A nurse has been left reeling after being told she pronounced the name Liam wrong - so how would you say it?

Lindsey Foster, from the US, admits she's bad with names because of her strong accent - but says she was sure even she couldn't butcher the simple word when she saw it on her patient's file.

Ms Foster was feeling confident when she called out the boy's name in the waiting room - but it didn't go down well with his mum.

Sharing the story on TikTok, she explained: "I'm a paediatric nurse and I'm from the Deep, Deep South, so I butcher everybody's name.

"If it's not something super simple like Ben or Sally, I'm gonna butcher it.

"So, I see a kid's name on our computer and I say 'oh, Liam, I got this. L-I-A-M. Liam. Easy'."

But Ms Foster said she went out and called the kid's name, but "nobody moves".

"(I) call him again. Nobody moves. Call him again nobody moves," she said.

RELATED: Most bogan baby names revealed

"Finally this mum stands up and says 'do you mean 'Yum?' And I say 'no, Liam?' and she said, 'Yeah, it's short for William.'"

Ms Foster, who was pronouncing the name like "Lee-um", then did a mind blown gesture and added "boom". She labelled the video #namefail.

The video has been watched more than 3 million times and unsurprisingly not everyone is on board with the mum's pronunciation.

One commenter joked: "My son's name was Liam. His new name is Yum."

While a second wrote: "As a mum of a Liam, I am perturbed."

MOST POPULAR AUSTRALIAN BABY NAMES

While previously popular for years, Liam is no longer one of the top 10 baby name choices in Australia, according to McKrindle Research.

Instead Oliver is the most popular choice for boys while Charlotte is the number one name for girls.

More traditional names such as Jessica are declining in popularity as parents favour more unusual names such as Luna, which rose from the 62nd spot to 49th in popularity during the last 12 months.

TOP TEN FOR GIRLS

1. Charlotte

2. Olivia

3. Amelia

4. Isla

5. Mia

6. Ava

7. Grace

8. Willow

9. Harper

10. Chloe

TOP TEN FOR BOYS

1. Oliver

2. Noah

3. Jack

4. William

5. Leo

6. Lucas

7. Thomas

8. Henry

9. Charlie

10. James

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Mum roasted over bizarre name choice