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Original poster

How would you pronounce Anthony?

133 replies

igglepiggle599 · 25/02/2025 22:16

I'd love to use the name 'Anthony', but I've heard a lot of people (especially in the States) pronounce it using the 'h', which I really dislike. Is this likely to be a common problem?

I do get very bothered by certain pronunciations. I've already ruled out the name 'Anastasia' because I hate the way many people pronounce it with four syllables (An-uh-stay-zhuh instead of An-ah-stay-see-ah).

I'm aware that it can also be spelled 'Antony', but it just doesn't look quite right to me!

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caringcarer · 01/03/2025 14:35

When are was at s jool a boy in my class was called Anthony he pronounced it anth ony. Another child was called Antony so pronounced Ant on ee. That is how I thought it was pronounced ever since.

JaninaDuszejko · 01/03/2025 14:02

I'm Scottish and would pronounce the 'th'.

TheWordWomanIsTaken · 01/03/2025 12:36

I'm in England and I would say Anth-on-ee.
If it was spelt Antony I would say Ant-on-ee.

Pumpkincozynights · 01/03/2025 07:05

Antony is how I pronounce it.
I have heard people recently say An th ony and wondered why this was as back in the day nobody pronounced it that way.

HoppityBun · 01/03/2025 01:54

Emanwenym · 26/02/2025 13:15

How old are those saying it as Anth?

It has been a popular name in the UK for a long time - for actors (Hopkins,Newley etc), Prime Ministers (Eden, Blair..), noveilists (Horowitz, Trollope etc), schoolteachers, historians (Beevor), school principals (Seldon), etc.
All are referred to as Ant-ony.

According to @labtest57 no-one in the north east has heard of these people

Crystal12345 · 01/03/2025 00:07

I’m in North east England also and always thought it was two separate names! My stepdad it Anthony and we pronounce the “th”

SunshinePleaseReturn · 26/02/2025 18:48

Or sometimes it's pronounced Aaaaaaaaaaaan'knee in certain parts of UK.

SwedishEdith · 26/02/2025 17:59

I honestly thought the th pronunciation was people being ignorant about how to pronounce it when seeing it written down. Ant (of Ant and Dec) seems to have survived the NE th sound.

Spidey66 · 26/02/2025 15:18

My cousins son is called Anthony and his name has always been pronounced with h he h. He was named after his dad but he's always known as Tony.

Emanwenym · 26/02/2025 14:44

(I stand by the hard t sound being correct for both though!) Me too.

I don't think MN is a true representation of how a name is said usually in the UK.
All the youngish Anthonys I know go by Ant, the older ones Tony.

An Antony will probably be saying 'no H' a lot.

MorebattleBroke · 26/02/2025 14:27

Anthony comes from the Latin Antonius and is pronounced with a "T" instead of a "TH" in Europe.

This is also why the common nicknames are Tony and Ant, rather than Thony or Anth.

Now, the confusing thing is, our British version throws in an H for some reason, whereas most other European countries skip that H.

The obvious fix is to just drop the H if you want to call your kid AnTony.

honeylulu · 26/02/2025 14:07

I think part of the confusion is that there are two spellings so some will assume two pronunciations. (I stand by the hard t sound being correct for both though!)

I thought the posters who mentioned Anfernee were joking and I had to look it up. It's a real name! Though considered a variation due to phonetics. I wonder if the same has happened with names like Niamh and Neve (although I'm willing to be corrected if these are both original names in their own right). I've just remembered that I once met a "Sharlotte" as well.

I'm an Elizabeth and although I like the name, it gets subjected far too often to sloppy pronunciation. I now use a diminutive as I got sick of being addressed as "Lizberf" - my secondary school teachers were the absolute worst for this. Hopefully it won't give rise to a new phonetic name!

TheodoraCrumpet · 26/02/2025 13:49

In my experience the majority of British Anthonys say it with a t rather than a th. And most of them end up being called Tony.

HoratioNightboy · 26/02/2025 13:38

Concur with Scottish PPs that the 'th' sound is what's most commonly used here.

Saying that, I acknowledge that the original pronunciation was the 't' sound, in line with other European language cognates, but the name has fallen victim in some areas to the same change that befell Catherine (formerly pronounced Kat-rin). Other names like Thomas and Esther have preserved their 't' sound and so has Anthony in some areas, but given that Scots, Irish, American and Australian speakers of English on this thread have said they mostly use the 'th' sound, it appears the 't' is a decreasing minority now.

Emanwenym · 26/02/2025 13:15

How old are those saying it as Anth?

It has been a popular name in the UK for a long time - for actors (Hopkins,Newley etc), Prime Ministers (Eden, Blair..), noveilists (Horowitz, Trollope etc), schoolteachers, historians (Beevor), school principals (Seldon), etc.
All are referred to as Ant-ony.

erichawktuah · 26/02/2025 10:06

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labtest57 · 26/02/2025 10:01

I'm in the North East and have only heard it pronounced with the th sound. Even the local girls school is pronounced that way.
I noticed in the Royle Family, Jim always produced it Anthony, while the others used Antony.

MinnieCoops · 26/02/2025 09:56

DH says An th on ee

Drive me mad if he ever says that name. It's An ton ee

Emanwenym · 26/02/2025 09:51

@Mariannassa , 'Antony' is the usual English pronunciation of Anthony.

Why on earth would we say Antem and Antology when those are not the usual pronunciations?

Mariannassa · 26/02/2025 09:43

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UnderHisEeyore · 26/02/2025 09:22

I've noticed this more on television programmes. I did wonder if it is due to the spelling - some would put Antony to lower confusion but we all know people tend to stick to whatever they've heard before.

Maybe pick a single syllable name to avoid issues?

ToBoneOrNotToBone · 26/02/2025 08:48

th pronounced in my family - Scotland if that makes a difference. And I've never known him to have to correct people don't must be fairly common.

Completelyjo · 26/02/2025 08:37

An-thon-ee

I’ve genuinely never heard it pronounced another way.

I thought antony was a different name?

romdowa · 26/02/2025 08:35

I'm irish and here it cam vary but the worst pronunciation here is ant nee. It really depends on the accent local to you

Toolatenotdone · 26/02/2025 08:34

https://forvo.com/word/anthony/#google_vignette