Wednesday, February 10, 2010

How do you say Andrea?

Studio coming along. Carpet? Check.
Nothing to do with post, lol


My name is Andrea.

I was named after my Dad who, because he grew up and lived in many different countries, had many different versions of his name. Andres, Andrew, Andre.
We knew him as Andy.
I didn't always like my first name. Growing up I thought it didn't go well with my last name.

The way my name is pronounced changes everywhere I go, but I have learned to accept any pronunciation to make life easy.

In California I was "On~dray~uh".
In places where one must give their name, like Starbucks, I would say it that way.

Here, in Ohio, I noticed if I give my name as "On~dray~uh", they often make me repeat it 'til I give up and try "Ann~dree~uh" . They seem to recognize that version better here. The pronunciation that bothers my Mom the most.

In France, I was : " ondray~ah", emphasis on the last syllable.

To my Italian family~ I have a man's name, and they say : On~dray-ya. Emphasis on the middle syllable. When I go to Italy, it's fun to see the look on their faces when they're told my name.: "But she's not a man?!"

So how do I say it?
In my head it's pronounced: on ~dree~ uh.

But if I have to repeat it a bunch of times for that Tall Latte- it quickly becomes "Bob". No joke.

For fun, I've been thinking for awhile now to collect names of crafty bloggers who are named 'Andrea', and compiling a list to post....

Is your name Andrea? How do you pronounce it?






28 comments:

Paige @ Little Nostalgia said...

My name isn't Andrea, but I've always pronounced it like the Ohio folks, Ann-dree-uh. I'm from Illinois, so it's apparently a midwestern thing.

Christie Cottage said...

My SIL's name is Andria. Ann-dree-uh. LOL

Heather said...

I'm not "Andrea" but around here, all the Andreas are "ANN-dree-uhs" uh oh, are we Andrea bumpkin land!?!

My last name however....no one can say/spell without competitive coaching. I usually just start spelling right away ;) care to give "Sleightholm" a try? ;)

Maureen said...

Ann~dree~uh. Sorry mom!

Andi said...

My dad is Andor which is a Czech name and I am Andrea (an-dree-yuh). There have been times we are both Andy (although I spell mine Andi).
I must admit, I get a little peeved if people spell or pronounce my name incorrectly.
But if that is the worst thing life throws at me, I'm pretty satisfied!.
Andi x

andrea creates said...

It seems there are lots of
Ann-dree-uhs, so interesting to see.
Oh, Heather my last name is so impossible- that's why I just chose 'creates' for all my online things.I start spelling it right away too ;)

Emily Anne Leyland said...

Your blog is really great! I'd love another creative person like yourself to join me in a weekly art event I am doing. You'd be a great addition ;-)
http://artnsewl.blogspot.com/2010/02/let-your-art-guide-you.html

delightfuldaisy said...

I pronounce it Ann-dree-uh. But I have a relative who pronounces her name ahn-dray-uh! :)

Andrea J. said...

My name is Andrea. I've been called it all different ways too.. hahah. I pronounce it "Ann-dree-uh".... My husband calls me "undria".... and ive also been called "andy", "anj", "angie".... but i love them all. Wouldnt change my name for anything :)....

Sabine, La Marquise des anges said...

I like the french way to pronounce it :) but this is such a lovely name, each pronunciation is lovely.

happy valentine my sweet friend.

sabine

Julie said...

I wondered why I wasn't getting your updates....so I am refollowing your blog. Obviously my name is not Andrea ; P but, I generally pronounce it the way you do. I love the new look of your blog and your new heart pouches! They are so sweet....they must have been really difficult to sew. I hope you are having a great weekend. x

noodle and lou said...

happy valentines day!! i think ann-dree-uh too...but i like the way your pronunciation sounds better! no one can say my last name so i totally get it:) xox...jenn

Deedra said...

I'm Canadian (and also French) so when I was in school, it would pronounced the 'French' way, but when I'm not in school, surrounded by all my French friends, it's pretty much always Ann-dree-ah. This was really intersting to read!

My name's Deedra. Simple, phonetic, Dee-drah. I've been Deborah, Deirdre, Deirdra...and either way, I don't care. I'll answer to anything. In French, I was Dee-drah. Emphasis on the end and with a strong r-rolling. I HATED that version. Blech.

Anonymous said...

Loved this post!! I too am an Andrea (on ~dree~ uh). I actually resorted to going by Dray since no one even takes the time to care. Even my brother give me a hard time about the pronunciation. Thank you for explaining the differences so nicely!

Andi said...

