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I live in Louisiana, and names with french origins are very common here. So we all know how they're pronounced.
I'm worried that a publisher will want me to change the name as it may not be so obvious to some people how to pronounce Thibodaux (tih•buh•doe). I don't want to have to change the name after I write the whole book.
Would this be a problem?
I don't think this would be a problem, personally.
If you do find that your beta readers are struggling to pronounce "Thibodaux", or a publisher advises that the name may be an issue, a simple solution would be to include a sequence in the book where another character pronounces it wrong and Thibodaux corrects them.
As an example, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire includes a sequence where Hermione tries to teach Viktor Krum how to pronounce her first name. JK Rowling later confirmed that she included that scene because she found that a lot of fans were pronouncing "Hermione" wrong.
