We are pregnant with number 2, a boy, and having some trouble agreeing on names. With number 1 we tried to stick with names that are pronounced the same or almost the same in both English and German, since I am Australian and partner is German. Partner is pretty difficult with names anyway - nothing associated with the royal family, no names from the bible, he doesn’t seem to like Irish names (which I love) as he vetoes all of those - so there are very few names in the running!
Highest on the list is Emil. However partner insists we should say it the same way and he only likes the German pronunciation, which is kind of like EEE-mIYl, very hard to say properly for a non-German native (I speak German and can’t say it quite right), and frankly I also would feel a little pretentious if I used that pronunciation in Australia and no one here would be able to pronounce it that way anyway. I prefer the anglicised EH-mill or would also be ok with EH-miyl to be more similar to the German pronunciation.
Is it weird to choose a name that we would both pronounce differently? There are not that many names that sound exactly the same in both languages so the German family and friends would pronounce probably any name we choose differently to the Australian side, which is the case for my daughter’s name but the difference is not as stark and the two of us both use the same anglicised pronunciation. The only other names on the list I think are Elliott/Elliot and Sean, which don’t have this problem but I’m not in love with either of them.
[name_f]My[/name_f] aunt is named [name_f]Yvonne[/name_f], both her parents only speak [name_f]English[/name_f] but pronounce it differently (yuh-Vawn and ee-Vawn). It’s never really been an issue for her. She prefers yuh-Vawn herself but accepts both pronunciations because of it. Occasionally people will comment that it’s interesting her name has two pronunciations, but that’s it!
Not an issue at all. [name_f]My[/name_f] DH and I pronounce our daughters name differently and we’re both native [name_f]English[/name_f] speakers but just have different accents!
I say El-en-a
He says El-en-Noor
She answers to both quite happily.
I don’t find it weird at all. We’re a bilingual family too (Finnish & English), and there are actually 0 names me and my wife pronounce the same, but as long as it more or less sounds like the same name, we’re happy. I think this is quite common in bilingual situations!
I think it’s fine! Different people pronounce various words and names in different ways; your child will know his name either way. If your partner’s preferred pronunciation is uncomfortable for you to say, it will be difficult to love the name and call your son by it. Using different pronunciations seems to solve the problem!
I think it’s fine as well! [name_f]My[/name_f] boyfriend and I both have bilingual family meaning our children’s names will be pronounced in english, french and spanish
If different pronounciations fix your problem i say go for it!
