With my daughter’s name, since the day she was born, people haven’t been able to say it. It bothers me quite a bit, even after I’ve told people her name verbally, they still say her name incorrectly.
I wanted a name for my daughter that was strong, unique and European. My nonnas are straight off the boat and still have heavy accents, so non-European names are extremely difficult for them to pronounce. I am also very proud of my heritage and my husband’s heritage and I wanted our daughter to have a similar pride later in life.
We had a number of names on our list; but one night I found her name, Valeria, and I was just immediately drawn to it. The meaning of her name is healthy, brave and strong. It was perfect!
People often ask if it’s a family name or if she was named after someone and the answer is no. I didn’t want to name her after anyone because I didn’t want to offend anyone. I wanted her to have her own identity. Even her middle name isn’t after anyone in our families. Everyone seemed to love the name though, beautiful and unique was the reaction we often got when we told people before she was born.
I’ve attached a link to the correct pronunciation of her name: https://www.howtopronounce.com/italian/valeria
Now the point to the post today, and please bare with me.
As a proud mama bear, I often, no scratch that… ALWAYS correct people when they mispronounce my daughter’s name. Often people will say it like Valerie (no…there is an a at the end peeps), or Val-ler-ria (think of the word galleria but with a V). It’s different so I understand seeing it and going “Huh, how do you say that now?” and they give it a shot. But the thing that bothers me the most, is when I verbally speak her name to someone, even say it multiple times and they still say it incorrectly. It really kind of irks me, and I feel disrespected in a sense. Does that make sense?
This topic stems from the phone conversation I had at our doctor’s office yesterday. I called to confirm her appointment in February and told the receptionist her name…a few times. She then proceeds to call her Valeria (galleria but with a V) and I corrected her, maybe a little to curt in my tone. She was like “oh uh ya, she has an appointment..” and rattled off the date and time. I thanked her and hung up. My husband immediately knew, “They said her name wrong, didn’t they?” I nodded and huffed and walked away.
Maybe I’m being rude or weird, not really sure, but does anyone else do this on behalf of their child? Does it annoy you when they pronounce your child’s name wrong or even your name wrong? Is correcting someone rude? I don’t really think so, but what are your thoughts?
Ciao!
Mama on the Move 