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Grex > Language > #91: it's a girl - question on how to spell her name |  |
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keesan
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it's a girl - question on how to spell her name
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Jan 9 00:11 UTC 1998 |
Our Chinese friends just had a baby girl, and would like to name her Meihan,
with the first syllable pronounced the same as May. Would the spelling Meihan
be understandable to Americans, i. e., would they pronounced it properly
rather than me or my?
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other
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response 1 of 80:
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Jan 9 00:27 UTC 1998 |
my first instinct on reading it was to pronounce it mee-hahn.
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mcnally
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response 2 of 80:
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Jan 9 00:50 UTC 1998 |
Meihan would be the closest american spelling by the transliteration
rules I'm familiar with.. Maihan would be "my", Mi-han would be "me"
As far as protecting her from mispronunciations, I don't think there's
any way to do that except to name her Sam or something similarly foolproof.
Anything than more than one vowel in it can (and will, eventually) be
mispronounced, misspelled, whatever..
I'm always baffled by the number of people who have trouble with my name.
I suppose I can (just barely) envision the reasoning of native English-
speakers who come up with bizarre attempts at "McNally" but the ones who
mangle Michael seem to be a lost cause..
Bottom line: they should choose a name that will please them and their
daughter. If they want her to be called "May" they can spell her
everyday name that way to avoid confusion..
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ivynymph
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response 3 of 80:
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Jan 9 01:40 UTC 1998 |
my first reaction would be to say the "Mei" as the "me" in "met."
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cmcgee
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response 4 of 80:
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Jan 9 03:47 UTC 1998 |
Yep, I read it as me-han. How about Maehan?
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keesan
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response 5 of 80:
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Jan 9 03:52 UTC 1998 |
Thanks, I will pass on the suggestion to use May as the nickname.
And that there is no good solution to how to spell the name, and they can
probably use the standard transliteration Meihan and tell people how it is
supposed to be pronounced.
Michael,
if you think you have problems, we have a young friend named Mikhail. This
is apparently an attempt to name him after his grandfather Mihail, with a
spelling that looks more like Russian (than the original Macedonian), but
for some reason his father is pronouncing the k and h separately, as
Mick-hile, and he has no nickname. I don't know what his classmates
are pronouncing it as. I call him Mihail (Mi-hile, stress on the hile).
How does an English speaker mispronounce McNally?
Does anyone else have a name that is mispronounced in an interesting way?
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keesan
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response 6 of 80:
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Jan 9 03:54 UTC 1998 |
Thanks Colleen, we were both responding at the same time. There does not seem
to be a good solution to this problem. Maybe they should choose another name
for someone who will be living in both countries. I will tell them it is
likely to be mispronounced. How about Mayhan? That does snot look Chinese.
Her brother was almost named Miaohan, but I pointed out that he might get
teased for a name that sounded like a cat.
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beeswing
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response 7 of 80:
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Jan 9 05:09 UTC 1998 |
Well I for one thought it as "May-han", although I can see people
mispronouncing it. I know for fact, it is a major drag having a name people
can't spell or pronounce. My first name, Trisha, is constantly mispelled or
mistaken for Teresa or Tracy. My last name, Patton, is always mispronounced as
"Payton". And it's always misspelled. You'd think it would be easy wouldn't
you?
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scg
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response 8 of 80:
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Jan 9 05:41 UTC 1998 |
I seriously doubt there are any names that will never be mispronounced,
misspelled, or made fun of. I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about
it.
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senna
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response 9 of 80:
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Jan 9 06:13 UTC 1998 |
My last name is always mispelled. People keep forgetting the silent q's and
v's
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rcurl
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response 10 of 80:
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Jan 9 06:54 UTC 1998 |
I wouldn't worry about it. Most names are would be pronounced differently
in different languages. Spell the name the way you want, and pronounce it
the way you wish. As you know, "ghoti" is prnounced "fish". Featherstonehaugh
is pronounced "fanshaw" (in England). I give my name Curl, and people
write down Kurl, Kerl, and worse. My first name is Rane....and I have
variously gone by "ran-ee", "rene'" and "rain", at different stages in my
life. There are no RULES for people's names.
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valerie
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response 11 of 80:
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Jan 9 07:19 UTC 1998 |
This response has been erased.
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danr
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response 12 of 80:
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Jan 9 13:15 UTC 1998 |
I read it as 'May-han.' Why not suggest May-Han?
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anderyn
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response 13 of 80:
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Jan 9 15:59 UTC 1998 |
Well, at least none of you are named Twila. :-) That can get pretty fun,
though at least there's only one major mispronunciation likely (Tweela,
long eee rather than Twiila long iii) and my birth last name, Oxley,
was always good for a few mispronunciations. I am so glad I'm a PRice
now.
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rcurl
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response 14 of 80:
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Jan 9 16:54 UTC 1998 |
Is that pronounced "pree-chay"?
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other
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response 15 of 80:
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Jan 9 17:00 UTC 1998 |
no, that would be pree-kay...
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rogue
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response 16 of 80:
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Jan 9 17:14 UTC 1998 |
"Mei" is too popular of a Chinese name for girls -- it means "beautiful."
It's all over the place. I think the Chinese purposely leave it as "Mei"
rather than change it to "May" is so that the name is distinctly Chinese.
That is the cool thing with Chinese names, however -- because of the Chinese
language, every Chinese name has a literal meaning. Very rarely true with
English names.
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