Kamala isn't pronounced like Pamela..it is Comma with a La at the end..she said this on TV last week

[jodymarie aimee]

Kamala is not pronounced like Pamela..it is Comma with a La at the end..she said this on TV last week. I see lots of TV heads saying it wrong...otherwise, please proceed...she is wonderful....

[Shell_Seas]

1. I'm from Texas...

I haven't been saying either...

I was thinking Rachel was saying weird, but turns out, she was saying it right all along.

[Glimmer of Hope]

2. Thank you! Someone who was just on MSNBC pronounced her name incorrectly. This helps:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">People pronounce my name many different ways. Let <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KidsForKamala?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KidsForKamala</a> show you how it’s done. <a href="https://t.co/7QoQGN0B4k">pic.twitter.com/7QoQGN0B4k</a></p>— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) <a href="

Link to tweet

?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 24, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Kali]

3. as someone who has had my name mispronounced my entire life...

meh, you just get used to it. you start to look petty correcting morons all the time. it is that English short "a" , many other languages don't have that, so our names get pronounced correctly automatically. another small reason I like to travel.

[OilemFirchen]

10. Tell me about it.

[SammyWinstonJack]

37. Mine too. Just because of the way it's spelled. Even when they ask l, they still mispronounce it.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. ,la

It haint spelt rite. Should be spelt ,la.

[Apollyonus]

5. Actually

it is pronounced kuh-muh-la

kuh-muh-luh = a lotus flower

Kamala = a name for Hindu goddess Laxmi

[Igel]

12. And "Putin"

is pronounced with a palatalized t and a velarized p and n.

But we don't palatalized most things and velarize fewer. Unless you want to learn 3000 phonologies, it's best to just adapt non-native words to English phonology.

When in Russian, I'm accustomed to my last name being adjusted to fit Russian phonotactics. In Spanish, ditto, I don't expect them to get the funny kind of half-voiced lax consonants that American have. In French, the accent goes ricochet and there's no laxing of tense vowels.

[Apollyonus]

14. It is a problem with the alphabet

Indian alphabets type the sounds the way they are pronounced and thus there is no "spelling."

Indians type what they say and read what they type accurately.

There is no way to type consonants without a vowel in English. The k and the m in kamala have no vowel associated with them
but if one were to type kmla the k,m and l will become a joint consonant so one adds the vowel a.

In Sanskrit, Kamala is typed कमला and in Tamil, கமல

Notice that there is no vowel marker next to the k and m but there is the aaa sound attached to the l.

[Clash City Rocker]

28. And "Trump" is spelled the same way

Okay, not really, but it should be.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

20. not according to Kamala Harris

I saw the show jodymarie aimee referenced in the OP. Senator Harris described it just as in the OP: "Comma with a La at the end".

Here's another place where she said the same thing:

[Apollyonus]

21. I grew up in India and spent 22 years there

what would I know?

[MineralMan]

23. "When it comes to the pronunciation of a person's name,

The person who bears that name is the authority. " - Beaufort Legasse

[Apollyonus]

24. ...

"Not every quotation is accurate nor does it have to be followed." -- Apollyonus

[MineralMan]

26. I once dated a girl whose name was Christiana.

She did not pronounce her name in the usual way, and complained that nobody ever said it right. So, I asked her to say it for me three times, pausing a second or two between the repetitions. the sound of the "stia" syllable was unique and not a sound used by Americans. It was very close to the unusual Russian syllable "щя." (shchya) I rehearsed it mentally a few times and nailed it.

We got on famously after that

[ecstatic]

34. +1000

I also have a name that's pronounced differently depending on whether I'm up north or down south. Ultimately, I'm the "decider" but I've found that a lot of people just can't adjust to my preferred way, especially if they know someone else with the same name who prefers the other pronunciation.

[Clash City Rocker]

29. This Kamala wasn't born in India

and isn’t beholden to Indian pronunciations. I think everyone knows someone whose name isn’t spelled or pronounced in the traditional way. If that person can deal with having their name mangled, I can deal with it too.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

30. what does that have to do with anything?

It's her name. I'll pronounce it any way _she_ wants.

[Iggo]

22. Actually...

...I'm gonna hafta go with the woman herself on this one.

[Kurt V.]

6. was listening to a sports show interviewing the old wrestler Kamala and

they pronounced it the same as the senator. kamala the wrestler's real name: james harris. lol

[LisaM]

7. This reminds me of that video of Michelle Obama saying "Nevada" over and over!

A lot of people automatically say "Ne-vah-da" but that's wrong. I'm not from there, but I appreciated her making the attempt to get it right.

[shanti]

9. Yup

I knew someone who had lived on the West Coast for some time, but he still said, Ne-vah-da. I'm from California, and never said it that way. He was from NYC, so maybe it's just East Coasters who do this.

[ecstatic]

33. What is it supposed to be? Lol

And yes, I'm from the east coast.

[LisaM]

36. The "vad" part rhymes with "ad". N/T

[shanti]

8. During her rally in Oakland

she said her name. I had been calling her Ka-MA-la, which was wrong. Now I know

[qazplm135]

11. pronounced like the drug from the Battlestar Galactica remake

that the President took to fight her cancer.

Yeah...I'm a nerd.

[obamanut2012]

13. That's how I remember, too

[qazplm135]

15. Laura Roslyn 2020?

[obamanut2012]

19. Roslyn/Six 2020

[Kitchari]

16. Rhymes with Promilla

That's my memory jogger, b/c I used to have a friend named Promilla

[Takket]

17. i was pronouncing it a third way LOL

Kah-mall-uh

Any Star Trek fan will know why

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Kamala

[FakeNoose]

18. She's been a Senator for only 2 years, and her name isn't too common

The first couple times I heard her name pronounced the person put the accent on the 2nd syllable. Like Ka-mahl-la. So of course I realize now that was incorrect, but those of us who aren't from California wouldn't have known. I believe Kamala is intelligent and immensely talented, and I wish her lots of luck. It's not easy running for President these days.

[sagetea]

25. I heard it a couple of weeks ago

and for some reason and Camelot stuck in my head!! Thanks for this!

sage

[oberliner]

27. How about Buttigieg?

I need a primer on how to pronounce his name.

[MuseRider]

31. BAD earworm now.

I really like her but damn, this is going to be tough to get out of my head. LOL, sometimes I wish I was not a musician, things become a musical thing too easily.

[ecstatic]

32. I was pronouncing it as Ka MAH la, but she

clarified the pronunciation on The View recently, and it's just as you described. It's getting easier but it's still a little hard to change the way I've been thinking for several years. Your tip will really help me going forward.

[A HERETIC I AM]

35. No, it's SPELLED "Kamala" but it's pronounced....

"Throat Warbler Mangrove"

"You're a very silly man and I'm not going to interview you."