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Help[Opinions] Re: Changing Pron.
in reply to a message by Bex
I've always said uh-MYE-is for Amias and thus don't see it as a change of pronunciation. And as for the other two...while I know how they're "supposed" to be pronunced, I hear them in my head the same way you do.
Sure, you can always change how a name's said. It's happened all throughout history, as I'm sure Cleveland Kent Evans can attest to (he recently mentioned that NINE-ah was the common prn. for Nina a hundred years ago, while now the most common is NEE-nuh).
Just ask yourself the following questions: Will it bother you if some people think you're ignorant for the way you pronunce the name? Will it bother you to have to correct people constantly as to the name's pronunciation?
If the answers to these questions are "no," then why not? In the end, if that's how you love the name, that's how you love the name--etymology "purists" and everyone else be damned. If the answer's yes, though...well, that makes for a problem, I think.
If also depends on how common the name is, I think. For example, if my sister Sara decided to call herself SAHR-ah (she's a SARE-uh), she'd be fighting an uphill battle. There are a kajillion Sara(h)s in the US, and very few of them are anything but SARE-uh. On the other hand, I think a Finlay could get away with being Fin-lay here--not only are there not many Finlays to start with, I suspect many people would mispronunce it that way anyway.
Array
"It's not the cough that carries you off, it's the coffin they carry you off in."
A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having.
Sure, you can always change how a name's said. It's happened all throughout history, as I'm sure Cleveland Kent Evans can attest to (he recently mentioned that NINE-ah was the common prn. for Nina a hundred years ago, while now the most common is NEE-nuh).
Just ask yourself the following questions: Will it bother you if some people think you're ignorant for the way you pronunce the name? Will it bother you to have to correct people constantly as to the name's pronunciation?
If the answers to these questions are "no," then why not? In the end, if that's how you love the name, that's how you love the name--etymology "purists" and everyone else be damned. If the answer's yes, though...well, that makes for a problem, I think.
If also depends on how common the name is, I think. For example, if my sister Sara decided to call herself SAHR-ah (she's a SARE-uh), she'd be fighting an uphill battle. There are a kajillion Sara(h)s in the US, and very few of them are anything but SARE-uh. On the other hand, I think a Finlay could get away with being Fin-lay here--not only are there not many Finlays to start with, I suspect many people would mispronunce it that way anyway.
Array
"It's not the cough that carries you off, it's the coffin they carry you off in."
A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having.
This message was edited 9/2/2006, 5:23 PM
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