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Baby names

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Original poster

Nickname or alternative name to Aurelie

36 replies

sunrise55 · 19/06/2016 13:15

Hello,

Actually my demand doesn't concern a baby name, but I admit I have the feeling to be like a desperate mum looking for a compromise... I moved in uk recently and I feel very uncomfortable with my name Aurelie. Since the beggining, when I say Aurelie (pronounced as Aw-rel-ee or O-rel-ee) I have the feeling to say "oh really". So when I introduce myself I have always the feeling it is understood as "Hi my name is oh really nice to meet you". Then I discovered also the trouble of "Orally" pronunciation Hmm

Anyway, at each time I feel people here in uk does not understand it and I hate this barrier... I would like to make them and me comfortable...

So I thought of course about Aurelia, but the "oh really" and "areola" trouble is still here. Plus my friends (not british, in uk since 10 years) never heard about it Angry

I am now lost between changing my name for another one close in term of pronunciation or a nickname.

  • if Aurelie is pronounced for you as Aw-ree-lee-uh, I thought about Arielle, which seems similar in the pronounciation and more easier to understand( actually I already tried it and it seemed fine for people in front of me), but to read? And my friends told me it was totally different from my name (but my friends absolutely don't understand how I feel Angry
  • if nickname... it is strange, but I have more difficulties to appropriate it to me. I am used to be called by a name in 3 syllabs starting with A and ending with something light. I have for the moment: Ellie, Laurie, Aurie/Aury, Rory, Ray,Raylee, Riley Blush

Do you have other ideas? What's your feeling about my issue? Many thanks if you can help or just give me your feeling!

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Original poster
sunrise55 · 30/06/2016 09:54

Many thanks for all your answers. Guess what, I transformed Aurélie on my resume by just Aurelie and I have now answer calls to my applications! Probably it should inconsciously stop english (or foreigner but not french) people. For the moment english people who just saw my name written (on my resume for ex.) called me Aurelia (or Aureli-uh, but honestly I don't heard a big difference).

So it's pretty much a good news :)

OP posts:
YokoUhOh · 25/06/2016 20:35

My (French) friend is Aurélie. Her NN is Lili.

Honeybee79 · 25/06/2016 20:34

Keep your full name - it's gorgeous.

If not, Lia?

Bex134 · 25/06/2016 08:10

Aurelie is a beautiful name, it does not make me this of 'oh really'.

The sound aur is totally different to oh. I don't think you need to worry or change you name.

nooka · 25/06/2016 07:29

I looked up the proper French way to say Aurelie and I can see how that might be heard as 'oh really' by many English people. I don't think you should change it though, as you may find it hard to recognise that people are talking to you, and most people you work with will pick it up even if they pronounce it a bit differently - most likely Oh-ray-lee. I think the best thing to do is just to change how you introduce yourself, so 'Hi, nice to meet you, my name is Aurelie' is much less ambiguous.

Raines100 · 25/06/2016 07:25

Regarding the kind of 'e' sound, the only other Aurélie I've ever met was a French au pair living in the UK, and she pronounced her named similar to 'orally' with a short o as in pot (ô) and the é just became a schwa. It sounded natural in English, but I would advise against turning your beautiful name into anything that sounds like 'orally' as it could have dubious connotations!

Aurélia is becoming much better known over here (and it's the au that causes confusion, not the é!) and we pronounce that au-RAY-lia, stressing the middle syllable. As the é is truest to your name, I would go with that. Au-Ray-lie is perfectly easy to say in English.

Footle · 25/06/2016 06:53

Or you could just call yourself Bob...

1horatio · 24/06/2016 08:50

Aurelie is soo lovely. The nn lee come to mind? For Aurelia the nn Lia (lee-uh, for an English pronounciation) would be cute.
My names is Léontine (but the fam says Leontina and since moving to the UK I've stopped using the accent, it caused people to butcher the name, it sounded like LAAY-ON-tiiin). So, I personally think trying to find a nn makes sense. But pleease don't change your name. It's too pretty!!

Original poster
sunrise55 · 22/06/2016 11:43

I mean, if you would choose this name for your daughter, what would be your natural pronounciation?

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Original poster
sunrise55 · 22/06/2016 08:40

Thanks a lot for your answers, I feel more confident now Smile You really gave me lots of nn examples and I am convinced I will use one them a day depending of the job I will have to do (ex. international customer service/phone calls etc.).

I also suppressed from my resume and all things written my acute accent (coma) on Aur élie. A friend told me it could be difficult for english people to understand it.

Regarding to your pronounciation of the sound ray, as in french the sound of é would be translated as in eternity. Is it like the "ray" of sun (thus, with the y sound as in rayon) or is it just as in "r elevant"? Because of some of you wrote, I have the feeling you would pronounce it as in ray of sun.

Would a majority of english people pronounce it as ray of sun or eternity ? It is not a big problem, but I am interested to know how does it come naturally for you.

OP posts:
ChickadeeChick · 20/06/2016 20:24

Aurelie is a beautiful name, you're very lucky. If I were you I would just pronounce it in the way you would in France. It's your name, it would be ignorant of others to not learn how to pronounce it.

