Help me with name pronunciations!

[BellaGirl]

I have a name that is hard to pronounce and I always dreaded the first day of school, when it would get its annual butchering. Anyhow, I really hope not to pass on the same affliction to my little girl that's due in two months!

We have had a terrible time deciding on girl names, but we've finally narrowed it down to just a few...only thing is, we're not sure if we're pronouncing/spelling the names right!!

How would you pronounce:

Emmeline
Adeline

I know how I would *like* them to be pronounced, but perhaps, I need to change the spelling to get the desired sound... I'm going for(phonetically) "Emma-leen" or "Ada-line"

Thanks in advance!!!

[hautemama15]

Well, Emmeline, IMO, would be pronounced Emma-line. Maybe you could change the spelling for that one, but Adeline looks right to me as Ada-line. Like both of them!!

[annasmom]

You could also get Emme(long e)-lin/line with the Emmeline spelling. Both are beautiful names by the way!

[mudder17]

I think Adeline looks like Ada-line. Emmeline could go either way. I suppose you could spell it Emmaleen. There's definitely no confusion for that one. :)


Eileen

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[janeybwild]

When I read them, I pronounced them Emma-lean and Adder-lean, but no matter how spelling proof you try to make them, there will always be mispronunciations. My family still can't get over that Dana is a soft ‘a’ sound and not a hard ‘a’ sound! And Megan gets the occasional Mee-gan. You've picked 2 pretty names, so good luck with your choice!

[jenny76]

Adeline has a long I, and Emmaline has a long E.

My middle name is Emline (combo of two of my great-grandmothers' middle names), and people are forever pronouncing it as "em-line" rather than "em-leen". It drives me mad!

[lizamann]

I would have pronounced them the way you wanted. Love those names, by the way!

[buddyleebaby]

I read them just the way you planned, and I think they are both very pretty.
I can totally relate w/having your name pronounced wrong all the time. (People still pronounce mine wrong 90% of the time.)
But sometimes you just can't avoid it. My dh for example, has a very simple, very common first name. It has never been mispronounced by anyone! Then one day we went to eat at the Olive Garden and the hostess (despite me correcting her three times) couldn't say it and had a look on her face like it was the weirdest name ever. It was so strange!

[KBecks]

I would pronounce them this way as you have them written...

Emma - leen

Add-uh-line

Is that right? I think that's what you are going for.

Good luck!

[MarisaSF]

>I'm going for(phonetically) "Emma-leen" or "Ada-line"

That's exactly how I would pronounce Emmeline and Adeline

[tarynsmum]

My neighbor's DD is Adeline and she reports (after I asked her when seeing this post a few minutes ago) that she has never had anyone pronounce it "wrong" (She pronounces it the way you do :Add-uh-line). Her DD will be 2 nex week, so I don't know how it would go in school though (since she's not old enough).

HTH!

[BellaGirl]

Thanks so much everyone!!! It's been a long seven months trying to come up with names we love. Now, all we have to do is choose one!! ...but that's for another post ;)

[almostamom]

I pronounced them exactly as you did. Honestly though, no matter how simple we may think a name is, someone will occasionally mispronounce it. Ex. My son, Reeve, was called "Riv-ay" at his last haircut - go figure! BTW, the names you have chosen are both really beautiful. :)

~Linda~
DS 11/9/04

[chiqanita]

Being a second grade teacher in my past life, I would ask the students to introduce themselves to me individually as I collected school supplies. It usually went well and I was able to hear how they pronounced their names.

Anyway, if I saw either of these names I would pronounce them as:

Emma-line (long i)

or

Ade-line (long i)

[Globetrotter]

I would say

Emma-leen

Adeline rhyming with Madeline.

Kris

[cara1]

Could you spell it Emmalien? Emmaleen? Emmalean?

[JElaineB]

Before I read the last part of your post I pronounced them exactly as you intended.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[tiapam]

Well, if you are really worried about pronunciation, I think I would go with a different name. Neither of them are very common. I would prononuce them Emma-leen and A-duh-line. If you change the spelling to get the desired sound, then it will be hard to spell and could still be mispronounced. Sorry, if this is not helpful, I am just playing devil's advocate.

What about Adele?

-Pam

DD - One year old!

[mcdonald29]

I would pronounce both as you intended, partly b/c I knew someone named Emmeline (who just went by Em). I'm not sure how you could change the spellings, though...

Reminds me a bit of different pronunciations of Caroline, a more "common" name. How do people deal with that? I guess "Carolyn" is another totally different pronunciation than what you're going for, and there's rarely a Carol-een sound. Hmmm...

[fortato]

I would just spell the name the way you want it to be spelled, because no matter how you spell it someone is going to get it wrong.
Trust me...

How can you screw up Kristen????? I've heard Christian, Christine, and had so many different spellings... I have never, ever in my 31 years of being named Kristen seen it spelled "Christen".

It's even worse now since I have my husbands last name...Kotrlik.
Yeah, that's been a joy. I went from Ellis to Kotrlik. And, it's pronounced exactly how it looks. Kot-eR-Lick.

So- go with how you like the name to look.. Either way, both names are beautiful.

Kristen (that's Kris-TEN)

[ribbit1019]

That is so funny Kristen, I am constantly being called Christina or Kristen, people can't wrap their head around Christine for some reason. People call me Chrissy occasionally, makes my skin crawl.

For OP, I saw Emma-line (long i) when I first read the post.
Ada-line (long i) was what you were thinking.

Though you would think I'd see een, since that is how my name ends.

Christy
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