LL-L "Names" 2005.08.24 (01) [E]

Wed Aug 24 19:06:34 UTC 2005

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From: "Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc." <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: Spelling and pronounciation of names

cf. the Bucket / Bouquet issue

Read on the BBC website
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4180664.stm
Last Updated: Wednesday, 24 August 2005, 13:16 GMT 14:16 UK

How are you spelling that?

In death, as in life, when people spoke about Robert Moog, his name sounded
like the noise a cow makes.
For a man who did so much to broaden the range of sounds available to the
human ear - from prog rock to electronica - it might have been something of
an irony that people couldn't get his name right.
For Moog should not have rhymed with "fugue". It's pronounced "Mogue".
Moog was once asked by an interviewer for the definitive word on his name.
He was quite clear: "It rhymes with vogue. That is the usual German
pronunciation. My father's grandfather came from Marburg, Germany. I like
the way that pronunciation sounds better than the way the cow's 'moo-g'
sounds."
Moog was not alone in having a name people couldn't pronounce properly.
People called HÃ¥kon, Jiye, Michi, Elissa, Asa, Nara and Laszlo have each
written on the web about going through life with people not knowing how to
say their names. Some have resorted to publishing MP3 files of the correct
pronunciation.

First-hand experience
Psychologist Dr Mallory Wober (pronounced "woe-ber") has been studying
people's names for nearly 40 years, fascinated among other things by how
Zipf's law on the "principle of least effort" results in names being
abbreviated.
But he knows from first hand experience what's it's like for people
constantly to mis-pronounce his name.
"My surname is terrible," he says. "It results in all sorts of creative
interpretations, though it is not all bad - if for instance junk mail comes
with my name spelt wrongly, I feel absolute licence to throw it away.
"But the way I react to how people say my name on the whole it depends what
I want from them, or from the relationship. If I need some help in a shop,
and someone mispronounces my name, then I am probably going to put up with
it since I need him to spend some time to talk to me.
"It's never happened, and as I'm 69 it's a distant chance, but if an
attractive young woman insisted on mispronouncing my name, I might well end
up finding it charming."
But, he added, if someone rang him and used the correct pronunciation, then
automatically he would know where he stood with the other person and that it
was likely to be a conversation worth having.

Fluency

Sandra Dodd from Albuquerque, New Mexico, calls herself "Sanndra"; people
from New York call her "Sarndra", people from Texas call her "Sa-endra". To
some of her friends, however, she is Ã†lflÃ¦d (pronounced "Elf-led").
Dodd is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, whose members take
part in medieval and Renaissance role-play. This means taking on medieval
names - another name she considered was "Wulfrun".
Having an unusual name in this context is obviously not a problem for her.
"Anyone who is fluent in Middle English knows how to pronounce it," she
says.
The names of some of her fellow members have actually gone beyond role-play,
she says. Some have decided they actually prefer their medieval name in real
life - one member, previously known as Robert, changed his name to Cathyn, a
name which dates from the 1200s.

Dr Wober has done much research into the assumptions people make based
solely on names - eg Antoinette is attractive and flighty, Susan is solid
and trustworthy.
Perhaps this is why persistent mis-pronunciation can be so frustrating to
people who suffer from it, as it could imply a different set of assumptions.
Even the tendency Dr Wober has noted for people to gravitate towards
single-syllable - and thus straightforward - names does not always avoid
misunderstanding though.

Film-maker Tom Tanner - a man blessed with a simple, easily pronounceable
name - proudly recalls the occasion he answered his phone to a person
wanting to speak to "Town Planner".

Do you suffer from an unpronounceable name? ...

