[name]Hi[/name]! So my cousin’s name is [name]Katja[/name]. They were trying to use a name to represent their [name]German[/name] heritage, but I actually think it’s more Russian. My mom and grandparents pronounce her name Kah-chee-yuh. My aunt and uncle pronounce it Kahchyuh (like gotcha but with a k). Whenever someone outside of my family sees the name, they pronounce it Kaht-yuh. Nobody in the family likes her name because nobody has any idea how to pronounce it!
Help, please?
[name]Katja[/name] is lovely! I’ve always said it like KAHT-yah, but I’ve heard CAH-chuh, too (like kotcha). According to Behind the Name (Meaning, origin and history of the name Katja - Behind the Name), the proper [name]German[/name] pronunciation is KAHT-yah. I usually trust [name]Baby[/name] Names World, too, for pronunciations and such, but they list [name]Katja[/name] as [name]CAT[/name]-yah (http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Katja.html). Forvo.com (Katja pronunciation: How to pronounce Katja in German, Slovenian, Finnish, Swedish, Dutch, Spanish) also lists [name]Katja[/name] as predominantly KAHT-yah or KAHT-ee-yah.
As a person with some Russian background I would have assumed it was [name]Kat[/name]-yuh, or Kaht-yah, same name whether spelt [name]Katja[/name], [name]Katia[/name], or [name]Katya[/name]?
http://www.nordicnames.de/Aussprache.html This [name]German[/name] site says the same thing? It has a sound file you can click.
I’ve always said cat-yuh, I’m not sure that’s technically correct though.
I hosted a [name]German[/name] exchange student in college by that name, and she pronounced her name “Khat-yah”, so I’ve always assumed that’s the proper pronunciation. On occasion I heard someone call her “Khat-chya”, but it didn’t seem to phase her. It seemed like it was just a different pronunciation of the same word. Potato, poh-tah-to. Tomato, tom-ah-to; that sort of thing.
I’ve always said this name KAHT-yah. I think it’s lovely said that way but the other ways to say it are just weird and wrong to me. I associate the prounciation with other names spelled with a ja like [name]Sonja[/name], Danja, Fenja, Merja, Sezja, Svenja…they all have a short first vowel with the YAH pronunciation of the JA and besides that, in [name]German[/name] and Scandinavian and Russian the JA is said YAH and the vowel would be short.
cat-ya…
That’s right. I’m [name]German[/name] and the [name]German[/name] pronounciation is Kaht-yah, with a short “Kaht”. You can hear in in the link posted above.
I think it has a Russian origin, but it was pretty popular in Germany:
As you can see here: Vorname Katja * Herkunft, Statistik und Bedeutung it was pretty popular from 1960 to the mid eighties. That’s why it does feel pretty [name]German[/name] to me, though I know of the Russian origin. So I still think it works as a representation of her [name]German[/name] heritage 
I’ve never heard it said any other way besides ‘Kaht-yah’, except when people aren’t aware of the name and say it with a j like ‘Kaht-jah’.
I pronounce it koh-tyuh, kind of…
I would think Kaht-ya