why I will never use "Yan"
This is my rant. It is mine and I call it My Rant. I own it completely. Okay.
Short answer why I will never have anyone calling Ianto "Yan" or god forbid, "Yannie" in my fics: It is not his name.
Long answer: IT. IS. NOT. HIS. NAME. Need more?? okay.
His name is Ianto Jones. Ianto. THREE syllables. "What??!" you say, "Three?" Yes, three. I an to
The letter "I" in a number of languages is pronounced "ee". That is why we have the name "Ian". You see that and say "ee-an". The name "Iain" is also pronounced "ee-an" but I digress.
So, it's not pronounced: "yan tow". It's pronounced "ee an to". Where the difficulty arises is which syllable the accent is on. In Welsh, it should be ee AN to, and if so, then the "ee" probably can be diminished into a sloppy "yuh" sound.
But it's "ee" in: Iago, Ivan, Ivor, Ifan, Ieuan (try that one on for size! also a form of John). All "ee".
Back to Ianto. His name is Ianto - ee AN tow (or toe). It is a diminutive of Ian or Ifan, which is the Welsh for John. Lovely name John. I love that the diminutive of John is Johnny. A lot of people think a diminutive has to be shorter. Nope. You add something to a name, making it bigger, and actually denoting that it's smaller. In names it's used for affectionate purposes.
To sum up, Ian means John...a very formal sounding name. Ianto means Johnny, something you'd say with a smile. If you think of Ianto Jones and think "Johnny Jones" wouldn't you smile at the diminutive? I would and often do, I'm weird that way.
Why I argue this? Captain Jack knows how to pronounce Welsh names. At one point there's a guy on the slab and his identification says "Meredith". Americans would pronounce this "MER i dith' ( or probably "MER uh duth" uuughh). Jack pronounces it "me RE dith". I actually squeed when I heard that! (but I digress). "Splott" not withstanding, he pronounces place names well and correctly (and Ianto is joking by saying "sploe". Even I got that first time).
I've been told that it IS canon that Jack says "Yan". I don't know. I admit I haven't noticed it. I am awaiting confirmation and if that doesn't come, I WILL watch every episode again. (I did when I was looking for beans!). I am HOPING it's someone not hearing correctly and he is saying a fast form of "Ian".
Another argument against "Yan". Jack and Ianto do not use diminutives - no "sweetie", "hon", "darling". Why would he chop Ianto's name down? And to be honest, I've watched ALL the affectionate moments and I swear I've never heard "Yan". If he was going to say it anywhere it would be there. Even in moments of stress and hurry when he might chop a name down for speed, I still hear Jack say, "Ianto".
Last argument, I don't think he even calls Toshiko "Tosh". Everyone else does, but he calls her "Toshiko".
So, this is a NO "YAN" ZONE! It's MY rant and I'm sticking to it.
Why is this so personal to me? A few reasons: I'm Cathy (or Catherine) with a "C". I've always had to say that "Cathy with a C". It's my name. I'm also "Kefirah", my Hebrew name. I have to tell people how to pronounce that too: "keh FEE rah". It means "young lioness". But because of the weirdness of Hebrew writing and names, I was told the same letters are in the word "apostate". I was told by a Jewish friend that she can't NOT think of my name as 'apostate' even though she KNOWS it's "young lioness" and is aware of the difference. That's just MEAN. She KNOWS Hebrew and is purposefully choosing not to think of me as Kefirah but "Kafor" or however "apostate" is pronounced in Hebrew (she told me once, but I forgot). How dare someone do that to a person's name.
I also have a friend "Lila". She is Spanish. She pronounces her name "leelah". Another woman I knew used to always say, (to Lila's face). "Your name is supposed to be pronounced "Lie lah". Um...NO! It's supposed to be pronounced how it's pronounced!!
If I tell you my name is Kefirah and it's pronounced "raxacoricofallapatorius" then that's how it's pronounced!!!!! Not everything that is spelled one way is pronounced the same way. It's life! It's language! Get over it!
