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Maybe you’ve been asked to phonetically spell your name for a graduation ceremony, or maybe you just want Siri to pronounce your name correctly! Whatever your reasons, phonetic spelling can help anyone immediately understand how to pronounce your name correctly. In phonetic spelling, each letter represents one spoken sound. Instead of relying on written English, phonetic spelling depends on what you hear. Follow this guide to learn exactly how to phonetically spell your name and make sure everyone is pronouncing your nickname correctly.
Divide your name into syllables. Capitalize the syllables that are stressed when spoken aloud. Write each syllable as it is pronounced and separate it with a hyphen (-). Use the phonetic spelling chart to find the commonly accepted spelling symbol for each sound in your name.
Break your name into syllables. Hold your hand under your chin and say your name out loud. Count how many times your fork falls and hits your hand. In most cases, this number is the number of syllables in your name.[1]
- For example, the name “Christopher Chambers” has a total of five syllables.
- Printed with / marking each break, this is what your name might look like after breaking it into syllables: Chris / u / pher / Cham / bers.
Recognize the most important sounds in your name. Say your name out loud and think about which letters you are actually saying. Cross out any letters you don’t hear when you say your name.
- For example, the “h” in “Chris” doesn’t actually make a sound.
- If the name was spelled “Cris”, without the “h”, it would be pronounced the same way.
- Rewrite your name by removing the unspoken sounds.
- For “Christopher Chambers” it might look something like this: Cris / to / pher / Cham / bers.
Mark which sounds are represented by consonants and vowels. Vowels are the English letters a, e, i, o, ui and sometimes y. Consonants are all other letters in the alphabet.[2]
- Looking at your name, separate consonant and vowel sounds.
- For example: C r I with / t about / tel e r CH And m / b e Rs
Consonants For each consonant in your name, find the letter symbol that would best help someone pronounce that sound. The letter symbol for the sound will not always match the letter it is spelled with in your real name. For example, ph in “Christoteler” gives the sound “eff”, so it is easier to write its pronunciation with the letter f.[3]
- Look at the name examples below to find the sounds that appear in your name, then note the letter symbol indicated.
- b ← Boutline, Rob.
- ch ← CHYes, Katrin.
- d ← Daphne, fred.
- dh ← Heaththis one
- f ← Fanny, Stetel.
- g ← MRright, CraiMr.
- h ← HAiley, Alejandro.
- j ← MRGeorgia, JEnny.
- k ← Kis it, Queenie, MiCHael.
- kh ← MeckFrederick.
- l ← Laura, Adelie.
- m ← Meg Abrahamm.
- n ← NAttaché, Dylan.
- ng ← Frnuh huhnk.
- ng-g ← ArmstrongngChang.
- p ← POsey, Spartacus, Chip.
- py ← PooMr.
- r ← Robert, audrHey.
- with (or) ss ← WITHpeanuts, Cynthia, Issse.
- sh ← ShElly, MiCHelle, AliciAnd.
- t ← Thomas, Stef, Odette.
- th ← ThElma, Keith.
- v ← VElma, Silci.e.
- w ← William, Anwar.
- wh ← WIley, Whitney.
- y ← Yfragrant.
- z ← LorenzOh, Rowithi.e. Zah.
- zh ← Frzi.e.
Vowels Match each vowel in your name with a visual letter symbol. Even if your name is spelled with the letter “o”, it may sound more like “uh” or “oo”. To phonetically spell your name so that other people can easily pronounce it, find the letter symbol that best represents the pronunciation of each vowel in your name.[4]
- Match each vowel in your name with the example words given in the list below. When you find the one that fits, notice the highlighted re-spelling symbol on the left.
- a ← clAndp, bAndt.
- ah (or) aa ← bAndlm.
- air ← spare.
- ar ← cart.
- arr ← carrMr.
- aw ← fphewt, scome on.
- ay, ai ← pAndwill Andpe.
- er ← to betthis onePetthis one.
- eh, eh ← dressbet.
- ee ← Mrehse, freh.
- eer ← hear.
- make a mistake ← bmake a mistakeMr.
- ew ← phewe, fphew.
- about ← Itopic.
- and (or) them ← fIt, skIn.
- Use “ih” at the end of a syllable, especially if the last “i” forms a real word like “hi” or “ski”.
- irr ← mirror.
- o ← lont.
- oh (or) oe ← cOht, tOhMron.
- oo ← food, root, shOh.
- ohr ← force, tminer.
- or (or) awr ← north, war.
- orr ← orange.
- ou ← yout.
- vl ← myouth.
- oy ← chapeyesce, boy.
- in ← rint.
- uu ← soot, pint.
- uh ← noonthere, comAnd.
- editor ← nedare.
- urr ← hedMr.
- you ← exIwill.
- yoor ← chours, Euroops.
Other common sounds Some sounds appear frequently in common names and words. For this reason, they have generally accepted re-spellings of symbols that most English speakers will recognize and pronounce correctly.[5]
- If any of the bold letters below share a pronunciation with your name, copy the letters to the left of the arrow as a shortcut to phonetically record your name.
- UR ← Bthis onethat.
- AIR ← FarrAh.
- EER ← KairAnd.
- OR ← QorAunt.
- AR ← Artie.
- IKE ← Mheck.
- INE ← Adaland not.
- ITE ← Dwgood.
- LED ← Rice.
- AL ← Callhmm
- ALL ← MollMr.
- AIL ← Bighurt.
- ULL ← Joyfst.
- OOL ← Kool.
- OAL ← Cole.
- EEL (or) EAL ← Seal.
- DISEASED ← Bsick.
- ILE ← Kyle.
Write your name as it is pronounced, not spelled. Put together all the pronunciation symbols you found in the previous step to write your name phonetically. Then write a hyphen (-) between each syllable.[6]
- For example, the first name “Christopher” is pronounced with the sounds “k”, “r”, “i”, “s”, “t”, “uh”, “f” and “er” or “ur”. “
- A rough phonetic spelling of Christopher would be “kris-tuh-fer” or “kris-tuh-fur”.
Capitalize stressed syllables. Repeat your name out loud and try to recognize which syllables come to mind the most. These are often the syllables where your voice changes pitch or which take the longest to pronounce.[7]
- If you find it difficult to recognize the stressed syllables in your name, say your name in a sentence as if you were introducing yourself.
- Speak slowly, say and listen again to which syllable you naturally stress.
- A correctly formed phonetic spelling of “Christopher” would be KRIS-tuh-fer.
- As another example, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart would be written phonetically as VOOLF-gang Am-a-DE-us MOT-sart.[8]
Read aloud the phonetic spelling of your name. Use the re-spelling symbols in Part 2 as a guide to phonetically spelling your name. But you can also rely on your own logic and common sense.
- If your goal is to get another human to read your phonetic spelling and pronounce your name correctly, put yourself in their shoes.
- Pretend you never heard your name. Look at your phonetic spelling and think about whether any of those sounds or letters might cause confusion or be mispronounced.
- If you feel that the “correct” symbol for re-spelling the sound in your name is not good, change it to something you would recognize as making that sound!
Categories: How to
Source: HIS Education