Help With How To Spell A Thai Name, Please.

[webworldly]

Greetings! :-)

I spoke with someone today and would like to follow up with an email to her. I know how to say her name....but I forgot to ask how to spell it. :-(

Her name is pronounced...."Hannah". Well, that's how it sounds from a Western perspective.

I'm sure the Thai spelling is quite different. Can you help me with your best guess how I might spell the Thai version of "Hannah" in English? Sorry if that sounds confusing. What I'd like is an English spelling....but spelled the way she would probably write her name. I doubt it would be exactly the same as, "Hannah".

Make sense?

CHEERS!

D

[eefoo]

Greetings! :-)

I spoke with someone today and would like to follow up with an email to her. I know how to say her name....but I forgot to ask how to spell it. :-(

Her name is pronounced...."Hannah". Well, that's how it sounds from a Western perspective.

I'm sure the Thai spelling is quite different. Can you help me with your best guess how I might spell the Thai version of "Hannah" in English? Sorry if that sounds confusing. What I'd like is an English spelling....but spelled the way she would probably write her name. I doubt it would be exactly the same as, "Hannah".

Make sense?

CHEERS!

D

Sorry - not quite with you here. Are you asking how to spell 'Hannah' in English or not? I have never met a Thai girl called 'Hannah' so I can't help with either a Thai spelling or an English one. Not sure what you're after with this question. Just Email her and ask her what her name is in English.

[katana]

้This web page spells it as ฮันนาห์ in Thai, so I guess you could cut and paste this if you wanted.

[webworldly]

Hi guys.....I really blew it on the clarity of this question. I regret that and wish to apologize. I'll also give the question another try.....here goes:

When I was speaking with her today...I was able to take note of how she pronounced her name in English. She said it over the phone and it sounded like, "Hannah".

My problem is, I doubt that the way I would spell her name (based on how she pronounced it) is right. So what I'm asking is.....if a Thai woman said her name was "Hannah" (that's the pronunciation).....how would it likely be spelled? I want to email her....so I'd like to know how to go about spelling her name in English, not Thai.

An example would be....I know someone else whose name sounds like "At eeeee porn". That's how it's pronounced. But she spells it (in English)....Atiporn. I would have never guessed that.

OK.....so how do you think Ms. Hannah chooses to spell her name in English?

[withnail]

I think what is confusing everyone here is that Hannah does not sound like a Thai name. Rather it is a fairly common English name for a girl/woman, unless how you've written it not an accurate transcription of the pronunciatiation. Does it sound like the common English name or something slightly different?

My guess is that it's not her real name, but rather a chosen nickname i.e. she has chosen the actual English name. In which case the spelling would be the same in English which is either Hannah, Hanna or Hana. It's a Hebrew name incidentally.

[CSS]

I think what is confusing everyone here is that Hannah does not sound like a Thai name. Rather it is a fairly common English name for a girl/woman, unless how you've written it not an accurate transcription of the pronunciatiation. Does it sound like the common English name or something slightly different?

My guess is that it's not her real name, but rather a chosen nickname i.e. she has chosen the actual English name. In which case the spelling would be the same in English which is either Hannah, Hanna or Hana. It's a Hebrew name incidentally.

As Withnail noted I think our problem is we can't think of a Thai name that would sound like "Hannah." Maybe Bambina can figure out the name you are trying to think of. She's usually good at this sort of thing, figuring out the Thai word someone is trying to write in English script.

The only name I can come up with even remotely close (same first 3 letters) is Hansa (หรรษา).

Maybe to help us out you could associate each vowel sound with another common word so we could get a better idea of the sound of the name you are trying to approximate. eg. "ha" as in hand.

[webworldly]

Well.....as always your kindness and desire to help is incredible...thank you everyone here!!!

I think at this point I'll just do what many of you have recommended. I should have done it in the first place. I'll just ask her...."Uhhhh....Ms. Hannah....how the heck do you spell your name, because I want to email you and not offend you."

CHEERS!

D

[meadish_sweetball]

I think what is confusing everyone here is that Hannah does not sound like a Thai name. Rather it is a fairly common English name for a girl/woman, unless how you've written it not an accurate transcription of the pronunciatiation. Does it sound like the common English name or something slightly different?

My guess is that it's not her real name, but rather a chosen nickname i.e. she has chosen the actual English name. In which case the spelling would be the same in English which is either Hannah, Hanna or Hana. It's a Hebrew name incidentally.

Sounds the most likely, I think. Apart from their official name (ชื่อจริง) and their everyday Thai nickname (ชื่อเล่น) many younger Thais adapt an English-sounding nickname they can use with foreigners.