Louis but not Walsh

[ailsanddave]

We're thinking of Louis Robert. Any comments? Surname Smith. Thanks

[honeylamb]

Oohh I love the name Louis!

[Kayano]

Robert Louis Stephenson? Is that a person?

Cos that sprung into my mind

[ailsanddave]

Yeah, he invented the steam engine. Louis is the name we are thinking of, Robert is a family name; maybe he'll be a little inventor...

[MelinaM]

Louis is lovely

[Kayano]

I do like it
My Grandad was actually called George Stephenson so I think it's cool

[SlinkingOutsideInSocks]

Why do you say 'but not Walsh'? Surely that's a given? Or do you mean not pronounced the way Louis Walsh pronounces it?

I like Louis pronounced Loo-ee, not Lewis.

[GirlBabs]

Louis Walsh's actual name is Michael. Louis is his middle name! I really like Louis and don't think of Mr Walsh; I think of the French kings.

[Dutchie77]

I like Louis!!

[CurwySwide]

Louis is lovely - pronounced Louee not Lewis

[rachel234]

Why would you pronounce Louis the French way (I know Mr Walsh does so too), and not the German, English or Dutch way (all Loo-is) for example - I don't really get this love for French pronunciations in England.

In America St Louis is pronounced St Loo-is and even Mr Armstrong called himself Loo-is.

[tammytoby]

I know a Louis who's name is pronounced Loo-is, so I don't think all English speakers pronounce it the French way.

Louis Smith would sound like Loo-is Smith anyway because of the S surname.

[MorallyBankrupt]

I truly despise Louis said loo-ee. It's my most hated name.

Lewis on the other hand I like.

[TheCrackFox]

Lewis is a bit meh. Louis is much nicer.

[mayanna123]

Not sure what you mean with "Louis but not Walsh" - do you mean not pronounced like him?

I actually agree about the French vs English/German pronunciation of Louis - we don't normally drop our 's' like the French, so why do so with Louis, it sounds a bit 'try hard' to me. I know a Spanish Luis, also pronounced Loo-is.

[othersideofchannel]

Lou-ee is the French pronunciation of "Louis".

I think in English speaking countries incl the US it is pronounced Louis (like the city of St Louis). Louis Armstrong, when referring to himself in "Hello Dolly!," pronounces his name as "Lou-is" ("Hello, Dolly. This is Lou-is, Dolly"), pronouncing the 's'.

I prefer the French pronunciation, but not sure about giving it to a boy growing up in an English speaking country.

[ailsanddave]

Thanks for the comments. We just meant that Louis Walsh wasn't the inspiration for the name! We are in Ireland and I think here it would always be pronounced Lou-ee. We don't want a first name that ends in 'S' when the surname starts with 'S'.

[mathanxiety]

Lou-ee is the nicer pronunciation imo. Goes very well with Smith.

If Charlotte has the French pronunciation then so can Louis. And most Margots are Margo (silent T).

[othersideofchannel]

My German aunt is Margot, pronounced Mar-gott. Again, it is just the English who pronounce it the French way, like escargot.

And Charlotte in German/Dutch/Swedish/Norweigan is Char-LOTTE.

[mathanxiety]

But in Britain and Ireland, it is the French pronunciation that predominates.

[poppydaisy]

I know two Louis's, one pronounces his name Loo-is, the other Lou-ie, so I think both (French and English) pronunciations are acceptable, but be prepared for people to mis-pronounce his name at times.

[sqweegiebeckenheim]

real name Michael! really??!!

[GirlBabs]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Walsh