Magda / Magdalena pronounciation?

[KaylaB]

Not a baby name thread, but I thought I might get some imputs here.

Please tell me how would you pronounce Magda (short for Magdalena)? It's my daughter's name. We are South African but we used to live in England when she was little. People used to pronounce her name 'magh-da' or 'mack-da'. The proper pronounciation (in Afrikaans anyway) is with a hard 'g', like in the scottish 'loch', but I took the road of least resistance when I realised most english people have difficulty with the 'g' sound.

We will be moving back to the UK (England again) later this year. She is now a pre-teen and very worried about the way her name will be pronounced.

Also, I wonder whether her name has become slightly more common than when we lived there in the mid-2000's?

[badtime]

I don't think it is very common.

What do you mean 'Magh-da' - I would assume the 'gh' the would be as in Irish 'lough' (i.e. similar but not as hard as the Scottish equivalent), but I don't think you mean that.

I would just say 'Mag-da' ('mag' as in magazine) unless I was told otherwise, and I think most other people would too (even though I have no trouble pronouncing a wide array of Scottish and Irish ch, gh and h sounds). That is more or less how it is pronounced in many languages.

[KaylaB]

Sorry, yes I meant the 'g' sound like in magazine :)

In our home language it's pronounced phonetically as mahg-dah.

[Narked]

I'd pronounce it 'Mag' as in 'Mag'gie or 'mag'pie.

[AgathaTrunchbull]

I work with a Magda and everyone uses the hard 'g' without a problem. It's certainly the most obvious pronunciation!

[StellaNova]

I would say Mag- as in magazine. So Mag-da and Mag-da-lay-nah.

I guess it might depend on the area of the UK/ accent? I'm south east.

[Theas18]

I think she just needs to tell people what she's called and maybe if it's a bit tricky help them get their " teeth around it" but they will. It's really no different than Naimh of the 3 Sians that my DD2 knows who are Shan Sharn and Cyan phonetically!

[Snowflakepie]

I'm in the south and have worked with a number of Magda's, no issue with saying it here. Flat a at the start as in magpie or maggie, then duh at the end. Not sure if that is correct for your DD from the comments above, it is hard to hear sometimes! Agree though that if she tells people her name how she likes it said, they will follow, so will only be an issue for a short time with school etc. Good luck!

[KaylaB]

Many thanks to all you lovely ladies taking the time to respond, much appreciated :)

[notmydog]

Oh, I know exactly what you mean by the Afrikaans pronunciation. (I'm Afrikaans too). It's completely different from the Polish/Eastern European one with the Mag like in Maggie. In Afrikaans the a sound is more of an 'uh' and the g is like loch.