A mum-to-be has told how she fears her baby 's dream name 'won't go down well in the UK'.
The woman, from Finland, shared her worries on Mumset as she revealed she wants to give her child a Finnish name. Writing on Mumset, she titled a post: 'Wondering if this name would work in the UK. Selja? Any first thoughts?'
While the name is common in Finland, where she's from, she worried people may struggle to pronounce it.
"How would you pronounce it? It means elderflower in my language and I've been encouraged by MN to go with the name that I love despite it maybe being a bit tricky in other countries. My husband is English/French and he seems to like it too", she said.
But it seems her fears may have been confirmed as many other users admitted they wouldn't know how to pronounce it - however they've stressed that shouldn't be an issue, reports the Mirror.
One wrote: "Is it like Celia? No idea about pronunciation tbh."
Another commented: "I wouldn’t know how to properly pronounce it, so would have to ask if I met. But I wold imagine something like say-er?"
But people encouraged her to go with the name she loves, regardless of how people will say it.
One mum wrote: "I’d probably pronounce it sel-ya if reading it, but you can always correct people if they get it wrong at first. Definitely go with a name you love."
Another added: "Britain is a land of hard to pronounce place names (Marylebone, Leicester, Cholmondeley etc). If they can cope with those, they'll manage a Selja. I would guess Sel-ya but I'd be wanting to know how to pronounce it right. Pretty name. Something quite elegant to it."
A third said: "I was so hung up on worrying what others would think or how they would pronounce names for my first but for my second we just thought - the people who really matter will take the time to learn how to spell and pronounce it correctly!
"The rest will just have to deal with it. My second born will have to spell and break down her name and repeat it slowly in syllables for probably her whole life.
"She's one and every new person I speak to I have to break it down and spell it out but at the end of the day that's their issue not hers. I'd rather name my child the name I love and suits her to a T than the one that I feel other people will pronounce off the bat."
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