My protagonist’s name is Aricin.
I’ve always pronounced it as [name_f]Air[/name_f]-ih-sin.
But a friend recently pointed out he pronounces it as [name_m]Ary[/name_m]-sin, like [name_m]Harrison[/name_m]… which is not what I want :-?
I’ve changed it to Airicin, but it doesn’t read right to me…
Would spelling it as something like Aerycin be more akin to the pronunciation I want? I don’t want it to look too frilly!
Thanks!
I said it ARE-ih-sin at first. I don’t see the difference between how you say it and how your friend says it though. I say [name_m]Harrison[/name_m] HAIR-ih-sen. I see you’re from [name_m]New[/name_m] Zealand so our accents are very different.
This is what I was going to say.
If you’re worried about readers saying it wrong, maybe you can include a part in your story where the character teaches someone how to say their name, or they sound it out. If you’re familiar with the [name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Potter[/name_m] series, maybe a moment like the one where [name_f]Hermione[/name_f] teaches [name_m]Viktor[/name_m] Krum how to say her name.
That’s just one example. There’s dozens of ways you can make the pronunciation clear to a reader without spelling the name differently.
Looking at it, I did pronounce it as [name_m]Ary[/name_m]-sin, like [name_m]Harrison[/name_m] (I’m Australian and pronounce That like Ha-ri-son) but I think if you had someone pronounce it like suggested above, there wouldn’t be a problem
Id say [name_m]AH[/name_m]-ree-sin
You could spell it Ericin/Erisin to make it easier
Great points everyone, thanks for the help!
He’s currently Aerycin, which I think makes the pronunciation clear for now.
The ‘[name_f]Hermione[/name_f]’ example is a great point! Before Goblet of [name_m]Fire[/name_m] I remember I used to say it Hermy-oh-nee!
I’ll try work that in. This character is mute so he could use sign language to spell it out…