pronunciation

lindsaystudebaker1

I would like to suggest on temple name cards that you include the pronunciation of names. I love doing work for ancestors or others, but often find it hard to pronounce their names. Even the temple workers struggle with how to say some of the names. I think this would help to focus on the ordinances rather than be distracted by trying to sound out some names we are not familiar with. 

Adrian Bruce1

Hmmm. I don't want to sound too critical of a sensible desire but where do you think the pronunciations are going to come from? Lots of people pronounce the same name differently - was my great gran a P'rSELL or a PURRs'l?

You might be talking about non-English names and it's true that someone from (say) Africa is more likely to be able to approximate the pronunciation than someone like me from the British Isles, but then how do they convey to us, which click-sound (e.g.) to pronounce?

It would be great to respect our ancestors by pronouncing their names correctly - but it might be a little bit trickier than you might imagine... Maybe somehow we identify specific languages to approach, one at a time...

Paul W

As Adrian suggests, how (or who) decides on the pronunciation of a name?

The example I usually quote to illustrate the difficulty of implementing your suggestion is the POWELL surname. Here in England, we have two brothers (associated with politics), one of whom pronounces his POWELL surname as "powl" and the other as "pole"!

Other examples include the name / word COOK - pronounced differently in the north of England to the rest of the country - and names which include a "w", "l" or "ck". The latter are sometime "silent" in the pronunciation of a name (e.g., COCKBURN / COLBURN pronounced "Co-burn) but sometimes do form part of the pronunciation.

If there are so many problems with English names, I dread to think who would arbitrate on those (related to other countries) with which nobody at FamilySearch would have any expertise.

Julia Szent-Györgyi

Do you remember that scene in The Little Mermaid where the crab tells the prince the mermaid's name? The crab says /ARE-ee-el/, the prince says /AIRY-yell/, and yet it's all treated as if they were saying exactly the same thing.

Now add to that the variations that Paul mentioned just in English names, multiply it by however many different languages, dialects, and idiolects are involved between you and your ancestors' names, add the complications caused by variations in the historical record and by (mis)readings of same, and you can begin to see the enormity of the seemingly-simple task.

LAHS6

There's always the option to spell out the person's name instead of saying it. Or just do the best you can to say the name.

Julia Szent-Györgyi

I just heard of a family named Rainier who pronounce it like "pioneer" with an r instead of the p.

You really can't speak of "the" pronunciation of any name. If you make a good-faith effort to say the sounds that usually go with those letters, chances are, there's a family somewhere who says their name that way.

Áine Ní Donnghaile

And given our experience with computer algorithms making a decision, that's not the way to go.