Hussar
Legend
Honestly? I think it's more the fact that Nayto sounds better. Nahto sounds like a Japanese thing you put on rice. And it tastes godawful. Also, since we tend to stress syllables with long vowels, it rolls off the tongue better. NAY to is just easier to say. But, then when I say that, it does tend to support the whole THAY co thing too since we do stress the first syllable, even when we pronounce the first syllable with a short a sound.Well, NATO's pronunciation could be based on the word "Nation". But not on the word "National", I suppose...
It's ... complicated. Wibbly wobbly and all that.