My husband is Tamil (Indian) and we need a Tamil name that English people (including myself) will be able to pronounce easily.
I really like Amalie, but there's no set spelling for it in the Roman alphabet, and we need a spelling that will encounter the least mispronunciation.
It's essentially the same as the French Amelie, but my husband insists the second syllable is an 'a' not an 'e' (even though they sound the same in this context). People would also assume it's just the French name if we spell it that way.
My question is, would you pronounce Amalie the same as Amelie, or would you assume it's Am-aa-li? And if it's pronounced the same as Amelie, does Amalie look like a chavvy misspelling that's been done just to look interesting?
I'm also open to any other less ambiguous spelling suggestions...