Recently, I had to provide pronunciation guides to the audiobook publisher for HEAD OVER HEELS and BORROWING ALEX. I sped-read (speed-readed?) both books to find words that might trip up the narrators. A mental forehead slap happened nearly right away. I’d forgotten that some readers have a tough time pronouncing the name of my heroine in HEAD OVER HEELS. Her name is Magee Sinclair. Magee is pronounced like the Irish surname, with a hard G, like Mr. Magoo but with E’s instead of O’s. I did everything I could in the writing of the book to ensure the name wasn’t pronounced like Maggie, but can’t be assured of my success. Even an old friend said she wanted to say the name like Maggie. When I asked her how she would pronouce Magee if she saw it on a business (like Magee’s Garage), she could pronounce it easily enough. Go figure.
I’ve tried to give my characters easier-to-pronounce names ever since. Frankly, I knew the name Magee would give some readers conniptions before Amber Quill Press published the book. But I’d had the name on my character names list since I was pregnant with my first child. I loved the name, and it suits my heroine to a T, because she’s a bit of klutz (a Ms. Magoo, shall we say).
Now, my legal name is Cindy. It isn’t Cynthia and it isn’t Lucinda. My birth surname, Procter, is spelled with an E—NOT like Proctor. When my mom registered me for grade 1 (I didn’t go to Kindergarten; it wasn’t available in the community where I lived at the time, way back in the Dark Ages), I distinctly remember the principal coming along and speaking to my mom by the registration table. You see, the principal of my elementary school had once taught my father and uncles in a one-room schoolhouse. You’d think she would have known how to spell Procter, she had enough of the little rascals in her school. Yet somehow my name got registered as Proctor—argh! And no matter what my mother said, whoever actually recorded my name was not convinced that Cindy was a bona fide name in and of itself. Until I was in grade 3 and my wonderful teacher, Mrs. Brady, asked me why I kept mangling my library card, on which my name was written as Cynthia Proctor, the problem persisted.
At least people know how to say Cindy, though. It’s not as if I’ve had to suffer through people calling me Sign-Dee or Sin-Die. No one has ever called me Kindee. I have been called Sydney before, though, usually by people young enough that they don’t recognize “Cindy” as a name. What’s that I heard? She must have said Sydney. I know Sydney is a popular girl’s name these days, but it makes me think of Woody Allen. I am not at all appreciative when someone calls me Sydney.
How about you? Do you have a name that’s difficult to pronounce? Or, it looks easy enough to you but people mangle it regardless? Share your horror stories here.
It irritates me when people call and ask for Eddie, as in Eddie Van Halen. I’d think Edie should be simple. One of the basics of spelling. A vowel before double consonants means a short vowel sound. Before a single consonant it’s a long vowel sound. Besides that, though Edie isn’t a common name, there are a few Edie celebs around. Edie Falco, for one.
I went to an author’s signing recently, and she was about to spell it Eddie. Luckily she spelled it out loud before signing the book. I said, “No, that’s Eddie. Edie is just one D.” She was nice about it and chatted a bit, but the woman helping her had a funny expression. Later, when I read the book, I saw that a secondary character–a woman–was named Eddie. LOL Though I know from the signing that she meant Edie, for the whole book she was Eddie to me.
Oh, holy cow, yes! When I was a kid, my last name was Barclay. Easy enough. But somehow people always spelled in Barkley.
Then I married and my name is Fechter. I get Fletcher and Fetcher, get people calling me “Fetch-ter,” it’s awful.
So when I published, I thought I picked an easy name–Fredrick. How many times do people put that extra E in there? Yeesh!
I have to admit it drives me nuts when I’m not sure about a pronunciation. I stumble over it every time. In Angela’s Ashes, the younger brother’s name is Malachy. Having no Irish heritage, I couldn’t figure out which syllable got the emphasis, so I contemplated the various possibilities every time I read it, which was profounding irritating. Interesting that that happens… I mean, I’m reading it, not reciting it… why does my brain care, therefore? Is that just me??
Edie, it would never occur to me to pronounce your name Eddie. But then I used to watch some singer named Edie on the Carol Burnett Show when I was a kid.
MJ, I LOL’ed at your Fredrick. Yes, I have to constantly remind myself not to put in the E.
Shelley, yes, you are weird. For one thing, who knows how to say Shelley? Is it Shell-eye?
I just make up my own pronunciations and am happy with them until corrected. However, Shelley, you and I both know how bad some of my pronuncations can be, thanks to my older sister. Remember R”egg”ie from the Archie comics?
Eddie for Edie? Ridiculous! That’s an easy one!
MJ, I have to look it up every time so I don’t spell it wrong.
Shelley, I like your spelling better than any alternatives. 🙂
Natalie is pretty easy to pronounce, though it’s often spelled stupidly (Natilie is what I got most often growing up). I went from Jacobus to Damschroder. I thought my new name was easier. Just look at it. But no one wants to say Dam! They say Dom or add some weird accent and tons of hesitation. *sigh*
Shelley is an old friend of mine. She has the most normal name of any kid in her family. Shelley, I can’t figure out why you have problems pronouncing names. Your older sister’s name? Come on! 😉
Natalie, here I thought your spelling was the most common for the name. My pal Natale Stenzel doesn’t have the I. As a result, I think of her Natale with an Italian accent (emphasis on second syllable – Na-TAL-lee.) I don’t know why! I don’t think she’s Italian, LOL.
Okay, Jacobus I would pronounce as JACOB + BUS (as in the thing that can hit you when you cross the street). Is it Jack-O-Bus?
The only thing about Damschroder that confuses me is whether I should put an E after the O. I keep wanting to. I think of Peanuts comics and then think “Damn that Schroeder!” instead of “Damn that Lucy!” If it’s DAMN-SHRODDER, I’ve been saying it wrong. And you can kick me.
BTW, Shelley, when I come across a name like Malachy (which I would say as Mal-a-key), if I can’t find a suitable sound for my brain I look at the name as I’m reading but I don’t “say” it in my mind.