It should be Dan Tay.... just like the a in latte should be pronounced the same way. However, when I was a teaching assistant at a school in Rome I did have a little snigger everytime the teachers attempted to pronounce an English name. Mine was an impossibility.
i have to say i don't like the name. i don't like my son's middle name either but the ex was adamant, and as i chose a name for my daughter he didn't like then i felt it only fair that he got his way! at least it is the middle and isn't his cristian name. no offence to people who may like the name or have called their kids it but i just don't like it. x x
oh I get what Octavius mean, I think he means the first part would be pronounced how posh people say "dahling" instead of darling.
Dante and latte, both Italian words. I have heard thanks to Frasier no doubt, lar tey being mispronounced many a time but never heard anyone say Don Tay, when I picture it being said like that I imagine a chavvy Wag!
I always wanted to call my first born son D'Artagnan, thankfully I grew out of it when I did have my son. My mother waited with baited breath when the name was announced. He has equally unusual but has never had any trouble with bullying because of it.
Shadow, I think you'll find that's "phonetics". Anyway, how a name is pronounced depends where you live, surely. What happened to ordinary names like Peter and Andrew etc. It would probably be shortened to Danny by his school friends (or him, if he has any sense). Even if they haven't read Dante they might have seen the Pierce Brosnan film with the volcano Dante's Peak.