Having a Welsh name outside of Wales has meant I've had a lifetime of
mispronunciations, "ann - garad" and "an-ga-hard" being two of the most
popular, and that's among the most adventurous.....some people literally
just falter in the middle and look up pleadingly. I'm the only person I know
that responds to a bemused silence if someone is calling a list of names. It
used to be annoying, but I had no option but to get used to it. I tend to
just ask people how they'd say it if there was an 'h' in front of it....or
just tell them to call me Ang, to my mother's dismay!
Angharad Beurle - Williams, Brixton, London

My name being mispronounced is a regular occurance! Depending on where my
friends are from, they all have different versions of it. It's just
Na-vaa-zz but it becomes Nabas, Navais, Nawas, Newas. Thats just my first
name!! I won't even start with my family name. In persian (my name's origin)
its a feminine name but in arabic it becomes masculine. So post most often
is addressed to Mr. Very annoying especially when it's something that
required me to send my photo or specify sex. I used to get very offended
when my name used to be mispronounced but now it doesn't matter so much as I
understand different people have different pronunciations!!! But I keep
trying to correct people in the vain hope that I will hear my name
pronounced correctly.
Navaz H, Nottingham, UK

I don't even expect people to be able to pronounce my name correctly as I
know the two dots on the a don't make sense to anyone outside Finland. The
only foreigner who's managed to pronounce it correctly was an ex-colleague
from Hungary. I've learned to live with it but most annoying pronouciation
is something like Piaeve...
PÃ¤ivi, Haarlem, Netherlands; originally from Finland

My daughter's name is TÃ©anna (Tay - anna) however people find it difficult
to say this for some reason and pronounce it Ti - arna. NOt sure why but
possibly the path of least resistance
Trevor Pilgrim, Jeddah Saudi Arabia

I have problems abroad. I'm a student of Russian and German, and it's just
about impossible to say the second in Russian and Dawn is impossible in
both. In Russia, they often giggled and referred to the river, Don, but I
politely told the I'm not called Donna. There is no true H in Russian, so
the best they could do was 'Kheyzl' (Kh like Scottish 'loch'). In German I
usually use the German pronunciation of my surname (Hartz-le) but my first
name require some knowledge of English, really, which thankfully most people
around me have, or they read it 'Davn'.
Dawn Hazle, Nottingham, UK

I am unfortunate in that my name has a visual similarity to 'Williams', to
the extent that customer service staff or receptionist, when trying to find
my name in a list, frequently comment "Oh, you mean Williams?". I then have
to assure them that I am the best judge of my actual name. As regards
pronunciation, people often pronounce it Wil - lons, or Wil - lens; but I
insist on Wil- lans, as in 'plans'. Maybe, it would be easier if I changed
it to Williams?
Paul Willans, Farnham

The number of times that people insist that Mrs Wagger must be wrong and
substitute it instead of saying my name the way it is written. I have had
Mrs Wager (as in bet), Mrs Wagner, althoug I think the best one was where I
became Lindsey Wagner - the Bionic Woman! Personally I blame all of this on
my husband!!
Louise Wagger, Sussex

My name is Asa. Not Asia, not Akka, not Aza, certainly not Asda. I have
spent most of my life having to repeat my name constantly until colleagues,
businesses, peers and even relatives have understood the message. It was a
cause for celebration last night as a friend of my girlfriends had spelled
my name correctly on an invitation - we agreed there and then that we would
have to attend. It gets worse; some have addressed letters to me as Miss or
Mrs - quite a shock for my girlfriend. Even if you can achieve the dream of
people remembering your name, you then fall foul of them never forgetting
your name. All thourgh my schooling and further education, if there was ever
the need for a volunteer - guess who would get called out to the front of
the class? People spell my name incorrectly. People pronounce my name
incorrectly. My name is Asa (ACER).
Asa Thorpe, Southampton, UK

Linux creator, Linus Torvalds (http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/torvalds/) got so
frustrated with his name being mis-pronounced, he was one of the first I can
think of that took the route of a soundbite providing correct
pronunciation... :)
Ian Thompson, Winchester, UK

My surname is easily pronounced, but often spelled wrongly -- most commonly
by adding an extra t. My late Dad received junk mail as Mr Leptral. And when
he was a professional boxer, his manager asked him to alter his name. Not
his surname, he explained, but if he used Jim instead of Jimmy the name
would be bigger on the posters!
Paul Liptrot, Walton-on-Thames, UK

I once had a letter sent to me as Miss Muttan - a total mispelling of
Hutton.
MM, Middx

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