Names mean something and names are pronounced the way they are pronounced for a reason!
Rant over!
Short answer why I will never have anyone calling Ianto "Yan" or god forbid, "Yannie" in my fics: It is not his name.
Long answer: IT. IS. NOT. HIS. NAME. Need more?? okay.
His name is Ianto Jones. Ianto. THREE syllables. "What??!" you say, "Three?" Yes, three. I an to
The letter "I" in a number of languages is pronounced "ee". That is why we have the name "Ian". You see that and say "ee-an". The name "Iain" is also pronounced "ee-an" but I digress.
So, it's not pronounced: "yan tow". It's pronounced "ee an to". Where the difficulty arises is which syllable the accent is on. In Welsh, it should be ee AN to, and if so, then the "ee" probably can be diminished into a sloppy "yuh" sound.
But it's "ee" in: Iago, Ivan, Ivor, Ifan, Ieuan (try that one on for size! also a form of John). All "ee".
Back to Ianto. His name is Ianto - ee AN tow (or toe). It is a diminutive of Ian or Ifan, which is the Welsh for John. Lovely name John. I love that the diminutive of John is Johnny. A lot of people think a diminutive has to be shorter. Nope. You add something to a name, making it bigger, and actually denoting that it's smaller. In names it's used for affectionate purposes.
To sum up, Ian means John...a very formal sounding name. Ianto means Johnny, something you'd say with a smile. If you think of Ianto Jones and think "Johnny Jones" wouldn't you smile at the diminutive? I would and often do, I'm weird that way.
Why I argue this? Captain Jack knows how to pronounce Welsh names. At one point there's a guy on the slab and his identification says "Meredith". Americans would pronounce this "MER i dith' ( or probably "MER uh duth" uuughh). Jack pronounces it "me RE dith". I actually squeed when I heard that! (but I digress). "Splott" not withstanding, he pronounces place names well and correctly (and Ianto is joking by saying "sploe". Even I got that first time).
I've been told that it IS canon that Jack says "Yan". I don't know. I admit I haven't noticed it. I am awaiting confirmation and if that doesn't come, I WILL watch every episode again. (I did when I was looking for beans!). I am HOPING it's someone not hearing correctly and he is saying a fast form of "Ian".
Another argument against "Yan". Jack and Ianto do not use diminutives - no "sweetie", "hon", "darling". Why would he chop Ianto's name down? And to be honest, I've watched ALL the affectionate moments and I swear I've never heard "Yan". If he was going to say it anywhere it would be there. Even in moments of stress and hurry when he might chop a name down for speed, I still hear Jack say, "Ianto".
Last argument, I don't think he even calls Toshiko "Tosh". Everyone else does, but he calls her "Toshiko".
So, this is a NO "YAN" ZONE! It's MY rant and I'm sticking to it.
Why is this so personal to me? A few reasons: I'm Cathy (or Catherine) with a "C". I've always had to say that "Cathy with a C". It's my name. I'm also "Kefirah", my Hebrew name. I have to tell people how to pronounce that too: "keh FEE rah". It means "young lioness". But because of the weirdness of Hebrew writing and names, I was told the same letters are in the word "apostate". I was told by a Jewish friend that she can't NOT think of my name as 'apostate' even though she KNOWS it's "young lioness" and is aware of the difference. That's just MEAN. She KNOWS Hebrew and is purposefully choosing not to think of me as Kefirah but "Kafor" or however "apostate" is pronounced in Hebrew (she told me once, but I forgot). How dare someone do that to a person's name.
I also have a friend "Lila". She is Spanish. She pronounces her name "leelah". Another woman I knew used to always say, (to Lila's face). "Your name is supposed to be pronounced "Lie lah". Um...NO! It's supposed to be pronounced how it's pronounced!!
If I tell you my name is Kefirah and it's pronounced "raxacoricofallapatorius" then that's how it's pronounced!!!!! Not everything that is spelled one way is pronounced the same way. It's life! It's language! Get over it!
Names mean something and names are pronounced the way they are pronounced for a reason!
Rant over!