I hate it when the French get my name wrong
Columnist Cynthia Spillman offers advice to a reader who is frustrated by mispronunciation
You should expect the correct pronunciation for what you are called
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Dear Cynth,
Is it rude to correct French people on the pronunciation of my name? I am called Heather, but this is always butchered to something like “Izzer”.
I have put up with it for years, and even started introducing myself as Izzer to save time or confusion, but am I justified in asking close friends, at least, to try and make more of an effort to get it right?
NL
People often ask themselves, "what's in a name?" My reply is: a lot.
I was called Cynthia after my French grandmother Hyacinthe – who detested her name and made us promise not to engrave it on her headstone – and Yvette after my aunt. I have often felt that I do not actually exist in my own right!
This is of course an exaggeration, but in terms of identity and who we are in the world, I think our name is very important.
I believe it is absolutely your right to correct everybody who mispronounces your name – not just your close friends.
It is not as if your name is particularly difficult to pronounce, even with the subtleties of linguistic difference.
Over the course of my life my first name has morphed into several different manifestations. When I was young, my French relatives all called me "Cinette", a hybrid of Cynthia and Yvette.
However, when I reached adolescence I felt that wasn't a cool name, and told everybody to call me "Cinnie".
This nickname had been coined by one of my brothers.
That was fine – until people started tormenting me with "Cine camera".
Around the age of 17, I decided I wanted to be called Cynthia. I still have people from my past life who call me Cinnie.
My husband sometimes calls me Cynth. He’s called Peter and doesn’t like being called Pete, as he was at university.
The amusing thing is that now, far from feeling that Cinette is too babyish, I sometimes use it myself with French family, as at this stage of maturity it makes me feel young.
You can be pleasant about asking people to pronounce your name properly. You may have to persevere until they get it right – but it is worth the effort.
