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Aussie Woman Disappointed After People Can’t Pronounce Baby’s Name, Raoul, Correctly
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Aussie Woman Disappointed After People Can’t Pronounce Baby’s Name, Raoul, Correctly

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Although many of us have had a good laugh making fun of the Australian accent on social media, more specifically, of the way they pronounce the word “no” as a prolongated “naaauuur”, one Aussie has shown that the down under way of saying certain things isn’t all the joy it is cut out to be.

Taking to her TikTok page, Hannah Sands went on a rant about her fellow Aussie being incapable of pronouncing her son’s name.

In a video that she posted, which has received 26,500 views, the musician said: “Some people don’t tell you when you become a parent how f***ing weird it is when you name your baby. Not like it’s not enough of a f**k around picking a name for your baby, but picking a name that no one can pronounce, it’s been a time. F**k me!”

Hannah Sands went on this rant about her fellow Aussies being incapable of pronouncing her son’s name

Image credits: hannahsandsmusic

Image credits: hannahsandsmusic

She continued: “Australians are so annoying with names that are like, the tiniest bit foreign. Obviously, I haven’t had a problem with that – I’m a white woman in Australia called Hannah, like, it’s not an issue I have.”

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The frustrated mom went on to explain that her partner is a Brazilian man named Paulo and that she has often witnessed his name being butchered by other Australian people.

Hannah and her Brazilian partner, Paulo, named their son Raoul

Image credits: hannahsandsmusic

Image credits: hannahsandsmusic

She said: “Everyone here calls him ‘Paul-o’, and it drives him crazy!”

Hannah further stated that when she and her partner were naming their newborn son, they suffered from the same treatment Paulo has had to endure.

“Everyone here calls him ‘Paul-o’, and it drives him crazy!” Hannah said about her partner

Image credits: hannahsandsmusic

This undoubtedly added to the stress the couple had been subjected to already, as they had spent many days after birth in intensive care after their son was born prematurely.

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Hannah recalled: “We had to write a little name tag for him for the side of his crib. We had a few names, and because my partner is Brazilian, we wanted a name that made sense in Portuguese.

“So, when we met him, he was such a little warrior, and we just felt like the name Raoul was the best fit.”

Image credits: hannahsandsmusic

The mom explained that upon penning their son’s name down in Portuguese as Raul, a nurse said out loud “Oh, R, A, U, L, like Paul with an R? Raul?”

Hannah reestablished what had happened after: “So, we sat on it for like a day and we ended up changing the spelling, and R, A, O, U, L, is the French spelling because we were like, surely it’s more phonetic.”

She further stated: “When I tell you no one can pronounce our son’s name in Australia, like, what is wrong with people?”

The couple spent many days after birth in intensive care after their son was born prematurely

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Image credits: hannahsandsmusic

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“My own mother comes to see us in the hospital and asks his name and she goes ‘Raol’.

“There are moments when I’m just like, wow, it would be easier if we chose one of the other names.”

Many people echoed Hannah’s frustrations in her TikTok’s comment section as a person wrote: “I have a very white name and in school the teachers would still get it wrong.”

Image credits: hannahsandsmusic

Another person commented: “It is hard to pronounce names… even if you try. I’m Aussie and I barely say English names lmao.”

A separate individual chimed in: “People always pronounce my first and last name wrong. Like I have an Italian name but people can never pronounce it and idk why like it’s not hard.”

Hannah explained that upon penning their son’s name down in Portuguese as Raul, a nurse said out loud “Oh, R, A, U, L, like Paul with an R? Raul?”

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Image credits: hannahsandsmusic

The Aussie woman revealed that not even her mother was able to get the pronunciation right

@hannahsandsmusic Surely other people have gone through the baby name regret but i NEVER hear anyone talk about it!! Naming humans is a wild time 🥵 #namingbabies #babynameregret #changingnames #misspronouncingnames ♬ original sound – Hannah⏳MAMA+RNB ARTIST🎙️

According to a paper published in the National Center for Biotechnology Information, names are a reflection of identity and often have personal meaning. 

Subsequently, the chronic mispronunciation of names can undermine one’s identity and be experienced as a microaggression.

