Originally, I named my son [name_m]Yahya[/name_m], and with that certain spelling. However, he’s five now, and his name gets mispronounced so often that I am going to change the spelling of it to something more understandable for everyone else. [name_m]How[/name_m] would YOU pronounce these different spellings of the name?
Yahiya
Yaahiya
Yaheya
[name_m]How[/name_m] are you hoping his name is pronounced in the end? Maybe we can help pick the one that we’d pronounce that way.
Yahiya - (Yah-[name_m]Hi[/name_m]-Ya)
Yaahiya - (Yah-[name_m]Hi[/name_m]-Ya)
Yaheya - (Ya-Hey-ah)
([name_m]Yahya[/name_m] - I read as “Yah-[name_m]Hi[/name_m]-Ya” too)
I agree with the previous poster, how do you want it pronounced?
Instinctively I’d say [name_m]Yahya[/name_m] as “yah-yah” but I honestly have no clue how to pronounce it. Yahiya would be “yuh-[name_m]HI[/name_m]-yuh” (hi as in [name_m]Hi[/name_m], how’s it going). Yaheya would be “yah-HEY-yuh” (like hey, how’s it going). I’d pronounce Yaahiya similar to Yahiya just an emphasis on the first syllable.
[name_m]How[/name_m] is it pronounced?
Yahiya - Yah-High-yah
Yaahiya - Same as above
Yaheya - Yah-hee-ya but if I stared at it long enough I would probably start saying Yah-hey-ya
I’d like to know too, how do you want it pronounced?
I would like his name to be pronounced YUH-ya (not yeah-ya).
In that case, I think that his current spelling is most intuitive for English speakers. Personally, I would pronounce the rest as yah-HEE-uh, as they have a vowel between the h and y. I would pronounce his name now as YUH-yah; I really don’t see how it could be said otherwise.