Casimir - help with pronunciation

[jillianmaye]

My husband and I have both decided we like Casimir. Hurray, we agree! I didn't really think of pronunciation at first - I read it as "Kaz-i-meer" (short a and short first i, long e sound for the second i). Cas, like raspberry, imir like Vladimir is commonly pronounced here. Neither my husband nor I are of Polish descent, we just like the name and the meaning. I am wondering now if I am pronouncing it "wrong" and if that would be an issue. I tried to look it up online and it sounded like if we were in Poland the vowels would be a little different - the a should be an "ah" and both the i's should be "ee", but it didn't sound drastically different. I mentioned the name before and I know there were a few berries with relatives named Casimir/Kazimir, etc., and I'm wondering how they pronounced it and if the way I was thinking sounds Anglicized or "wrong". Or if any berries in Illinois (where I hear you celebrate Casimir Pulaski Day) are familiar with the way we commonly pronounce it in the states? Any scientists who discuss the Casimir Effect? What I'm trying to figure out is if there is a "common" American pronunciation. I guess some exotic names just sound different because of accents, and some are actually changed because of different sounds in different languages. If I just sound like an American saying the name that's fine, but I don't want to butcher someone's language. Maybe I'm over-thinking this, but I'd rather figure it out sooner than later if there is an issue.
Thanks!

[lucystone]

In Chicago it's traditionally pronounced "Caz-meer" or "Cass-mir". In Poland, I've heard it pronounced "Caz-ah-meer" and "Caz-ee-meer". I can't tell you which one is specifically correct, as the pronunciation depends as much on country/city as it does on region/neighborhood of the respective country/city.

[bigdaddy]

I read it the same way you described it in original post. I can only imagine some people reading it would think Cashmere. It's bound to happen but should be tolerably infrequent.

[wildrose]

It is pronounced Kaz-meer, you don't pronounce the middle 'i'. It was my grandfather's name, he was Polish.

[alibaby]

Casimir is our boy name as well and I too have been on the hunt for proper pronunciation!

Wildrose, is the "a" in "Kaz" long or short? I do like Kaz-meer better than Kaz-eh-meer, so thanks for that.

My great grandfather was Casimir, so I could ask my grandmother, but we keep our name choice a secret until the birth, so I don't want to ask because I'm afraid it would be obvious why I'm asking. I do know that my great grandfather's nickname was Cass. We're planning to use Kaz as the nickname because that's my husband's name spelled backwards. (But the spelling of baby's full name will be Casimir... if baby is a "he", that is!)

Thanks for this thread!

Alison