Many people shared similar grievances 

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Andréa Oldereide

Andréa Oldereide

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I’m a journalist who works as Bored Panda’s News Team's Senior Writer. The news team produces stories focused on pop culture. Whenever I get the opportunity and the time, I investigate and produce my own exclusive stories, where I get to explore a wider range of topics. Some examples include: “Doberman Tobias the viral medical service dog” and “The lawyer who brought rare uterine cancer that affects 9/11 victims to light”. You've got a tip? email me: andrea.o@boredpanda.com

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Andréa Oldereide

Andréa Oldereide

Writer, BoredPanda staff

I’m a journalist who works as Bored Panda’s News Team's Senior Writer. The news team produces stories focused on pop culture. Whenever I get the opportunity and the time, I investigate and produce my own exclusive stories, where I get to explore a wider range of topics. Some examples include: “Doberman Tobias the viral medical service dog” and “The lawyer who brought rare uterine cancer that affects 9/11 victims to light”. You've got a tip? email me: andrea.o@boredpanda.com

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Donata Leskauskaite

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Hey there! I'm a Visual Editor in News team. My responsibility is to ensure that you can read the story not just through text, but also through photos. I get to work with a variety of topics ranging from celebrity drama to mind-blowing Nasa cosmic news. And let me tell you, that's what makes this job an absolute blast! Outside of work, you can find me sweating it out in dance classes or unleashing my creativity by drawing and creating digital paintings of different characters that lives in my head. I also love spending time outdoors and play board games with my friends.

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Donata Leskauskaite

Donata Leskauskaite

Author, BoredPanda staff

Hey there! I'm a Visual Editor in News team. My responsibility is to ensure that you can read the story not just through text, but also through photos. I get to work with a variety of topics ranging from celebrity drama to mind-blowing Nasa cosmic news. And let me tell you, that's what makes this job an absolute blast! Outside of work, you can find me sweating it out in dance classes or unleashing my creativity by drawing and creating digital paintings of different characters that lives in my head. I also love spending time outdoors and play board games with my friends.

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Anony Mouse
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No - please don't post these tiktoks anymore. They are boring giant faces complaining. Please note the amount of downvotes on all these low-quality tiktok posts.

Susan Green
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I heard someone call TikTok a disease, they were right. Enough of these!!

Load More Replies...
Joshua
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Imagine that...People whose native language does not regularly expose them to certain phonetic sounds find it difficult to pronounce those phonetic sounds even when told how. Wow! Trying being an Asian person. They regularly have to give themselves English names because we butcher the phonetics of their real names.

LAWLAWLAW
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When BT outsourced their call centers to India the Indian staff were told to pick English names for themselves and watched episodes of Eastenders to get used to UK slang and accents

Load More Replies...
The Starsong Princess
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She gives her son a name that she knows people in the country she lives in have trouble pronouncing and then spends her time complaining about it. What did she think was going to happen?

Papa
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's HER child, so it's obvious that everyone should automatically know how to pronounce it.

Load More Replies...
CanadianDimes
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm a bilingual French speaker, I'm familiar with the name Raoul (spelled the French way) and if I ran into it spelled "Raul", I'd pronounce it like "Paul" initially as well. There are different ways to pronounce the same name, particularly depending on accents. I have a relatively common English name spelled using its most common spelling and English speakers still sometimes trip up on it. It will happen. If someone is asking how to pronounce it, that's not offensive. I'd rather someone ask than mess it up and be embarrassed.

Rahul Pawa
Community Member
11 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I find this story pretty relatable, maybe that's just me....👀

Rahul Pawa
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In my case it's a little different in that most people pronounce my name the way this woman named her baby, but that's not my name. Growing up around white and Hispanic people, "Raoul" was more common and familiar than "Rahul". It was a lot easier to change how I said my name than it was to have that conversation with every person I met.

Load More Replies...
Lorraine
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wonder how much she's exposed to other languages and accents to have the right to bash people who might not be familiar with Portuguese which is the pronunciation she seems to be aiming for. For example, between Spanish and Portuguese the same name can have completely different pronunciations (i.e. Jose), and that doesn't mean someone is pronouncing it wrong. I wonder how she would pronounce Mexican names and how offended I can be with her for that using her own standard.

Papa
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm an American that's four or five generations removed from Germany, but my last name still gets pronounced wrong all the time. Perhaps I should make a video pissing and moaning about it?

nancy
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This woman is ridiculous. She spelled her son's name incorrectly, then expects people to know how to pronounce it correctly?

Adam Michael
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well considering Australians don't pronounce no as "naurr", she's already lying. Serious she's upset that a country that has barely any Portuguese or Brazilian-Portuguese people or influence can't pronounce her sons name? Honestly i've met two Raoul's, both spelt the French way. Do you know what is common in Australia? White trash bogans misspelling their kids names they plucked from another culture because they have delusions they're super cultured and classy. Side note congratulations to the rest of the world, it was a shock to learn Australia is the only country that can't pronounce every name, from every country, with every spelling in existence. /sar

Moosy Girl
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Please do yourself and all of us a favour and name the next one Bruce or Sheila. :p

Definitely a Human
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"I picked a foreign name that's very rare in my country" And you're surprised people get it wrong? As someone with a gaelic name: Jesus get over yourself. Also Paul-o is a super endearing Aussie slang for your husband's name. We do that to almost every name here.

