fluent in his Great/grandparent’s language, he must not be proud of it. I called him by the pronunciation he wanted.

[Anonymous]

Mine is really hard for americans because it has a silent b at the end.

L-a-m-b

Pretty sure I can pronounce it like my forefathers tho.

[Anonymous]

I agree that people should pronounce them however they want - particularly if English is their mother tongue and only language.

I grew up speaking Spanish and have always been annoyed when people (mainly non-native Spanish speakers) try to correct the native country pronunciations for Spanish-speaking countries. E.g, Me-jico, C-ooba, Chil-e - instead of Mex-ico, Cuba and Chil-ee per English pronunciation. It annoys me to no end bc these same people don't say - Sverige, Deutschland, Espana, Turkiye, or Nipon. Why correct for the Spanish if you're not native? totally unnecessary.

[Anonymous]

I don't agree with the OP. I'm one of those language outlaws who believes that communications evolve over time, especially in U.S. culture. A relative found that our surname was mangled upon entry to the U.S. and sounds nothing like our relations in the so-called home nation. Whatever.

By definition: I pronounce my surname correctly. I try to respect others by calling them by the name (and pronunciation) of their choosing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't agree with the OP. I'm one of those language outlaws who believes that communications evolve over time, especially in U.S. culture. A relative found that our surname was mangled upon entry to the U.S. and sounds nothing like our relations in the so-called home nation. Whatever.

By definition: I pronounce my surname correctly. I try to respect others by calling them by the name (and pronunciation) of their choosing.

Read what OP says again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that people should pronounce them however they want - particularly if English is their mother tongue and only language.

I grew up speaking Spanish and have always been annoyed when people (mainly non-native Spanish speakers) try to correct the native country pronunciations for Spanish-speaking countries. E.g, Me-jico, C-ooba, Chil-e - instead of Mex-ico, Cuba and Chil-ee per English pronunciation. It annoys me to no end bc these same people don't say - Sverige, Deutschland, Espana, Turkiye, or Nipon. Why correct for the Spanish if you're not native? totally unnecessary.

I think Spanish words are a hot button issue, because people are afraid of being called out for being ignorant or worse, racist because they are not pronouncing those words or names correctly. Some just want to appear some version of “woke”/aware/intellectual. Then there’s a lot of talk about microagressions if you mispronounce a name. It’s hard to keep track of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine is really hard for americans because it has a silent b at the end.

L-a-m-b

Pretty sure I can pronounce it like my forefathers tho.

Is that with a short or long a?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that people should pronounce them however they want - particularly if English is their mother tongue and only language.

I grew up speaking Spanish and have always been annoyed when people (mainly non-native Spanish speakers) try to correct the native country pronunciations for Spanish-speaking countries. E.g, Me-jico, C-ooba, Chil-e - instead of Mex-ico, Cuba and Chil-ee per English pronunciation. It annoys me to no end bc these same people don't say - Sverige, Deutschland, Espana, Turkiye, or Nipon. Why correct for the Spanish if you're not native? totally unnecessary.

I think Spanish words are a hot button issue, because people are afraid of being called out for being ignorant or worse, racist because they are not pronouncing those words or names correctly. Some just want to appear some version of “woke”/aware/intellectual. Then there’s a lot of talk about microagressions if you mispronounce a name. It’s hard to keep track of.

I think it's more of the trying to sound woke/intellectual because it's easier to add the accent in Spanish than presumably any other language. But for that reason, it just sounds strange because it's not done in other languages. It's ok to say the English name of a country when you're speaking in English. In fact, that's the more correct way to do it here. It's also ok to have an American accent if you grew up here. Why pretend otherwise? It's just a weird observation and something that has always annoyed me about the hyperwoke.