NovaArt3mis · 20/06/2016 19:50

I love the nickname Rory however I'm with the 'keep your name' crowd.

The people who matter will learn to say it. It's a beautiful name.

Nevlet · 20/06/2016 19:40

Aurelia was picked as our girls name (but we are having a boy!) nickname was going to be raley - prounounced ray lee

Allalonenow · 20/06/2016 15:37

If you're not keen on Ray/Rae as a nn, how about Lee,? It's cool and unfussy and easy to remember, everything you need in a nn.

Aurelie is a lovely name.

ILoveGreekCats · 20/06/2016 15:22

I don't speak French but maybe as Footless said it's the pronunciation of the 'r' that is causing confusion. The language in the country where I live also has a lot of emphasis on the 'r'. When I say my name I have to overemphasise the 'r' sound. Don't give up and whatever you do please don't change your name! Good luck in finding a job! !

Raines100 · 20/06/2016 15:07

I speak French badly and agree that changing the French r to an English r should solve your problem, and perhaps shortening the first sound to make it more natural. Aurélie is a beautiful name, and you should not feel you have to change it, but it will make life easier if you announce it with a pronunciation that English speakers can copy.
My suggestion (feel free to ignore) would be to pronounce it or-RAY-lee, changing the 'au' to 'or' as in door/more and stressing the middle syllable to avoid sounding like 'orally'. It would then rhyme with 'or Hayley'. Or persevere with your normal pronunciation. Some Brits will have come across it, I'm sure! Smile

Original poster
sunrise55 · 20/06/2016 14:41

ILoveGreekCats, my friends don't absolutely understand my problem and I think this is probably because my pronunciation (and my stress (I'm looking for a job)).

OP posts:
Original poster
sunrise55 · 20/06/2016 14:37

You're right, I am too focusing about that... I will train my english pronunciation, the issue is very probably there. Thanks a lot!

OP posts:
Footle · 20/06/2016 14:04

The vowels aren't really a problem, but I have a French daughter in law living in England with an r in her name. She has modified the French r into an English one, as she found that any confusion was caused by the r.

ILoveGreekCats · 20/06/2016 13:56

In my opinion just pronounce it the french way. I really don't think you need to over analyse it! What do your friends think?

Original poster
sunrise55 · 20/06/2016 13:50

Wow thanks for all your answers, I am very very glad to read all your feelings about this name Smile

Regarding to your answers, I think thus to try again with my name for the moment and eventually transform into Aurelia or one of the nicknames you suggested me if I see it is really difficult for others. And will definitely start introducting myself with "Hi nice to meet you" FIRST Grin

But how do you pronounce it exactely in english? Perhaps my pronunciation is not correct and that's why nobody understand. I saw lots of posts about Aurelia and Aurelie pronunciations here, but it is still uncertain to me.

CourtJester suggested: au-rell-ie (longer pronounciation of the 'rell' in the middle). I'm not sure to well understand, do you have an example of another word with the same pronunciation? Do you mean insisting on the RELL in the middle (=strong LL) or more to make longer the -e as: rEEEEl ? As AureLLie or AurEEEElie ?

Au= as AUstralia? or more as AUdrey?
Rell= -e as RELevelent ? (so, not a -ee like in feel or really)
ie= a long -ee as in feel? or a short as in verY ?

I think also perhaps my -l pronunciation was too plane (in French everything is super plane haha), I am improving that.

Sorry for these questions... and thanks in advance Smile

OP posts:
CourtJester · 20/06/2016 10:54

I love your name, it's stunning! I had no problem pronouncing it when i saw it written down, but i understand your concern about saying it outloud (although personally i wouldn't worry about it, friends and people you know well will come to know it properly)

Although if you insist you could try...
au-rell-ie (longer pronounciation of the 'rell' in the middle)
Aurella (same pronounciation, but ending in 'a' rather than 'ie' might make it sound less like 'oh really')
Aurelia (Becoming mroe of a popular name in the UK so would probably have less issues, but it's only adding the 'a' on the end)
Ellie and Rey both work well as a nickname too :)

Sophronia · 19/06/2016 23:21

Rae?

LadyMumble · 19/06/2016 19:56

Aurelie is a beautiful name. I have a friend named Aurelie (who is also French and, seemingly like you, speaks excellent English with a French accent), I have never made the connections that you are making on hearing her say her name. Perhaps your accents are from different regions, but I doubt that many English speakers would consistently make the same link as you are making. Aurelie is a name that flows delightfully, it would be a shame to lose it.

That being said, if you are set on making a change, Coralie is a name that is very similar in sound to yours (although slightly harsher imo), so may be easy for your ear to recognise as being used to mean you. Or Lee / Leigh would be a natural nn as the suffix sound of your original name.

RedToothBrush · 19/06/2016 19:41

Keep your name. Its beautiful.

Use a nickname and give it 5 years. Aurelia / Aurelie will be much more common, and people will start being a lot more used to it. Trust me!