The Original Bruno
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How the Hell are those poor, maligned Aussies supposed to know it's pronounced, "the baby formerly going to be named Prince?"

Rayne OfSalt
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'd love to know where the idea we aussies pronounce "no" as an elongated "naaauuur" comes from, cos we don't bloody do that.

Duncan
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know a Raoul, his is pronounced Rowl. The annoying thing Australians do is shortening...or sometime lengthening names. Eg. James, Jim, Jimbo.

brittany
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

have these people never seen phantom of the opera? like any of them? its not hard. Raoul is is like right there. watch with subtitles on bot for goodness sake i havent seen that movie in years and i can still say his name correctly.

Anony Mouse
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No - please don't post these tiktoks anymore. They are boring giant faces complaining. Please note the amount of downvotes on all these low-quality tiktok posts.

Susan Green
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I heard someone call TikTok a disease, they were right. Enough of these!!

Load More Replies...
Joshua
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Imagine that...People whose native language does not regularly expose them to certain phonetic sounds find it difficult to pronounce those phonetic sounds even when told how. Wow! Trying being an Asian person. They regularly have to give themselves English names because we butcher the phonetics of their real names.

LAWLAWLAW
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When BT outsourced their call centers to India the Indian staff were told to pick English names for themselves and watched episodes of Eastenders to get used to UK slang and accents

Load More Replies...
The Starsong Princess
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She gives her son a name that she knows people in the country she lives in have trouble pronouncing and then spends her time complaining about it. What did she think was going to happen?

Papa
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's HER child, so it's obvious that everyone should automatically know how to pronounce it.

Load More Replies...
CanadianDimes
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm a bilingual French speaker, I'm familiar with the name Raoul (spelled the French way) and if I ran into it spelled "Raul", I'd pronounce it like "Paul" initially as well. There are different ways to pronounce the same name, particularly depending on accents. I have a relatively common English name spelled using its most common spelling and English speakers still sometimes trip up on it. It will happen. If someone is asking how to pronounce it, that's not offensive. I'd rather someone ask than mess it up and be embarrassed.

Rahul Pawa
Community Member
11 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I find this story pretty relatable, maybe that's just me....👀

Rahul Pawa
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In my case it's a little different in that most people pronounce my name the way this woman named her baby, but that's not my name. Growing up around white and Hispanic people, "Raoul" was more common and familiar than "Rahul". It was a lot easier to change how I said my name than it was to have that conversation with every person I met.

Load More Replies...
Lorraine
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wonder how much she's exposed to other languages and accents to have the right to bash people who might not be familiar with Portuguese which is the pronunciation she seems to be aiming for. For example, between Spanish and Portuguese the same name can have completely different pronunciations (i.e. Jose), and that doesn't mean someone is pronouncing it wrong. I wonder how she would pronounce Mexican names and how offended I can be with her for that using her own standard.

Papa
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm an American that's four or five generations removed from Germany, but my last name still gets pronounced wrong all the time. Perhaps I should make a video pissing and moaning about it?

nancy
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This woman is ridiculous. She spelled her son's name incorrectly, then expects people to know how to pronounce it correctly?

Adam Michael
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well considering Australians don't pronounce no as "naurr", she's already lying. Serious she's upset that a country that has barely any Portuguese or Brazilian-Portuguese people or influence can't pronounce her sons name? Honestly i've met two Raoul's, both spelt the French way. Do you know what is common in Australia? White trash bogans misspelling their kids names they plucked from another culture because they have delusions they're super cultured and classy. Side note congratulations to the rest of the world, it was a shock to learn Australia is the only country that can't pronounce every name, from every country, with every spelling in existence. /sar

Moosy Girl
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Please do yourself and all of us a favour and name the next one Bruce or Sheila. :p

Definitely a Human
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"I picked a foreign name that's very rare in my country" And you're surprised people get it wrong? As someone with a gaelic name: Jesus get over yourself. Also Paul-o is a super endearing Aussie slang for your husband's name. We do that to almost every name here.

The Original Bruno
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How the Hell are those poor, maligned Aussies supposed to know it's pronounced, "the baby formerly going to be named Prince?"

Rayne OfSalt
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'd love to know where the idea we aussies pronounce "no" as an elongated "naaauuur" comes from, cos we don't bloody do that.

Duncan
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know a Raoul, his is pronounced Rowl. The annoying thing Australians do is shortening...or sometime lengthening names. Eg. James, Jim, Jimbo.

brittany
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

have these people never seen phantom of the opera? like any of them? its not hard. Raoul is is like right there. watch with subtitles on bot for goodness sake i havent seen that movie in years and i can still say his name correctly.

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