How We Handle Name Pronunciation Across 46 Languages

When you build a baby name tool covering 46 cultural origins, pronunciation becomes a real engineering challenge. Here's how we approached it. The Problem Names like "Saoirse" (Irish, pronounced SEER-sha) or "Ngoc" (Vietnamese, pronounced Ngawk) look nothing like they sound to English speakers. Simply listing names without pronunciation guidance makes the tool useless for half its database. Our Approach Rather than building a complex audio pronunciation system, we took a pragmatic approach: 1. Phonetic Guides in Descriptions For cultures with non-intuitive pronunciation (Irish, Welsh, Vietnamese, Thai), we include phonetic guides directly in the name's meaning field: Saoirse — "Freedom" (pronounced SEER-sha) Niamh — "Bright, radiant" (pronounced NEEV) This keeps the data model simple while solving the core problem. 2. Cultural Context Pages Each cultural origin page includes a pronunciation guide section explaining the language's phonetic rules. For Irish names, we explain that "bh" =