I don’t normally worry about these things but this keeps bugging me, and it’s my 3rd favourite boy name.
I pronounce [name_m]Gianni[/name_m] as ([name_m]Gee[/name_m]-ahn-ee), I even know of a boy and a girl with this spelling pronounced this way.
However, this name is of Italian origin and is supposed to be ([name_m]Jahn[/name_m]-ee), essentially [name_m]Johnny[/name_m].
Is it weird that I say it how I do, because [name_m]Jahn[/name_m]-ee is not what I want at all.
Furthermore, calling someone “a [name_m]Johnny[/name_m]” is an insult where I’m from.
I feel like it wouldn’t be difficult to convince people to call him your pronunciation, but Italian people might roll their eyes at it. I guess it depends on whether or not knowing that you’re not using the “correct” pronunciation bothers you.
I actually assumed it was pronounced jee-ah-nee until this summer when I met a little boy who said it like [name_m]Johnny[/name_m]. I was very confused! I think with the popularity of [name_f]Gianna[/name_f], you can get away with it
I would pronounce [name_m]Gianni[/name_m] the Italian way, since I learned Italian for a while when I was younger so that pronunciation seems obvious to me. It doesn’t sound exactly like “[name_m]Johnny[/name_m]” in my accent but it is similar. However, if there aren’t many native Italian speakers in your area then I suppose you could use an Anglicized pronunciation if you wanted to.
It depends on whether it bothers you personally that the “gee-ahn-ee” pronunciation is not how an Italian speaker would pronounce [name_m]Gianni[/name_m].
Personally, I prefer the Italian pronunciation and even little Giannas pronounced [name_m]Gee[/name_m]-anna bug me. But, that’s just me. I definitely think you could get away with pronouncing it the way you like as long as you don’t live in a big Italian area! And it’s a very cute name pronounced either way!
I pronounce it the same way you do, because I have a friend named [name_f]Gianna[/name_f]! With [name_f]Gianna[/name_f]'s growing popularity, I think your pronunciation would be okay - unless you live in an area where Italian is the most predominant language/the most common ethnicity.
And it’s a very cute name pronounced either way!