I agree with previous posters. In [name_m]French[/name_m], Russian, [name_m]German[/name_m], Icelandic-speaking countries diacritical marks are necessary. For example, in [name_m]German[/name_m] a is “uh” and ä is “a” like in cat; in Russian, “e” is “eh” and “ё” is “yo”. It’s a mistake not to use one.
However, in English-speaking countries they are just a headache. People will butcher the name unless they speak [name_m]French[/name_m]/[name_m]German[/name_m] etc, and they will misspell the name in the passport.
My sister’s name is written with an accent mark, but they didn’t put it on her passport, so her is name is spelled wrong in her most official document. It irritates me so much, because then it’s a different name with different pn.
just another way to stand out, I like them!
Unless you or the other parent is a native speaker of the language the name is from, or unless your family lives in the country where the language the name is from is spoken, I think it’s kind of dumb to use accent marks. If you’re really that concerned about pronunciation, the accent marks aren’t going to help you anyway because 99% of people won’t know what they mean anyway. It would be easier (although still not necessarily a good idea) to just change the spelling to something that would make more sense phonetically in the language that is spoken around you.
Thanks for all the replies! [name_m]Even[/name_m] though this may not be a “cure cancer” sort of conversation, but it still is important beacuse I think what it really is about is respecting other cultures. It’s the difference between words like naïve and naive. Can people still pronounce naive as it should be? Of course, but not only does naïve look right, it’s actually closer to its roots. [name_f]Every[/name_f] time I seem someone spell it with the accented “i”, it reminds me of the closeness English-speakers have with the [name_m]French[/name_m] language. (That sounds overly romantic…)
I definitely agree with this. When I see [name_m]Simon[/name_m]é, I say, “[name_u]Si[/name_u]-mohn-nay”, instead of just “[name_u]Si[/name_u]-mohn”.
Again, thanks for your input in this discussion!
If we could use accent marks in the US, my daughter’s name would have been spelled Noemí. This accent mark would put the stress on the third syllable. I feel like Americans wouldn’t pronounce it any different with or without the accent.
As others have said, diacritical marks mostly serve to confuse people in [name_u]America[/name_u]. I think that most Americans would see Francois with or without the diacritical mark and say “[name_u]Fran[/name_u]-kois.” Most of the people I know with diacritical marks as part of their names have parents who misused them to begin with. For me, I live in the US and I wouldn’t give a kid a name that requires any accent marks. However, I would use an “Americanized” version of a name that requires diacritical marks in the original. My husband and I both love the name [name_f]Esme[/name_f]. I know that [name_f]Esme[/name_f] is the masculine version and that Esmée is the feminine, but I would use [name_f]Esme[/name_f] for a girl here. If this hypothetical daughter ever moves to [name_u]Paris[/name_u], she can change it to Esmée.