I have a character named [name_u]Basil[/name_u] (who some of you may have noticed in various teaser games), and I pronounce it like the herb (BAY-sil). This is not a thing that can change. I’m worried that people will pronounce it like BAH-sil, which is, for this character, incorrect. He has a sister named [name_u]Juniper[/name_u] and a mother named Floralie; do you think that helps people realize that [name_u]Basil[/name_u] is also a plant? Another character, [name_f]Celestial[/name_f], sometimes calls him Base, which should also help, right? Let me know your thoughts on this. Thanks!
I say BAH-sil for both the herb and the name. BAY-sil sounds more American to me, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They both sound nice either way.
Yeah I’m American so that probably has something to do with it. Thanks for the help, I guess I’ll just have to deal with [name_f]British[/name_f] mispronunciation, which they probably have to deal with a lot more from us, so I can return the favor lol
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If you’re really worried about it maybe you could try to include a little scene somewhere at the beginning of your story where another character mispronounces it and he corrects it. [name_u]Or[/name_u] include a character overview with some basic info, including pronunciation of the names.
I think most people will automatically guess it’s [name_u]Basil[/name_u] like the plant but some people will intuitively use the other pronunciation. Honestly, I’m not sure whether the ideas I came up with will help then. Sometimes I’ve read names accidentily wrong at first and after realising that I don’t change it in my head anymore. [name_u]Or[/name_u] sometimes I know a story takes place in a [name_f]English[/name_f] speaking country so obviously the character’s name is intended to be pronounced the [name_f]English[/name_f] way but I will still use the pronuncation of the name in my native language.
So I guess you can guide the reader to your intended pronunciation but you can’t force it on stubborn readers.
Okay, yeah, that makes sense. I think I can make the correct pronunciation pretty clear, but I can live with it if people do it wrong. Thanks so much for the help on this!