Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

How would you pronounce...

65 replies

turquoise88 · 21/10/2017 17:53

...Evelyn?

I love Ev-lin but not so keen on Eeev-lin/Eve/Evie or any other variation.

Will I constantly be correcting people on the pronunciation of DD2’s name?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Lunathemoon · 23/10/2017 08:26

Diego my point was most people do say Ev-uh-Lyn without even realising as it's pretty hard to say Ev-Lyn...I was just highlighting that no emphasis is put on the 'uh' sound

NotAgainYoda · 23/10/2017 08:12

Ev uh lin actually

NotAgainYoda · 23/10/2017 08:11

I mean Evah lin

Sorry

flowery · 23/10/2017 08:10

"But some people pronounce the r in ever. So when they read that back, it sounds very different to how those people intended it to sound. Which makes writing it down how you pronounce it kind of useless, huh?

Better to write "ev-uh-lin", then there's no ambiguity depending on the reader's location."

You're absolutely right. I can never work out whether people who claim to have no idea why anyone would put an r in a word like this when writing it phonetically (for them) are being deliberately obtuse to make a point or have genuinely never realised that a large proportion of the country have non-rhotic accents where car rhymes with ah. I've seen plenty on MN claim the latter!

Waddlingwanda · 23/10/2017 01:45

That's Eev-Lin by us. We're in Cheshire btw.
I love the name pronounced Ever-lin but we decided against it as around here nobody would pronounce it like that. I think it depends where you are.

SuperBeagle · 23/10/2017 01:30

Evelina is not eev-leena or ev-leena. It's ev-eh-leena. Would make sense for Evelyn to be the same.

DiegoMadonna · 22/10/2017 23:15

Well, the name is pronounced Eev. Not Ev.

That's why I said "so it has to be eve-lin or ev-uh-lin".

Lunathemoon · 22/10/2017 22:18

But you don't pronounce the E on the end of Eve either🤔

DiegoMadonna · 22/10/2017 21:13

Ev-lin doesn't make sense to me tbh. There's an e in the middle, so it has to be eve-lin or ev-uh-lin/ev-eh-lin, surely?

Lunathemoon · 22/10/2017 21:10

But I can see where the Ev-uh-Lin comes from as saying Ev-Lyn quickly does sound like that I suppose

Lunathemoon · 22/10/2017 21:09

It's my daughter's name and we pronounce it Ev-lin...only since moving to England do the occasional person say Eve-Lyn but generally only need correcting once

DiegoMadonna · 22/10/2017 20:54

No one has said it has an r in it. People are writing how they pronounce it.

But some people pronounce the r in ever. So when they read that back, it sounds very different to how those people intended it to sound. Which makes writing it down how you pronounce it kind of useless, huh?

Better to write "ev-uh-lin", then there's no ambiguity depending on the reader's location.

cushioncovers · 22/10/2017 20:39

Ever Lin

flowery · 22/10/2017 20:37

"Except that Ever-Lyn is a different name altogether - Evelyn doesn’t have an r in it"

No one has said it has an r in it. People are writing how they pronounce it.

DramaAlpaca · 22/10/2017 20:33

We've a couple of Evelyn's in DH's (Irish family). They are both pronounced Ev-lyn.

UsernameInvalid66 · 22/10/2017 20:31

I've known one Ev-lyn but a lot more Eev-lyns (all female). I'm not sure which I prefer really.

HoratioNightboy · 22/10/2017 14:23

I think it also depends on where you stay, OP. From previous threads it seems to be mainly Ev-lin in Scotland, and either Eev-lin or Ev-uh-lin in other English-speaking places.

Eev-lin seems to be pretty consistent for boys though, wherever you are.

MikeUniformMike · 22/10/2017 13:38

I'd pronounce it Eevlin

ShowOfHands · 22/10/2017 12:08

I think we need a disclaimer on all threads explaining the difference between rhotic and non rhotic accents.

Non rhotic accents pronounce ev-uh and ever the same way.

Basically, mumsnetters aren't very good at spelling things phonetically

Not a MN thing at all. Just an accent thing.

DiegoMadonna · 22/10/2017 12:00

Except that Ever-Lyn is a different name altogether - Evelyn doesn’t have an r in it

I assume the people saying "ever-lin" pronounce ever as ev-uh. (where the second syllable is a schwah as mentioned by a PP). They are wrongly assuming that everyone pronounces ever this way, which can get quite confusing.

Basically, mumsnetters aren't very good at spelling things phonetically.

scroogem · 22/10/2017 11:58

I did always assume that Ev-lin was just people saying Ev-uh-lin very quickly. Whereas Eve-lin is like a whole different name.

lljkk · 22/10/2017 09:12

"I’m finding it hard to know the difference between Ev-lin and Ev-uh-lin though. Surely if you say it at a normal speed it’s basically the same?! "

Er, no, not the same. One has 2 syllables & other has 3 syllables. (My 95 yo Aunt is Ev-lin).

BoredOnMatLeave · 22/10/2017 08:56

Where are you from OP? Just out of interest, as when I say Ev-lin and ev-uh-lin they are very different. I'm south east and would say Ev-uh-lin

BernardBlacksHangover · 22/10/2017 08:53

I noticed you'd said it was for a girl op. But, I thought it was always ev-uh-lin/ ev-lin for a girl. Eve-Lin for a boy.

Mum2OneTeen · 22/10/2017 08:51

Ev-ell-lin

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.