pronouncing my first name

[mollykins]

i think my parents pronounce my first name wrong, so when ever people read my name out, the o is heard more than when my family or i say it.

but i think that if i had never seen or heard the name before and i had to read it out, i would like people who don't know me say it.

is that odd, without acually saying what my name is.

[annie0000]

So it's not Molly then? - difficult to comment without knowing the name.

[Bbbananas]

it is the question that's odd molly... is it soooooooooooosan?

[mollykins]

I supose i can say it, noone knows my last name.

Nicola

my family and i say nicola but strangers seem to say Nic cola as in cola the fizzy drink.

[ayabrea38]

Yep,and we want to know what it is...Is it Welsh?

[sadielady]

I have a niece with the same name, we all pronounce it Nicola, have never heard it said any other way

[mollykins]

Is it that i pronounce it wrong? because in standard english, assuming it follows pronounciation rules, the a at the end with only one consonant means the o should be stressed (i think thats the word) but i never do, but other people do, and it sounds like nic cola.

[lardhelmet]

I think you and your family & friends are right . Strangers call you Nick Ola? How bizarre

[mollykins]

doesn't anyone ever stress the o?

[mollykins]

Molly isn't any of my names.

[ummmm]

I have a cousin Nicola...we call her Nickala

[Bbbananas]

Around here it's always Nicola, not as your friends say it. Unless it's Nicole, then the accent would be slightly different. Your friends are just weird. Tell 'em - go on, tell 'em.

[ummmm]

Actually...more Nicerla.

[mollykins]

People that know me well know to call me nicola or nickerla (which is closer to how i tend to say it) but people who've never met me or don't know me well or the jaimacan teachers, say nic-cola.

[hc4361]

You can hear the correct pronunciation here
http://assets1.babyna...ersounds/nicola_f.mp3

[Bbbananas]

I love jamaicans and their accent - so maybe the way they say it is more... musical? It should be up to you as to how it's pronounced.

As an aside - I got married in Jamaica. The vicar, a dead ringer for Trevor McDonald, married me in the name of Trenda (my name is Trina). I always wondered whether it made the marriage legal?

[heathfield]

There are exceptions tp every rule on pronunciation. Round my way, Nicola is pronounced by everyone as in HC's link, with the stress on the first syllable.

[sara3]

I've never heard Nicola being pronounced as anything but Nicola!

you should try being a Sara :o/

[Quizmonster]

Chambers Dictionary has a short supplement of common first names. There, Nicola is definitely given as having the stress on the 'i' and not the 'o', so the cola pronunciation is at best unconventional.
(Mind you, the name comes from that of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, and in Greek BOTH syllables, nee and kay, are stressed equally! However, when WE say the name, we pronounce it nigh-key - as in trainers - with the stress on the nigh.)

[fredpuli47]

The right way is the way YOU pronounce it. It's your name ! If you pronounced it in a way which the majority did not, your pronunciation of your name would still be the 'right' one. That would be so if you were the only person pronouncing it your way.

Coud be worse. Your parents did not call you Caoimhe, an Irish girl's name.Almost nobody outside the Irish Republic would get it right.(It sounds like kee-va ) And as for 'How are you spelling that?' you'd hear the question once or twice too often ! At least peope can spell Nicola.