Pronunciation Questions

[lyndsayjenness]

I thought we could use a thread where we could all ask how to pronounce things we're not sure about... I hope I'm not the only one who ever has this problem!

Evie... is it Eve-ee or Ev-ee?

[erinpurple]

To me its Eve-ee.

Great thread! We know I have pronounciation issues! Joaquin and Imogen...Ha!

[cora]

Imogen is Im-mo-jen, with an I, not an E. :-)

[lyndsayjenness]

Imogen is the same for me, I love it!


I'm glad you say Evie Eve-ee. The only Evie I've ever known said it "Ev-ee" and I don't think that's cute at all. I wonder what the standard is.

[cora]

I'm thinking that there really isn't a standard, but it's instead up to what the parents prefer. I'm guessing that some parents of an Evelyn may use Ehv-ie if they want the nickname to sound like Evelyn, while others may choose Eev-vie. I think it's just as individual basis thing, you know. I've heard Eevie more than Ehvie, and prefer Eevie, but Ehvie's pretty, too.

Are you thinking of an Eve name? They're so pretty!

[lyndsayjenness]

I think you're probably right about that, Jill. I much prefer Ee-vie, though. Ehv-ee sounds ugly to me, but that might be because the one I knew was a serious brat.

I'm not really thinking about an Eve name, though I really love Evangeline and Eve.

[cora]

I'm with you on Ehv-ie, Lyndsay. It's far to close to "heavy" for me! :-)

[melissa2]

Sorry, ladies, I'm in the Eh-vie camp. It's probably due to my proximity to Cajun country, where their icon is Evangeline, pronounced locally as eh-VAN-ge-lynn. Also my friend's grandmother was named Evie May, also pronounced Ehvie. Fortunately, I don't hear "heavy" at all; I do, otoh, hear "TV" when people say "Ee-vie."

As previously mentioned, Imogene is pronounced "Emma Jean" for me, and Imogen would be "Emma Jenn." (In the South, we don't make much of a distinction between short e and short i; the words pin and pen sound exactly the same here.)

[ricamaca]

how about Emmeline?

I've been saying Em-a-lynn...is this right?

[lyndsayjenness]

I say Emma-leen, I really don't know the right way.

What about Lettice? I say Let-eece, so that it sounds more like Letitia than Lettuce... but I know that some people pronounce it like Lettuce, which is right?

Also, Ione? Nameberry says eye-OWN, but I can't help saying eye-own-ah or ee-own-ah