Chanda

The correct pronunciation (at least in Hindi) is: Ch as in cheese, the first a pronounced as the u in luck, n as in north, d as in dog, and the second a pronounced as the a in arm.

My mother found this name in a baby book. I like it, but I have been called everything from Shawnda to even Claudia. I pronounce it with a hard Ch-as in Chan. Once I tell people it rhymes with panda, I have no more problems.

It's my name and my parents always pronounce it ch-AND-uh, but I prefer ch-aw-n-d-uh. I think that if you're going to use the name with the SH pronunciation, you should really use "Shanda" or "Shawnda" instead to avoid confusion. Also, people always seem to call me "Chandra" or "Shandra" and have a very hard time getting it right even after I correct them several times. For some reason it's just hard for people to say right even though it's a very simple, phonetic name.