Irene - pronunciation?

Irene should have both e's pronounced. That is the original way, as in Greek.
Irene without the last e is technically incorrect, although has been used often enough over the years in Britain for it to become normalised.
That's what we do.

I love the original Spanish pronunciation but it will always be i-reen In the UK I think

I would pronounce it with three syllables because my dads family are Greek and I have a cousin Eirene. I think it’s a beautiful name, said the Greek way. I imagine most people in England would pronounce it Eye reen, which is much less nice. But you would just explain the pronunciation and then people would know! I think it’s lovely.

Was never sure how one should order a Cockburn's Port so tended to go for a Brandy and Babycham.

Eye-ree-nee, but she'll be correcting people

Having said that Renee was Reeny in my parents' generation but now it's Run-ay

Irene in lovely

My grandmother’s name was Irene (3 syllables), and she was born around 1900. When I was born in the US to my English mum and American dad, I was given the same name, with the 3-syllable pronunciation. A lifetime of explaining it! This is the first time I’ve known that this pronunciation has been phased out, more or less, in the UK, and is virtually never used in the US.

There is no such name as Eye-ren-ee. It sounds silly pronounced like that.
Yes it can be. There was an old English actress called Irene Handl and her name was pronounced Eye-reen-ee. I agree it sounds nicer than Eye reen. If you want to use it OP you will just have to let people know that is how it is pronounced as I agree people will assume it is Eye Reen

I've never actually known an Irene butvi thoughtvit was pronounced eye-rene. The eye-ren-ee pronunciation actually freshens things up for me on it! But I do think therr would be a lot of corrections unless you change the spelling.

I always think of eye-ree-nee as the older pronunciation. If you spell it Irene, she will indeed be constantly correcting people. I would go for Irini or Eirene. But not Irenie, because that just looks made up.

Irene does not rhyme with Hermione!

My great aunt (long dead) was always known as Reenie, so I assume was an Eye-ree-knee.

I would 100% pronounce Irene as I-reene, never heard of any other way to say it. Sorry but she'll spend her life correcting people.

I was interested in the debate about the name Irene, pronounced [ai'ri:ni] as opposed to ['airi:n]. Any good dictionary will put the first, proper version first - let's say Eye-Ree- knee to make it easier. Any good dictionary will tell you that Irene (properly pronounced) rhymes with Hermione. It is a truly beautiful name. I would choose it for my daughter and teach her to make sure everyone she comes across knows that there were loads of women named Irene (as in Hermione) in the '1920s and '30s - ask your oldest relatives, they remember. Irene properly prounounced was the mythological Greek goddess of Peace and Tranquillity. Unfortunately, since a rather awful 1930's song where someone made sure Irene rhymes with dream (good-night Irene I'll see you in my dream), a few people forgot the lovely meaning of the original name, and how to say it. Time to put them right: "I don't suppose you've heard of JK Rowling? I don't suppose you know the name of one of her characters, Hermione? So my name rhymes with Hermione; if they still reckon you are mistaken or illiterate or something, refer them to any good, contemporary English dictionary.

It's Greek in origin and definitely pronounced as 3 syllables in its 'purest' form, and I suspect going back eighty or so years you would always have heard it like this.
However, in more recent times its become I- reen which is a shame as its not particularly nice whereas the 3 syllable version is far prettier.
I suspect because the name has departed so much from its original form, your dd would have a lifetime of having to correct people unfortunately.

I don't want to burst any bubbles but the first thing I thought for that pronunciation is irony.

Eye-reen, sorry but I think is awful, my ex mil is Irene, most nasty awful women you have ever met, even at the grand old age of 70 you still often hear her in tesco/town mouthing off threating to "knock your fucking teeth out" .... Classy

My mum's name is Irene, pronounced eye- ree- nee. I think it a lovely name and plan on giving it as a middle name to future DD, but I wouldn't give it as a first name as I think lots of people would pronounce it eye-reen, which is a) ugly sounding IMO and b) not my mum's name.

I went to school with an Eye-reenie. Her name was spelled Irene. Her mum was Greek.

I think chances are Irene would be pronounced EYE-reen. Both of them that I know, an older lady and a friend of DD2's, are EYE-reen.

If you want Eye-reen-ee then I agree with Nadia, use the spelling Eirene.

My cousin is Irene, pronounced Iren-ee and with an accent over the second e. That might be an option for you, OP. It's a lovely name.

The Russian version is actually Irina pronounced ear-ee-na (ok not exactly like ear, but like the first syllable of irrelevant).

My grandma was an Irene and it was always pronounced as eye-re-nee.

In the Damian Lewis version of The Forsyte Saga it's pronouced Eye-reenie (I think that's the 2002 version). I really like this pronunciation.

Greek Eirini is pronounced Ee-ree-nee (all ee's sound like the 'i' as in ink).
Much nicer than the English version Eye-reen in my opinion.

As several earlier postershave said, Irene (pronounced Eye-reen) is a recent English spelling/pronounciation of a very old name - Eirene (Eye-ree-nee), which means peace (and its goddess). It is most definitely not a different name. In the past in the UK, Irene was usually pronounced Eye-ree-nee. Ancient Greek names became fashionable among English upper classes in the 19th century- possibly due to all that public school education and also because ancient Greek civilisation and virtues were admired in 19th century UK (just look at all those magnificent Greek and Roman style grand buildings in Victorian civic centres).
I think Nadia's suggestion to use the classical spelling is a nice one.