How do you pronounce this name: Xochitl?
It's pronounced so-chi...or so-chee... no Z sound...no T or L sound. It's an easy pronounciation just an unusual spelling :)
My name is Theo, would chinese people pronounce it right?
Personally, I know how to pronounce it (the same pronunciation with Teo) correctly, only because I had a cooperative client called the same name. However, I highly doubted that other Chinese would pronounce it right...They'd pronounce "th" like we learned for years in school rather than "t". I suggest you tell them how to pronounce your name first, and they'd remember very well. Trust me, we Chinese are really good at remembering. :-)
Is it rude to insist people pronounce your name right each time they say it? I'm an Indian student who recently came to America, and people often mispronounce my name. Do people feel I'm being pretentious/rude?
This question reminds me of this meme,to answer your question, I would say depends who you are talking to.My name is Ameya (Um-ae-y) 9 out of 10 times when I introduce myself, people reply, "Hello Amir..."Initially, I found it very offensive but over the years I have learnt to let go.Having said that, where it matters I do correct others, for example, if a colleague at work mispronounces my name I correct him/her just because I have to deal with them almost on a daily basis as opposed to the barista at Starbucks who, no matter how i say my name, will always get it wrong. I don't spend my energy correcting the barista as i know my interaction is limited to some seconds.I also wanted to share an anecdote related to Indian names. While working as a Research Assistant at the Dean's office of my business school, I had access to the open TA positions and other student jobs. My roommate "Rudraksh" (Roo-draak-sh) was looking for student jobs and had asked me as well as a thousand others to let him know if we came across any openings.One morning, the office admin desperately came to my desk and frantically mentioned that a certain professor needs a TA right now and if knew anyone.I had my roommate's resume on file, so I capitalized on the opportunity and printed that resume for her. Just reading the first line, she had difficulty pronouncing the name even after I enunciated for her. She candidly mentioned that there is no way the professor would be able to say this name having expected to work closely with the TA. I realized that my roommate was on the verge of losing the battle, so I quickly told her that he goes by his last name: (4 letter word) much easier to pronounce. The professor really liked him once he was called for an interview and he got the TA.So the moral of the story is, "It Depends".
How is your surname/family name/last name pronounced?
My surname sounds odd and is hard to pronounce even for my fellow “mother tonguers”, or even fellow local dialectors.The first riddle you need to solve is the letter H. In Arabic, we have two letters for H: One (ه) is your usual every day H:Hirr = Cat, and is pronounced exactly as written here, with an Italian rrr.Al Hind = (The) India, and is also pronounced exactly as written here.The other H (ح) is a much deeper one that comes out of your throat. It is similar to the sound you make to express how hot that chili sauce was. I only know of three languages who have this letter besides Arabic: Sawahili, Maltese and Hebrew (although I may be wrong). My family name starts with this deep-from-the-throat H.Next comes the first syllable, Hy.Although roughly rhyming with Hi (but with that heavy H), it’s not exactly the same. It is shorter, similar to the Japanese word for yes (Hai). Don’t forget the deep H. It also rhymes with Dubai, if you pronounce it the Arabic way. If you know some Arabic, it sounds exactly like thae Arabic word for ward or neighbourhood, حي.The second syllable, believe it or not, is straight forward: looz, with a long oo and rhyming with the verb lose (in fact sounds exactly the same).So: Hai-lose; with a deep H, short ai, and looz.Try it!Edit: As you may have expected, Hylooz has no meaning. The closest we can think of is:Hayy = حيّ = -wardLouz = لوز = almondsSo: “Almondward”!
Do you feel like your name doesn't fit you?
My name is Éponine Celeste Taziano. My family is into traditional names and all that and somehow that became my name. I think it's far too fancy sounding for someone like me. Does anyone else feel like their name doesn't fit them?
Why do names get translated?
Personal names tend to be left the same. If you tell people you're Paul, they will still call you Paul. They may pronounce it like in their language though and you may not like the result - for example I don't like the English pronunciation of Judith (German sounds like "you-dit"), so I voluntarily offer English speakers the choice of calling me Judy. Sometimes names are too long (think Thai or Indian names) or too hard to pronounce (think Chinese), then people may also want to adapt a local name. Even if your name is "Pokpong", which is neither too long nor too hard to pronounce, people from other cultures will find it hard to remember or write down correctly and you may choose to call yourself differently for that reason. A lot of people have special Chinese names for this reason.In the vast majority of cases, people don't change their names for when they speak another language.As for city names and country names, the same principle applies that people want to avoid unusual sounds, hence München ([mynçen]) is called Munich ([mjunik]) in English and the pronunciation is vastly different. There are also many cases where the same city or country has been known by different names historically or depending on the language of people who lived there (think multilingual cities). This goes hand-in-hand with the previous point. In Eastern Europe, a lot of cities are still known to me by their German names from the time that they were German-speaking, for example Wroclaw used to be Breslau. In Asia and America, European explorers tended to ask other people about the names of places they were to visit rather than asking the people living there, so Beijing (local name) is still known to many as Peking (Southern Chinese name for it), Guangdong as Canton, the Diné people are known as Navajo, and so on."United States" is a special case because it is a meaningful name, it consists of two English words. That is why it shouldn't surprise you that the name is translated in other languages, like "Vereinigte Staaten" and "États-Unis" (exact translation of "United States" in German and French).
What are struggles of having a hard name to pronounce?
This is all from my experience, but I have other friends and family members with less common or “difficult” names and they can say similar things.Cons:When in school, I always knew it was my turn to say “present” during attendance since quite a few teachers would stop and make a faceKids on the playground would make fun of meI am sometimes perceived as “bitchy” or “difficult” when I correct someone on the pronunciation of my nameI often find myself having to review official documents more thoroughly to verify that my name is spelled correctly in all areas (at one job I had, HR misspelled my name on new hire documentation and it took almost three months to correct their mistake and delayed the time that I received my benefits package)Pros:Having a difficult to pronounce/different name gave me a thicker skin from the bullying I experienced in my formative yearsEven though it took me almost 20 or so years to grow into my name, it is MINE and I own that shitPeople will often comment and say that I have a unique/beautiful name, and it tends to stick with them longer than say, Emily SmithOn the off chance that I do want to use my name in a username, it’s less likely to be taken
How does the name Nilay sound for a boy?
Nilay is a Indian origin name pronounced as Nil-ay for a boy meaning heaven. We are considering that name for our boy to have indian culture in name even though we are living in usa. Please dont write comments such as give him American name. I am mostly interested in knowing if it sounds good and is easy to pronounce and sounds like a boy's name.
Does anyone else find it hard to call their bf/gf "babe" or any other kind of sweet names?
I've been going out with this guy for almost a year and he always calls me babe or baby and I think it's very cute when couples call each other that, but it's hard for me to say it back to him, like I have NEVER been able to say "babe" or "baby" to his face, only on text or a message on myspace. But I feel very weird saying it 2 his face or even on the phone! And especially since I have never said it to him before and then all of a sudden I'm going to say it?! I want to call him sweet things but IDK! I feel VERY awkward! Like I get embarrassed just thinking about it! LOL! But its not just him because I have never been able to do it even with my other boyfriends in the past! Is anyone else like this? or am I just weird?? do you think if i were to call him it now that he would be surprised?? and say something about it?? LOL! Help! Thank you! Oh! and I tried to post this in the "singles & dating" section but I don't think it posted! And I figured this was the next best section! Sorry!