I have been reading some posts on nairaland and they have mentioned some mixed race nigerians/africans abroad who cannot pronounce their own surname. what kind of nonsense is that? is this true? have any of you ever heard of anyone who can't pronouce their own name no matter how long it is? At least if you don't marry someone from your culture, you can at least teach your children the basic things in your culture such as knowing how to say their own frikin name!

I know Nigerians born here by both Nigerian parents who can't pronounce their names.

Even their parents join them in pronouncing their names wrong. it's so funny!!

chiogo:

I know Nigerians born here by both Nigerian parents who can't pronounce their names.

Even their parents join them in pronouncing their names wrong. it's so funny!!

wow really?

Yup, I mean it's kinda acceptable from the kids as they can't speak igbo so one would expect some difficulty but their parents who lived in Nigeria for a significant amount of years to get carried away like that is laughable.

This reminds me of a friend who always leave a message on my answer phone to say Kay-yode called. His name as far s I know is Kayode. You couldn't make it up hahaha Lol ! ! !

I don’t really think there’s anything funny about any parent not able to pronounce their own surname properly. Any child should be thought and encouraged on how to pronounce those names no matter how difficult or which part of the world they live.

A friend have to change his child school here in London because his child is been bullied at school for not able to pronounce her own surname, if you happened to be in my friend’s shoes, you will know that there’s nothing funny about this. Even there are more English/Scottish/Irish names out there that are more difficult to pronounce than any Ibo or Yoruba names but their kids manage to pronounce them very well and we are forced to pronounce them very well too.

I once failed an interview for not able to pronounce the name of an interviewer correctly, (Ewan is the name I couldn’t pronounce properly) and next time I found myself in the same situation, I asked a taxi driver before I get to the interview.

We should take pride in our names and surnames. This is my opinion though and I strongly believed that mother-tongue should be preserved.

This is very interesting topic and I hope everyone contributes.

na today, a begi e don tey jare.

I really cant imagine this.

This reminds me of a friend who always leave a message on my answer phone to say Kay-yode called. His name as far s I know is Kayode. You couldn't make it up hahaha Lol ! ! !

Some guys can actually pronounce their names but they are just trying to put up a front of a yankee sort of guy or chick. It is common with naija dudes who just return from foreign nations (London, USA etc) . I keep wondering what for? Superiority complex or Inferiority complex? I begi, If your name is Agunlegika, Pronounce it well, answer it well, and be proud you are Agunlegika and not Yvouvidiskiyon.
I'm out of here!

@solosimple, It is Agunlejika not Agunlegika.

Wake up and dont spoil my name I beg.

@dammybee
Your name abi,
I too gbadun the name!

.

we once had a girl who helped us with stuffs
First day i saw her, she introduced herself as Gi-raaay-si
and i bumped on an book she wrote her name on as "gras"

i cudnt correct her cos she got too much ego.
and i dont "pass my boundary"

falade = Faraday

them turn me into scientist

It's a serious thing my people, that one cannot pronouce his or her name, i mean the first thing any parent should teach he or child is how to pronounce their names even though it sounds like this "AYEBAGBALIEKEWAPIRI" It's your name and u should be proud of it. I know of a guy whose name is chikezie and he calls himself chikizi, cos that's what his yankee friends calls him. It's our culture our pride and who we are if we loose it then we loose our direction.

Well, you are not alone in thinking so.  A Uni friend of mine was called Ade for short. However,  at the Uni, the English lecturers/students decided it was Adie( pronounced like Adi) and she refused to accept anything else from us except Adie.  Now, you can see what lack of confidence can do to someone's self esteem and culture - a big psychological DAMAGE.

I am sure, she would raise her own children with same attitude too.  Pity for those with this psychological problems, they need help to find who they really, are.

Its true, pronouncing some names could become[b] a 9-5 job, very difficult.[/b]

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So many Nigerians over here try to upgrade their names. Adeneye become Adeney, funmi becomes fumi, Mayowa becomes mayor (even for naija that one common! ) . Wetin! conveniently leaving some vowels and consonants out of your name will not make them like you more. After all I bend over backwards to say Montgomery, McManaman, Gwyneth and Rasputia !

