What's in a Name?

What's in a name?

Plenty, if it's mine.

A simple-looking name isn't always easy to pronounce.

"Banche" looks easy to pronounce, but it's not.

I get "banche" (1 syllable), "blanche" (1 syllable, added "l"), "blan che" (2 syllables, added "l"), "bianci" (trying to make my name more Italian than it is), and "ban shee" (2 syllables, soft s--no, I am not an Irish ghost).

I even get flak from machines. If you search for me on amazon, amazon asks "Are you sure you don't want blanche?"

A very nice gentleman from the UK with the same last name as mine asked if my family came from Mauritius. I had to look up Mauritius. Mauritius is an island in the Indian Ocean. No, we don't hail from so far afield. My family came from Italy.

So how do *I* (and I'm the only person who counts since it's my name *g*) pronounce my last name?

Correct pronunciation is ban-che --two syllables, accent on the first, short a, long e, "ch" as in "church".

How's that for complex? I figure if I ever make it to the bookstores, they'll shelve me next to the queen of regency romance, Mary Balogh (whose name rhymes with "kellogg"), and there isn't any better company.

What simple-looking names have you found that are difficult to pronounce? Is yours hard to pronounce?

Thank you all,
Linda
Linda Banche
Welcome to My World of Historical Hilarity!
http://www.lindabanche.com