For example, an English person called Bob might introduce themselves as “Bob”, whereas an American person called Bob might introduce themselves as “Bahb”. (Sorry, don’t know the phonetic alphabet but hopefully you get my gist)
Should you pronounce those two people’s names the same, with your own natural accent, or should you copy how the person says their own name?
Edit: I specifically picked a generic English name with different pronunciation across different accents. I know my wording wasn’t great, sorry! Hopefully the edit is a bit clearer.
Context and other languages
When pronouncing a name from a different language, I firmly believe you should copy the pronunciation of the owner of that name, and not Anglicise the name unless asked to. I say this as a speaker of a language that English people regularly mispronounce and even insist to me that they know the correct pronunciation of my language.
That’s where I land. I had one friend named Juanita who praised me for being the only one who pronounced her name correctly! Then I have another polish friend who ISNT named Chris. He’s very vocal “just call me Chris”
I’m interested in names because I personally am “Michael” not “Mike”
It seems like a simple thing but it isn’t. A name is only “the sound I make to get your attention “ if you shout @mike” I won’t hear you. It’s a very common name. I’m Michael not Mike.
Sure thing Mike /s
That’s the thing! It’s not annoying or insult to call me Mike.
If you shout “Mike” I’m not going to look because I’m not Mike. It’s not a personal preference. You might as well shout “Abraham” it’s not my name.
Edit: my point is you can call me Mike if you want. I don’t care. Just understand I don’t naturally respond to every variation of Michael shouted at me. It’s a common name.
My brain ignores names that aren’t mine. Mike, Mikey, Mickey, … you might as well shout Abraham. It’ll have the same effect.