I know I'm ages late, but I was wondering about the pronunciation of this name lately. And I wanted to share my version of pronunciation. I'm Hispanic named after my grandmother. On-dureh-uh is how I say it in English and Spanish. Kinda close to the Italian version. :) Professors always call me An-dree-uh though. I live in Northern VA.

mistressofkooks said...

hello! I grew up in an Asian country where our name is extremely rare (Mom brought it over from US). I'm usually called Ann-dreuh, a sped-up version of Ann-dree-uh. However, I also answer to ann-dree-ah, ann-drey-uh, on-drey-ya, on-dree-uh, on-druh, an-di'ah, andi-ah, india, an-leah, andrew, andre, angela, angel, audrey, ... and the list goes on. I used to hate my name as a child but now I've learnt to see the fun side of having an unusual name here :) thanks for sharing your experience!

Unknown said...

My name is spelled Andrea and i pronounce it aun-dray-a.

Andrea said...

Oh my! I disliked my name spelled A N D R E A, all through my childhood (in CA) I would panic when asked my name! I did not know how to pronounce it! I was born to a German mother who died when I was a young child. I was raised by my paternal grandparents who were from the south. They called me ANN DRAY UH while my brothers called me UN DRAY UH!!! My cousin who was also from the south called me AWN DREE UH. At school, I was called ANN DREE UH. Upon meeting new people, I would usually choke out ANN DRAY UH. I
Some would note it, others called me the gamut of "A" names; Angela , Adrienne, Andre....and my favorite, Adelaide. In my teens, I just decided to go with ANN DREE UH. most people were used the pronunciation and it bought a measure of peace for me. When I was 23, I had a revelation! How would my mother have pronounced it? Being German she would have pronounced it, AWN DRAY YAW (with a trilled r). I was so relieved! I adopted this universal pronunciation, minus the trilled "r." (Americans have butchered many beautiful names!) I am now happy to be Andrea! My middle name is Vivian and that's another story...

Anonymous said...

Ann-dree-uh (from Canada!)

Anonymous said...

Haha I usually just let people call me whatever they want to make it easy, until they ask what I prefer (and invariably they always do), in which case I say "ON-DRAY-UH". I think I like it better than the others since it's closest to the Spanish pronunciation, which is what my family uses.

Fun to hear how other Andreas have had to deal with this! :)

Andrea said...

Mine is pronounced ANN-dree-uh, and I dislike being called On-DRAY-uh so much that I often introduce myself as Andie because it's easier for people to remember and they can't mispronounce the first syllable. :p

Anonymous said...

I'm an Andrea and I pronounce it as On-dree-uh. Now how everyone else says it is a different story! I will usually repeat it 3 times and then just tell them to call me Andie when they can't get it right. I'm in the Tennessee and grew up in South Carolina and hear ANN-dree-uh a lot, which drives me crazy.

Anonymous said...

I live in california and like to be called un-dray-uh. My pet peeve is being called Ann-DREE-uh. My family(like cousins and grandparents)is hispanic and calls me Andrew in the hispanic way, but my parents call me Andrea in the hispanic way. Oh and one of my best friends is also called Andrea but she pronounces it ON-dree-uh.

Anonymous said...

Andria is pronounced Dree-a and Andrea is pronounced Dray-a.

Unknown said...

"The way my name is pronounced changes everywhere I go, but I have learned to accept any pronunciation to make life easy."

This. I am an On-dree-uh as well, but I'll take anything. Except Amanda. I usually try and correct that. :)

Anonymous said...

Just stumbled across this while googling to find out why Americans seem to be able to get their heads around my name pronunciation so much easier than New Zealanders!

I'm a New Zealander and my name is Ándrea. Pronounced On-dree-uh. I got sick of being called the default An-dree-uh when I was younger and started spelling it Ondrea. I'm in my 30's now and still spell it like that unofficially (legally it is still Ándrea), but it has never made a difference to what people actually call me anyway. On-dray-uh, An-dray-uh, Odea, Ondea, Onda, Andre.. the list goes on as I'm sure you all know! I tend to just go with whatever I get called these days, but my 4 year old often corrects people when they pronounce my name wrong hehe.

Unknown said...

I will ask how you the person pronounce your name its your name I want to say it the you want to hear it

Unknown said...

Preferred pronunciation is On-dree-uh but On-dray-uh is completely acceptable. I completely dislike Ann-dree-uh and will remind people constantly that isn't my name because it isn't. I've felt tortured over this my whole life so when I became. Mother I did the responsible thing and named my children names with ONE pronunciation.

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