I have often noticed people struggle to pronounce my name. The correct way to pronounce my first name is closer to They've-duh-tuh, with the apostrophe ignored and all three words spoken fast. More detailed pronounciation details:
IPA: d̪eːʋdɐ̪t̪t̪̪ ākʰʋeː
IAST: devadatta ākhavé
IAST Explanation
Sanskrit derivative languages, like Marathi(my mother tongue), often have
an inherent light 'a' sound with every consonant. All the `a's above are the
(very) light ones, the ā is the heavy 'aa'. The `d's are also of the
light variety---closer to `the' in English. Similarly, the `t's are the
light ones, closer to `thin' but without the aspiration caused by the 'h'.
Also note the `é' at the end, similar to café.
Don't feel bad if you can't pronounce it---as is obvious from above, most of the consonants used are absent from English. I myself find it very difficult to pronounce it correctly when I am speaking English, while the same task is trivial when I am speaking Marathi. You can just call me ``dev'' like most people---in which case I prefer the heavy ``d' (`destroy') that is common in English. Just no data for the last part please! :)