Agunlejika, which kind ugly name be that

I even know Nigerians that respelled their name after they moved to the states because it was just easier for people to understand. He a name has a "gb" sound but you throw out the "g" then you have changed the whole name. Gbenga is not Benga and Nneka is not Neka. The pronounciation I can almost understand but changing the spelling, to me is ridiculous. Keep in mind that not only africans do this though. Alot of Polish people change the spelling of their names too

really! some nigerians in nigeria cant even pronounce nigerian names well, much less those who claim they were bred in the diaspora, look at our newscasters who dont take the pains to pronounce nigerian names correctly,as it's suppose to be pronounced, then we expect oyinbos to do it well, e.g am sure nigerian football fans can pronounce Jose Mourinho the way its suppose to be with the J as an H but they wont bother if the V in Ivdobore is silent, we are all guilty oh!

who hasn't softened the prononciation of their names,cast the first throw.
If your name is Chukwuemeka (Emeka),if you like don't answer Mikky
If your parents named you Omobolanle,if you like stick to that 5 syllabus name and don't find some smaller version of the name
no be you go crumble under the weight of those sentences some of our parents gave us

LOL no be only sentences. My last name(both maiden and married name) have the "kh" sound in it and also "mh". I am not changing the spelling for anybody

personally i don't see anything wrong with saying your name in a way that is easier for the people where you are to say it too. why not. I say my surname differently than when i'm home. us africans are not the only ones who have to do this in the west. I wouldn't change the spelling though. .

what annoys me is those who use the 'westernized' version back at home. what kinda nonsense is that. like one time in ghana, where i'm from, i was standing behind this girl in a bank queue, and she kept on saying her name in a westernized version. the teller couldn't spell the name due to this, and this stupid girl kept on saying her name (which happens to be a fairly common name ) and giving the teller dumb looks like 'why can't you spell this', i was sooo pissed. and this girl was no first generation american- or euro- anything. trust me, she was born and bred in ghana. i could tell by her cracked heels. lol.

with the kids born abroad, don't be too hard on the parents. sometimes these kids just have no interest at all if you try teaching them their mother tongue. they look at you with that face, the "omg, like, wat is he talking about!" face, lol, those of you with kids here know what im talking about.

also, in the world of children, anything that is even slightly different is recipe for teasing and bullying. so even when the kids know how to say their name correctly, they will deliberately not say it ever.

shesi:

personally i don't see anything wrong with saying your name in a way that is easier for the people where you are to say it too. why not. I say my surname differently than when i'm home. us africans are not the only ones who have to do this in the west. I wouldn't change the spelling though. .

what annoys me is those who use the 'westernized' version back at home. what kinda nonsense is that. like one time in ghana, where i'm from, i was standing behind this girl in a bank queue, and she kept on saying her name in a westernized version. the teller couldn't spell the name due to this, and this stupid girl kept on saying her name (which happens to be a fairly common name ) and giving the teller dumb looks like 'why can't you spell this', i was sooo pissed. and this girl was no first generation american- or euro- anything. trust me, she was born and bred in ghana. i[b] could tell by her cracked heels. lol. [/b]
with the kids born abroad, don't be too hard on the parents. sometimes these kids just have no interest at all if you try teaching them their mother tongue. they look at you with that face, the "omg, like, wat is he talking about!" face, lol, those of you with kids here know what im talking about.

also, in the world of children, anything that is even slightly different is recipe for teasing and bullying. so even when the kids know how to say their name correctly, they will deliberately not say it ever.

dead!!!

lol i go for the shorter version of my name everyehere when even the nigerians cant pronounce my full name
i find it sweet tho when my non-nigerian friends make efforst to call me by my sub-full name
think of it who here uses the real full name
those names be long as sentences for real

Its common here in the UK, the way foreigners pronounce ur name can be annoying but alas you take it like that.
But the issue of your child equally not pronouncing it well is my bif.
why should we throw our mother tongue away.

I BEG THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME.

i tot it means A-we
gun-long
lejika-on shoulders

"we long on shoulders"

oh really? then they should be flogged.

I haven't met anyone who couldn't pronounce his/her own name unless they're modifying it on purpose to make it easier for others. lol. trust me it can be a pain in the ass to have to repeat your name to people 100x a day

I have never met any non-yoruba who pronounced my name right talk less of oyinbo ppl. It's like they tied my name to a tree and went crazy firing at my name with all the weapons and might they have. gosh