Eleanora

With a name like Kiyah, I've become habituated to mispronunciation. When selecting a name for our daughter, one of the things that Tim and I asked of each name under consideration was how else might it be pronounced?  Not that having your name mispronounced is a bad thing, per se, but we were aware that some names had greater potential for butchering than others.

When we came across "Eleanor" we thought we were in the clear. Seemed pretty straight forward to us, and although there have been some interesting accents placed on the name people generally don't struggle with it.

That is, until we came to here. Tell any Tanzanian, especially one that does not speak English, what Eleanor's name is, and you can see them tumbling the name around in their head, trying to reproduce the word...the very sounds that make it up. It's uncanny. I wish I could video tape it. People CANNOT pronounce her name. Tim observed that it's because they are unaccustomed to words that don't end in a vowel. Probably true... Sasa Tupo Arusha. Habari (za ashubuhi/ za leo/ za jioni/ yako/ nyumbani)? Baba, mama, dada, kaka. Asante. Asante sana. Karibu. Karibu tena. Pole.... Need I continue?

So, amongst the staff here, Eleanor is known as Eleanora. And I don't have any problem with that.
- kjd