Respondents: 42 (This poll is closed)
While I personally would use the traditional pronounciation for my kids, I think parents can do what they want. (If I had a friend who was planning on using an Americanized pronounciation I’d probably give her a heads up that it might cause some confusion but that’s as much as I’d say.)
I actually know an [name]Aislinn[/name] (pronounced [name]Ace[/name]-lyn.) She’s about 18 now so I don’t think the name was as common when she was born.
I do believe that it is the parents’ choice how to pronounce their child’s name. However, I do believe that the choice should come only after knowing the proper pronunciation. It’s just plain the responsible thing to do to research your child’s permanent name before putting it on the birth certificate (same thing with spellings). Making a choice is one thing; doing it because you didn’t take the time to make sure is just ignorance.
I usually prefer the true pronunciation of a name. However some names will never be pronounced the “proper” way in the US. For example a girl named [name]Genevieve[/name] here would not be called “[name]Jon[/name]-vee-ev” she’d more likely be “[name]Jen[/name]-nah-veev”.
[name]Caitlin[/name] is like this, so are a lot of names. On one hand, people might try to pronounce it right, on the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with interpreting a name in the local dialect. All the names that there are multiple foreign language versions of were interpreted in the local dialect. What is wrong with an anglicized version of a foreign name, or in this case, pronounced phonetically, that differs from how other names translated across Europe, for example?
I kind of feel very strongly about this, don’t even now why. I definitely hate (!) it when people change pronunciations. I can accapt a moderate change in pronunciations though - a slight Americanization if you will. In Geramyn English names have become quite popular in recent names but they are ofter considered rather trashy and I have met a lot of children (I’m in teacher training) that pronounce their names ridiculously, the most extreme being boy named [name]Cedric[/name] that insisted on being called “Tsedrick” (with a [name]German[/name] r)
I remember talking to a friend telling her that I liked the Swedish name [name]Malin[/name] but that I found out it was pronounced more like Maw-lin or [name]Mo[/name]-lin (instead of [name]Mar[/name]-lin/-leen) so that I don’t think I could use it. She replied that I could just pronounce it as I liked but seriously: what if my future daughter ever goes to [name]Sweden[/name] or meets a [name]Swede[/name] and cannot pronounce her own name properly. Definitely wouldn’t do that to her.
[name]Just[/name] to clarify, I am not saying that there is anything wrong with it, I’m afraid my original post may have come off as such. I was just wondering what the general public concensus was and if anyone felt very strongly on the issue or not.
Thanks for the posts!
I really dislike when names are pronounced incorrectly. My sister have a friend named [name]Aislin[/name] pr [name]Ace[/name]-lyn too. I hate it so much. I also met a girl whose bf’s brother was called [name]Callum[/name] pronounced Col-um, like a column, and she claimed they were Scottish (Canadian but Scottish ancestry) and this is how it was pronounced. I was like… uhh no. I’m actually Scottish (born) and my brother is called [name]Calum[/name] too… and you pronounce it Cah-lum. I don’t know why, but examples like this make me angry, haha. Sorry to offend, but I think if you plan on using a name from another country, you should pronounce it properly, if you don’t it makes you and your child look ignorant (the same with misspellings too). (Sorry, but this is ust how I feel).
[name]Marleene[/name]/[name]Marlene[/name] is a legitimate name on it’s own if you like the pronounciation, ([name]Mar[/name]-leen or mar-lay-nah) so you could use it with that spelling if you still want to. It’s a mix of [name]Mary[/name] and [name]Magdalena[/name] apparently.
I think it’s ok when it’s just a slight variant. Some names are hard to say in different accents. Many Irish names for eexample are only properly pronounced if you imitate an Irish accent which can be awkward on a daily basis so it makes sense to let it fall into your own accent.
[name]Aislin[/name] however is easily pronounced correctly in and English or American accent so really shouldn’t be changed. If you want to call your kid [name]Ace[/name]-lin then spell it Acelin/Acelyn
There are various pronounciations for the same name depending on the local dialect and language you speak. While I agree that [name]Ace[/name]-lyn is just flat wrong there are many instances where say the [name]German[/name] pronounciation does not equate to the American one, however both are legit. For example [name]Julian[/name] in the US is [name]Jule[/name]-ee-an while in Germany you say is with a soft J, more like Who-lee-on. Same thing with [name]Michael[/name], you can pronounce that various different ways depending on which country you are in. My partners father is [name]Michael[/name] and his mother still pronounces his name the [name]German[/name] way and they have been living here for 40some years. Sometimes its hard to pronounce a name the foreign way without the correct foreign accent. One name I pronounce “wrong” is [name]Gisela[/name]. I say ji-zel-uh (with a J sound at the begining) eventhough the correct [name]German[/name] pronounciation is [name]Gee[/name]-zel-uh (hard G, like [name]Gold[/name]).
