I was born in France, to American parents. They decided to give me a bastardized version of the French pronunciation of "Andrea" (I'm "AHN-dree-uh," French people say "OHN-ray-ah," with the D almost entirely silent.)
The two common American pronunciations are "AND-ree-uh" or "Ahn-DRAY-ah," and I'm neither. We moved to the States when I was four.
I *loathe* people mispronouncing my name -- have always hated it. But I understand that the other pronunciations are much more common in the US, and it's not other people's fault that mine is an unusual variant.
Seriously considered changing the spelling to "Andria," but gave up and started going by "Andi" when I was 13.
My parents haaaaated it. Hated it. Wouldn't respect my name change, which lined up really well with them not respecting the rest of my boundaries, either.
It was a serious victory when my Dad finally started calling me Andi in my late 20's, through the time of his death. My mother still calls me Andrea half the time, which is unsurprising to anyone who has read any of my other comments about her ;)
I have ZERO sympathy for the LW, she sounds controlling as hell, and I hope her poor kid can manage to figure out what name *he* wants to go by, and that his mother doesn't harass the school and his classmates to the point that they retaliate against the poor kid!
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The two common American pronunciations are "AND-ree-uh" or "Ahn-DRAY-ah," and I'm neither. We moved to the States when I was four.
I *loathe* people mispronouncing my name -- have always hated it. But I understand that the other pronunciations are much more common in the US, and it's not other people's fault that mine is an unusual variant.
Seriously considered changing the spelling to "Andria," but gave up and started going by "Andi" when I was 13.
My parents haaaaated it. Hated it. Wouldn't respect my name change, which lined up really well with them not respecting the rest of my boundaries, either.
It was a serious victory when my Dad finally started calling me Andi in my late 20's, through the time of his death. My mother still calls me Andrea half the time, which is unsurprising to anyone who has read any of my other comments about her ;)
I have ZERO sympathy for the LW, she sounds controlling as hell, and I hope her poor kid can manage to figure out what name *he* wants to go by, and that his mother doesn't harass the school and his classmates to the point that they retaliate against the poor kid!