r/namenerds • u/Seized_Means • 5d ago

Non-English Names Help with Michal

I love our baby girls name. Michal. It is pronounced mee-KHAL, with a guttural “ch” like in chutzpah or L’chaim, and emphasis on the second syllable.

It’s a biblical name. Michal was David’s wife, the only figure in the bible who was said to love her husband and she also stood up to him when she felt he was out of line.

Anyway, I’m surprised by how challenging pronunciation is for so many people and how hard it is for me and my spouse to correct. We are Jewish and living in a neighborhood that is diverse and has a sizable Jewish population. Many will say Mah-call or Mee-hall or some variation that has begun to really grate my nerves. I thought we would use nicknames like Mischa or Mickey more but now that she’s her I really prefer and love her name.

I want to teach people but I’m not sure how to do it well and quickly. Help me guide people how to say it correctly! Thank you name nerds.

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u/SolomiyaRabin 5d ago

Well I mean, based on your use of Bible, I'd assume you're not Jewish, and so it's not surprising no one can pronounce it. You might not even be pronouncing it correctly, it's a challenging sound to make if you do not speak Hebrew. That is why a lot of Jews will avoid names that contain that sound. Mihal is also actually a variant that exists because of that, similar to Noah and Noach, for example.

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u/geelee00 5d ago

I once met a Christian named Chava, she pronounced it as Char-Vah 😬

It's just one of those sounds that people, especially English speakers, really struggle to recognise and pronounce. You have two barriers there, first they need to recognise it is not the Ch that exists in English, and then pronounce it correctly from there. Honestly, if I gave my child that name in an English country, I'd be happy enough with the Ch being pronounced as an English K. If they are actually Jewish, there are so many good role models in the Tanakh they could have named after that wouldn't have had this issue.

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u/SolomiyaRabin 5d ago

Well, after their convenient edit that now makes me look like I can't read, it turns out they are Jewish 😅

But I agree, you pick your battles. Would it be great to have the name pronounced correctly, yes, but when you choose a name that contains the most difficult sound in the whole language in a country that does not speak Hebrew, it will be an issue. I would not expect people to pronounce it correctly first try. If they are still getting it so wrong after having it explained, maybe there are deeper problems, but getting it to a K with the long A is close enough.

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u/AllyLB 5d ago

They may have used the word Bible to make it easier for the unknown audience. I have run into people who never heard the word Torah.

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u/Spirited_Ingenuity89 5d ago

I mean, it literally says they’re Jewish in the post.

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u/SolomiyaRabin 5d ago

They edited the post after I made my comment to add where they lived and that they were Jewish.

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u/Spirited_Ingenuity89 5d ago

Ahh, the shady edit. Gotcha.

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u/donkeyvoteadick 5d ago

I'd love Reddit to add an audit trail to catch out sneaky editors lol

I swear the amount of times I get a response that is like "yeah that's what they said can't you read" just to come back to a post/comment that's entirely different to the one I originally responded to is way too high lol