So in the end I think it depends on the name and how far you are stretching the pronounciation. Also, if you are doing it to make your childs life easier, or if you are just ignorant to the correct pronounciation, those are two very different cases. Either way, I agree with a previous posters statement about researching a name prior to sticking in on a birth certificate 
A [name]German[/name]/English example I’ve run into, with a solution that usually isn’t there:
I like [name]Wilhelm[/name]. In [name]German[/name], W is said as V. I expect most English speakers would say this with W as W. Then I heard of a Norwegian named [name]Vilhelm[/name]. English speakers would say this the way Germans say [name]Wilhelm[/name], though I don’t know how Norwegians say it…
I know a girl with the name Aislynn and she pronounces it [name]Ace[/name]-lyn. I think it’s just fine, especially since no one I know actually would know how to say it the right way.
I’m a very strong believer in keeping a names cultural heritage. If a girl is named [name]Aislinn[/name], imo, it should be pronounced ‘[name]ASH[/name]-lyn’. I don;t see how it’s right to take a name from a culture and then totally ignore its pronunciation.
This is what bugs me about [name]Carys[/name]. It’s Welsh. It’s pronounced KAH-riss (short ‘a’ like cat). If you want ‘CARE-is’ then use [name]Cerys[/name] which is still Welsh, means the same, but actually pronounced correctly. /Rant over/ 
Saying that, [name]Aislinn[/name] aside (which is most definitely Irish) there is an old Medieval name Acelin, Aceline, or Acelina. I’m not sure the parents in question knew about this though 
Well, I agree with many of the posters who said that it can be hard to pronounce names exactly as they are pronounced in their original language and I guess as long as you try to pronounce it as good as possible, it’s legitimate to use it. But I wouldn’t use it anyway since (especially if you’re living in Europe) it is quite likely you will once meet a native speaker you would probably think it ignorant if you couln’t pronounce your name correctly - just like in the [name]Calum[/name] example.
As for the Suggestions of [name]Marleen[/name] and [name]Marlene[/name], [name]Kiki[/name], I know both of those and think they are nice names but they again would be pronounced differently in [name]German[/name]. [name]Marlene[/name] as in [name]Marlene[/name] [name]Dietrich[/name] (somewhat like [name]Mar[/name]-layn-a) and [name]Marleen[/name] somewhat like [name]Mar[/name]-layn (with a longer ay). So it doesn’t sound the way I thought [name]Malin[/name] would sound. Still pretty names though.
I think more people should do their research before naming their children, but sadly it seems most people don’t care that much. This goes for meaning, flow of first name with last name, spelling, etc. It’s too bad really.
As for pronounciation, it’s important to stay as true as possible to the original, or at least be aware of the original, but I feel sometimes it’s okay to adapt a pronounciation to fit the language spoken, not only the original language. If it fits the name, it could be a good thing.
[name]Will[/name] [name]Ferrell[/name] has a son named [name]Magnus[/name], a very common name in [name]Sweden[/name] (his wife is Swedish so I’m guessing they wanted names that would fit both languages). Now, in English it would be pronounced [name]Mag[/name]-nus, where as in Swedish it’d be Mang-nus. In my opinion it sounds fine either way.
Very few names are truly universal - even simple and quite common names can and will be pronounced slightly differently in different languages. If the root of the name is ancient Greek or Latin, but it is mostly used in one or a couple modern languages, who’s to say which pronounciation is right?
This being said, if I were to name a child I’d make sure to know the original spelling and pronounciation of a name and test it out in my language to make sure what it sounds like. If it’s too off, would the child then be prepared to correct everyone? Another good idea would be to try the name out in different languages - if you only speak one, ask friends or ask online.
A couple of names that have been mentioned:
[name]Malin[/name] - the difference in pronounciation between [name]German[/name] and Swedish isn’t huge. The “A” isn’t the same, that much is true, but it doesn’t sound like a different name.
Now, if you want to confuse people, try using a name like “”sa” and see what happens;-) In Germany, it may just work, but in English most people would just pronounce it “[name]Asa[/name]”, a completely different name.
[name]Vilhelm[/name] - in Scandinavia there’s no difference in pronounciation between “V” and “W” as there is in English, for example. Traditionally, using W instead of V in a name simply makes it look more posh as it were, but it would still be pronounced V.
I was so sad when I found out that [name]Linnea[/name] is pronounced [name]Lin[/name]-ay-ah instead of [name]Lin[/name]-ee-a
Also I like Mih-lay-na better than Mee-lay-nah for [name]Milena[/name]. I don’t know if that’s an ok pronunciation or not, because it seems like it’s pretty common for European names to go from long vowels in Europe to short in [name]America[/name].
[name]Don[/name]'t be sad… Are you talking about the pronounciation in Swedish or English? Actually, in Swedish it’d be more like what you first thought: Li-NEE-ah.