View Message

Llewella and Faelivrin have pretty much hit the nail on the head for me, but I find that it's always easier to adapt to your surroundings. I don't advocate drastic pronunciation changes, but finding a balance between the original pronunciation and how you know English speakers will say it is key. When I changed my name I knew that nobody around here (I live in New England) will ever call me fyah-MEH-ta. A native English speaker, assuming he/she can pronounce the name, will look at that and say fee-ah-MEH-ta. Yes, that adds an extra syllable - but avoids half the corrections (and makes shortening to Fia make more sense). "ia" is not a diphthong in English, but I didn't want to have to pick another name for that reason.