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Hi All,

I wonder if someone can help with the pronunciation of the name Aiza.
My wife has chosen this name for our newborn daughter. However she pronounces it "I-za", while I think it should be pronounced "A-za".
Can someone let me know how this would be pronounced in English and why?

Still learning wrote: ↑Sat Jan 30, 2021 9:26 pm Hi All,

I wonder if someone can help with the pronunciation of the name Aiza.
My wife has chosen this name for our newborn daughter. However she pronounces it "I-za", while I think it should be pronounced "A-za".
Can someone let me know how this would be pronounced in English and why?

I don't think there is any general agreement on the pronunciation of Aiza "in English". Personally, as a native British English speaker my natural inclination is to say A-za, but I am equally happy with I-za - which, looking around the web, seems popular.

Thanks Joe, for your reply.
Just was worried the poor child would spend all her life "correcting" people on how to pronounce her name. I assumed there was a correct way to pronounce "ai" if at the beginning of the word, but probably not.

Still learning wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 5:57 pm Thanks Joe, for your reply.
Just was worried the poor child would spend all her life "correcting" people on how to pronounce her name. I assumed there was a correct way to pronounce "ai" if at the beginning of the word, but probably not.

English is notorious for unpredictable pronunciation, even more so with names/words which may/may not be of English origin.

St Aidan is A-dan
but aikido is I-kido
etc

Correct pronunciation of a name by others depends on many factors, and the single most important factor is whether the name is taken from local language or not. For an example, I live in India but my name is taken from Arabic language : written "Majid", pronounced maa-jed" (similar to "magic" with 'd' in place of 'c' ). However , this is what I hear many a times :maa-zid ,maa-jith . Reason : Arabic is nowhere spoken in India.

Actual correct pronunciation of Aiza will depend on the origin of this word. Google says that Aiza is found in Spanish as well as Arabic. So you'll have to decide which language you're more interested in !

Even if we find out "the correct" pronunciation, there might be some people who mispronounce it. So no need to take that "incorrect pronunciation" seriously.

PS : If Aiza comes to India, she'll find many people pronouncing her name as "Ai-ja".

Joe, I appreciate your response.
The only thing I was worried about was that the poor kid would spend her whole life "correcting" others on how they pronounced her name. If "ai" appears at the beginning of a word, I thought there must be a standard method to pronounce it.

Still learning wrote: ↑Sat Jan 30, 2021 9:26 pm Hi All,

I wonder if someone can help with the pronunciation of the name Aiza.
My wife has chosen this name for our newborn daughter. However she pronounces it "I-za", while I think it should be pronounced "A-za".
Can someone let me know how this would be pronounced in English and why?

It's a proper name, so it's the same way you spell it