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HelpJohanna
I like the name Joanna very much, but vastly prefer the look of Johanna. However, as an English speaker, the pronunciation yo-HAHN-ah is not intuitive for me. I would pronounce Johanna as jo-AN-uh, like Joanna.
Would that be feasible, though? I know that the character Johanna in "Sweeney Todd" spelled her name this way, but it's the only Anglophone example I can think of. Is it feasible in the United States to spell the name this way and say, "The H is silent"; or would everyone try to pronounce it the German/Scandinavian way, and think I was crazy not to just name my daughter Joanna?
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Would that be feasible, though? I know that the character Johanna in "Sweeney Todd" spelled her name this way, but it's the only Anglophone example I can think of. Is it feasible in the United States to spell the name this way and say, "The H is silent"; or would everyone try to pronounce it the German/Scandinavian way, and think I was crazy not to just name my daughter Joanna?
Please rate my personal name list:
www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381
http://greens-end.myminicity.com
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Replies
I live in the upper midwest US. As a kid, my best friend was Johanna. She pronounced it Jo-Hanna. Nobody ever thought to call her Jo-anna, but she did sometimes get mistakenly called Yo-Hahna (lots of Dutch names here).
I've known several other Johannas of various ages, all Jo-Hanna.
Tbh I think it would be rare that someone would pronounce Johanna without the h. To me it doesn't make any sense to do. That doesn't mean you couldn't do it, but it would be a pain to teach people. I think the vast majority of people wouldn't even consider Johanna could be anything but Jo-Hanna (or Yo-Hahna).
I've known several other Johannas of various ages, all Jo-Hanna.
Tbh I think it would be rare that someone would pronounce Johanna without the h. To me it doesn't make any sense to do. That doesn't mean you couldn't do it, but it would be a pain to teach people. I think the vast majority of people wouldn't even consider Johanna could be anything but Jo-Hanna (or Yo-Hahna).
This message was edited 5/31/2016, 5:17 AM
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I would say jo-HANN-uh. That spelt either Johanna or Johannah is a widely used name in my husband's family (one or two per generation back to around 1750). I would expect a fair split between that and your preferred pronunciation. I don't believe the German/Scandanavian pronunciation would cross most people's' minds in the US.
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I would automatically say jo-anna, like you. Most Americans would not pronounce it the German way.
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I feel the same way about Johanna - I think the look is really pretty. When I was in school, there was a girl named Johanna but she pronounced it like Joanna.
So, to me, it's workable. A potential downside is that Johanna will probably have to deal with people misspelling/possibly mispronouncing her name the first time. But, to me, that's an easy fix.
So, to me, it's workable. A potential downside is that Johanna will probably have to deal with people misspelling/possibly mispronouncing her name the first time. But, to me, that's an easy fix.
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I would think it was a bit lame if someone named their kid Johanna but pronounced it Joanna, honestly. That said, I actually like all three pronunciations:
yo-HAHN-ah
jo-ANN-ah
jo-HANN-ah
yo-HAHN-ah
jo-ANN-ah
jo-HANN-ah
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agree with this.
Johanna = jo-HAHN-na or jo-HAN-na to me
Johanna = jo-HAHN-na or jo-HAN-na to me
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