Some foreign names can seem impossible to pronounce correctly. But one woman is flipping that idea onto its head: 24-year old Kendra Hastings, incredibly, knows exactly how to pronounce the name Siobhan!
“I’m really not that amazing,” said Kendra, humbly. “I just realized I had heard the name before, but never saw it spelled out. Now I know.”
Don’t be so modest, Kendra! Your knowledge of aspirated consonants is outstanding!
Kendra went on to describe how she conquered this seemingly impossible feat of human fortitude and intelligence.
“I think people are most thrown off because of the spelling,” said Kendra. “But there are plenty of words in the English language that aren’t spelled the way they are pronounced. Colonel? Epitome? Eventually you just figure it out.”
Kendra’s friends are blown away.
“I never personally felt brave enough to even attempt to either spell or pronounce that name,” said Lindy Tremaine. “But Kendra has always been a maverick. She’ll put effort into learning how to correctly say anyone’s name. I just kept thinking that Shiv was the full name of the daughter on Succession!”
“Yeah, I was always of the mindset that, if you have a tricky name, that’s on you to explain,” added Olivia Perkins. “Kendra looks past all that and truly tries. That’s a lot of scary work, I admire her for it!”
“I once met a Shavawn, whose name was spelled phoenetically,” Olivia added. “And it just completely threw me off for like, a decade, I just had no idea where it really came from.”
Kendra doesn’t really see the big deal.
“It’s just Gaelic,” she said. “You just have to think about it for like, five seconds. I was just willing to put in the time, I guess?”
