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Original poster

Irene - pronunciation?

108 replies

smartypants1000 · 23/04/2014 23:24

We love the name Irene, but want it pronounced eye-ree-nee. Will she spend her life correcting people who say eye-reen?

Would you spell it Irenie to avoid confusion? I think so but dh thinks not as it "looks made up"!

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Serious88 · 24/07/2022 19:41

I still think the honourable 'Whataretheodds' person could buy herself the Oxford English Dictionary (not the simplified version) or go to her local library and check 'Irene' for herself, before being so sure in her wrongness. A good dictionary is the best source of what counts as right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable, in use or not in use.

MinglingFlamingo · 21/07/2022 18:00

Irenée

Renée with an I in front

handbagsandholidays · 21/07/2022 16:11

I read this as E-ren as I've seen it spelt like that and pronounced like that frequently in recent times. I know traditionally it is pronounced as Eye-reen though! X

IsadoraQuagmire · 21/07/2022 15:08

PriamFarrl · 21/07/2022 14:11

I came to say Irene Handl but you really do need to be of a certain age to remember her.

Show quote history

Well, thats not true, I'm 25 and Irene Handl has always been one of my favourite actresses (I was quoting some of her lines from School For Scoundrels only this morning)
I know this is a zombie thread, but the Eye-ree-nee pronunciation is SO much prettier.

obsessedwithsleep · 21/07/2022 15:06

Eyereenee in the Forsyte Saga spelt it Irene. I think it's a lovely name.

Trinity65 · 21/07/2022 14:54

I knew an Irene once

I said it as Ei Reen

Pluvia · 21/07/2022 14:36

Several Eyrenees I can think of. Irene (pronounced Eyreenee) in The Forste Saga. There was for years a woman called Irene (Eyreenee) Thomas who appeared in TV and radio programmes:
www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Irene+Thomas&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
And one of my great-aunts, who was Irene pronounced Eyreenee. I think it was considered slightly posher than the standard Eyreen.

quietnightmare · 21/07/2022 14:31

Whataretheodds · 21/07/2022 14:18

AaRGH zombie !

How does this happen? 🤦🏾‍♀️

FluffyFlower · 21/07/2022 14:23

My immediate reaction was to pronounce it the way it would be in Spanish..

RockinHorseShit · 21/07/2022 14:19

You need Eirene for that pronunciation

Irene is always "ire reen".

Whataretheodds · 21/07/2022 14:18

AaRGH zombie !

Whataretheodds · 21/07/2022 14:17

Youdontneedacriminallawyer · 23/04/2014 23:42

It's Eye-reen. There is no such name as Eye-ren-ee. It sounds silly pronounced like that. Sorry.

You're pretty confident in your wrongness

nohopenoharm · 21/07/2022 14:16

One of grandmother's closest friends (born around 1915, both now long deceased) was Irene pronounced Eye-Ree-Nee. Midlands area. It wasn't until adulthood that I realised it could be pronounced any other way. Such a pretty name and she was a really wonderful lady too, brings back many happy childhood memories for me.

PriamFarrl · 21/07/2022 14:11

fidelineish · 24/04/2014 14:00

Just remembered Irene Handl. She used the three syllable pronounciation.

I came to say Irene Handl but you really do need to be of a certain age to remember her.

Serious88 · 21/07/2022 14:10

PS - not the simplified learner's dictionary but the full dictionary, or the printed version

Serious88 · 21/07/2022 14:04

Also, if anyone is interested in checking 'Irene' in the Oxford English Dictionary, all the people who have 'never heard of it' will find out that just because they haven't heard of it it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist as a three-syllable alternative. It's just so simple to check if something is correct.

On a similar vein, the French may insist that 'The Weekend' should be pronounced 'louis Ke'n'. It doesn't mean that this is the only acceptable pronunciation in the whole of France.
😉

TheFallenMadonna · 21/07/2022 13:52

Irene Adler from Sherlock. Irene Handl the actress (showing my age...). If I saw it written down, I would probably go with Eye-ree-nee first off and see if I was corrected.

sakura06 · 21/07/2022 13:47

My great-grandmother was 'Irene' pronounced how you'd like. My grandmother and mother have her name as a middle name. My mum hates it. I think it's quite beautiful!

Theoldwoman · 21/07/2022 13:46

Ireenie!!! Are you serious? Never ever heard of that pronunciation.

RedRec · 21/07/2022 13:44

This little Irene will be seven or eight now.

Blackberrybunnet · 21/07/2022 13:42

I love "Eye-ree-nee" but hate "Eye-reen". The only "Eye-see-nee" I ever knew spelled her name Irenee, if that helps (even though I know if pronounced correctly that would be "EE-re-nay"). Sorry, accent won't show on this post.

Bbq1 · 21/07/2022 13:38

squoosh · 23/04/2014 23:40

I always thought the eye-ree-nee pronunciation was a pet version of the name. I would guess 99% of people will pronounce it as eye-reen.

Me too. You can still use it Op but you will have to spell it phonetically it the Greek way. Irene by itself isn't great but Irinee is pretty in a similar vein to Margot which I love.

Serious88 · 21/07/2022 13:04

Totally agree with Luredbyapomegranate above. Though 'zombie thread' implies dead people walking with jerky uncoordinated moves. When it's just a case of people feeling passionately about this:

Irene (3 syllables) is a living name not a dead one. It's Irene (2 syllables) that is no longer the living name. As the Oxford Dictionary includes both ways to say it, equally, and as the lovely 3-syllable version is generally preferred by people in this thread, we could declare the 3-syllable version the winner and be happy to call our children Irene as in I - Rene, goddess of Tranquillity.

Luredbyapomegranate · 17/07/2022 12:40

Although this is a zombie thread Irene really should be revived.

The proper pronunciation is Eye-ree-nee and I think as it hasn't been used for such a long time hopefully it will come back like that. Much nicer than Eye-reen.

Twixchocolate · 17/07/2022 12:36

My grandma was Irene (Eye-reen)
Never heard of it being pronounced any differently.

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