Pronouncing a kid’s name shouldn’t be this hard.
One parent took to the Mumsnet forum last month to complain that people keep butchering her daughters’ names, Lois and Beatrix.
The “classic” names, the annoyed parent wrote, leave little room to be mispronounced, or so they thought. The correct pronunciation is “Bee-uh-trix” and “Lo-iss” — but it’s often garbled as “Beet-rix” and “Loyce,” rhyming with “voice.”
“I usually let the first go, as I just think ‘close enough,’ but I can’t resist correcting ‘Loyce,'” the parent wrote on a thread in the forum, along with a puke-face emoji.
“Beatrix is sometimes also called ‘Beatrice,’ which is an understandable mix-up that we did expect, but is annoying when even family do it, and Lois is often misheard as ‘Lewis’ so that people assume she’s a boy. Not bothered by either of these when the general public do it though,” the disgruntled parent added.
After numerous mispronunciations of their daughters’ names, a parent took to an online forum to express irritation. Getty Images/Tetra images RFThe parent prompted others to share their unfortunate tales of mispronunciation, with some saying even the most common names get messed up.
“I am a Sophie. I constantly get called Stacey over the phone. If I tell someone my name, Sophie, they repeat back ‘Stacey,'” one user wrote. “I have no idea why it keeps happening, but it’s never stopped since I started making phone calls in my teens.”
The names “Lois” and “Beatrix,” which the parent said are “classic” monikers, are often mispronounced. Getty Images
“I have a Levi, which is a common name ( I think). I heard Le-vee, Lay-vee and Livi,” another chimed in.
“Didn’t think anyone could possibly mispronounce it,” another parent said of their daughter’s name, “Mia.” “She gets called May-a & My-a constantly.”
“I knew an Elle who insisted it was pronounced Ellie. Bizarre,” wrote someone else. “I also never know how someone wants Andrea pronounced. There’s the American AWN-dreya. ANNE-dreea and ANNE-dreya.”
Other parents chimed in on the forum, sharing their own experiences with their kids’ mispronounced names. Getty ImagesThankfully for these parents, their kids’ monikers are not among the most-regretted baby names — a list that “Issac” and “Chole” topped this year. The misspelled versions of “Isaac” and “Chloe” were followed by other regrettable company, including “Aiden,” “Conner” and “Elliot,” which were some of the most-changed names.
Bella Baby also recently revealed the most unpopular baby names of the year, with “Angela” and “Kobe” taking the lead.
