Just watched Louis Theroux

And spiderlight, the fact that English people think the name is spelt Louie (rather than Louis) proves the same point: if the name had an 's' our (non French) brains want to pronounce it.

Just because the French don't pronounce their 's' at the end of some words, doesn't mean we (English) need to copy them. No other language would not pronounce Louis without the s. It is Lou-is in German, Dutch, Spanish and probably many other languages too.

Should we also pronounce Hugo without the 'H' or Charles without the 's', just because they do so in France ?

My OH is a Louis and nobody ever pronounces it like Lewis - the only error he encounters is that people tend to spell it 'Louie'.

Mathanxiety, thank you! I was actually worrying about how I had got through life not knowing how to pronounce Thomas! Am very relieved to find it's just my Irishness!

Crikey Teapot, think you might be a tad oversensitive here - venom? Dogfight? What thread have you been reading?!?!

Has it touched a nerve with you or something?! Or do you not 'get' English tongue-in-cheek comments?

This is a light-hearted discussion about a name and the frustrations when people mispronounce it.

Chill my dear!

Yeah, I did think some of the posts were mean.

That's interesting about LA. Do you know why he pronounced his "s" in "Hello, Dolly" ? Maybe there was an inside joke or something because he really emphasizes it.

I don't have a dog in this fight but I can't believe the venom on this thread.

In case anyone's interested, in American English, Louis and Lewis are variant spellings of the same name, with the "s" pronounced. I have known many people named Louis and I have never, ever heard them say it the French way. We do pronounce it the French way when we talk about French people but that doesn't mean anything there are other names that exist in both languages (like Robert) with different pronunciations. I find it interesting that it's obviously so different in the UK. In America, it would be a serious affectation to say "Lou-ee" it's just not a French name to us.

It's ridiculous to even type this, but I will in the name of cross-cultural understanding. The s's in both St. Louis (Missouri) and Louis Armstrong are pronounced. Many people say St. Louie affectionately, and we all know Pops went by Louie. But get out your "best of" CD and listen to "Hello, Dolly" once again and listen for the "s."

"This is Lou-is, Dolly. . ."

Couldn't be clearer.

I really like Louis and it was on our top 2 if we where expecting a DS

Goes so well with Frederick as well x

St Louis

(sorry for hi-jack)

ReadyFreddie - actually - St Louis is pronounced St Lewis by people from there (my aunt is one of them)

I do like the name Louis (pronounced the French way)

I love the name Louis too and have called DS2 Louis. Maybe just as much after Donald Duck's nephew than Louis Theroux

But be prepared for DS1 to find lots of variations (Has Louis done a poo-ey? Can I call him LouLou?) And you will feel a bit worried whenever you see Pineapple Dance Studios.

But what will all that mean in 10 years time?

If you listen very carefully to Louis Theroux when he introduces himself, you can hear he has VERY posh pronunciation (being ex-public school).
"How d'you do? Lweh"

I love Louis, was on my list. I have an Isla and she often gets called 'Izla'!

Shame about Louis Walsh though.

Oops sorry for misspelling of first Louis!

Yeah, St Loius in the US is pronounced Saint Lou-ee. My American colleague are all just back from a week of meetings there and all called it Saint Lou-ee. The American singer Louis Armstrong is pronounced Lou-ee.

And what's the way Gemans might pronounce it got to do with anything?! How many Germans do people called Louis meet on a daily basis?

Ha ha my little Louis got up this morning and told me he's very cross because so and so at school calls him Lou - i and he's not Lou-i he's lou-ee.

'It's pronounced Lou-ee. How can people not know this??'

People are obviously completely ignorant of history (The French Revolution, anyone?. I'm baffled by it too. But really, Lewis the Fourteenth, Lewis the Sixteenth? It's a French name and not an obscure one either.

(Although, being Irish, I do pronounce Thomas with a TH at the start... But in my defence, in Irish Tomás has that TH sound.. And 'St. Louis' is pronounced both ways in the US)

I think Louis and Frederick are fabulous together. Very regal.

I have a Louis (lou eee) and he's a proper little dude.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone german mispronounces Louis, but I am very surprised at the number of English people who do. There is only one correct pronunciation in English and that is Lou-ee