Please or to access all these features

Baby names

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

Louis or Lewis?

34 replies

Perplexed0522 · 25/05/2022 07:13

Posting here for my sister as she doesn’t have an account.

her baby boy is due in 3 weeks and she knows he will be either a Louis or a Lewis but she can’t decide which.

She knows they are pronounced differently but she loves the sound of both.

I think she is worried that Louis is belong too popular now.

What are people’s thoughts?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Perplexed0522 · 03/06/2022 08:24

My sister said thank you all for your input and they’ve gone with Lewis 👍

OP posts:
MyView2 · 27/05/2022 17:12

I think Lewis goes better with Aaran along the Scottish Island theme (I appreciate the place Arran has a different spelling.) Skye and Harris for her next two children. 😁

pitterypattery00 · 27/05/2022 17:01

I prefer Lewis, it's a lovely name and relatively popular name in Scotland.

miltonj · 26/05/2022 15:11

Lewis! Because you don't really hear it any more Louis' are everywhere.

pinklavenders · 26/05/2022 15:09

I know Louis is a French name and therefore the S is not pronounced.

However many non French speakers choose to pronounce it phonetically to fit with their own language. Hence it's pronounced Lou-is in the US (the city in Missouri) and in many European countries. It's fairly popular in Germany right now and also pronounced Lou-is.

For this reason the Louie spelling has become more popular outside of France!

KirstenBlest · 26/05/2022 14:47

It's pronounced Louie @pinklavenders

pinklavenders · 26/05/2022 14:40

Louis is much more classy. And it's Lou-ee

I French yes.

Many people outside of France choose to pronounce it Lou-is.

caringcarer · 26/05/2022 14:23

Louis

Plumbella · 26/05/2022 14:22

I have a little boy called Louis (Loo-ee) but he's always called Lewis so it doesn't really matter!

MaggieFS · 26/05/2022 14:19

Definitely Louis, pronounced Lou-ee.

Trafficjamlog · 26/05/2022 14:16

Louis is much more classy. And it's Lou-ee not Lewis

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 25/05/2022 12:18

Louis is so so much nicer.

BlueChampagne · 25/05/2022 12:09

I prefer Lewis, but that's my Scottish blood.

pinklavenders · 25/05/2022 11:08

Your argument is irrelevant

Well, thank you. I thought the op might like to hear different opinions?

DuchessOfSausage · 25/05/2022 11:04

@pinklavenders , who cares. David, Robert and Richard are pronounced differenly in France, but they have a standard UK pronunciation. Your argument is irrelevant

mistermagpie · 25/05/2022 11:04

Louis would get called Lou-ee quite a lot I think.

Lewis is a very common name where I live (Scotland) but I think it's the easier way to spell it so he's not constantly correcting people.

pinklavenders · 25/05/2022 11:01

Prince Louis is pronounced Louie.

Yes, but many others pronounce it Louis. In many European countries and in the US it is pronounced Lou-is.

That's probably why Louie is becoming the more popular spelling in the UK

FuoriComeUnBalcone · 25/05/2022 10:57

Louis seems much more sophisticated to me.

Perplexed0522 · 25/05/2022 10:55

Thank you everyone, I’m forwarding on your comments 👍

Shes also got two other children, another boy called Aaron (pronounced a-run to rhyme with barren) and a daughter called Phoebe.

My sister said it gets harder with each child she has as she’s having to consider whether it ‘goes’ with the other children’s names 😂

Aaron is 9 and wants to call the baby Rex because he loves dinosaurs 😂

My sister has said a firm no to that 😂

OP posts:
Sittingonthefence83 · 25/05/2022 10:19

Lewis, I think Louis may get mis pronounced
Lewis is a strong name I really like it

DuchessOfSausage · 25/05/2022 09:43

@pinklavenders , Prince Louis is pronounced Louie.
In the UK, that is the usual pronunciation.

pinklavenders · 25/05/2022 09:07

Louie - if you want Lou-ee

Lewis - if you want Lou-is

Louis is French and many outside of France will say Lou-is. The city of St Louis for example is Lou-is.

DuchessOfSausage · 25/05/2022 08:22

names.darkgreener.com/#louis
names.darkgreener.com/#louie
names.darkgreener.com/#lewis

Louie seems a more popular spelling but if you combine Louie and Louis the name will be very popular. I don't like the Louie spelling

The graph shows a decline in popularity for Lewis but that's probably due to a surge when a certain racing driver was big news

lemons44 · 25/05/2022 08:10

I grew up with somebody called Louis but it was pronounced 'Lew- is'

Greenpurplepalm · 25/05/2022 08:08

Much prefer Louis, has a much nicer sound
to it and looks better written down. I only of one school aged Louis

Swipe left for the next trending thread