How would you pronounce this?

[Soubriquet]

Book I’m reading.

Main characters name is Novikke. I don’t really care about the proper pronunciation as I will make it up in my head if it’s something I haven’t come across, but still. What an unusual name

No-veek-er

What nationality?

I think I might go for

No. Vick. Eh

No idea what nationality. It’s a fantasy book so the world doesn’t exist.

and that’s how I’ve been thinking

No-veek-ke

"No, Vicky" ['e ain't worf it!]

No-Vick

No-VEE-kay

No-vike

No-vick it's probably wrong though!

On first reading my brain went with noh (like the french no) vih-kay. As you say though, with no reference point it could be anything and therefore whatever you prefer at the same time.

It reminds me of when the Harry Potter books came out and I distinctly remember having issues with 'Hermione' - I'd never seen the name before and read the first few books imagining it was ' her-my-owe-nee' before an adult corrected it. I remember discussing it with a friend not that long ago and they confessed she'd thought it was 'hermy-one' (as in the number 1). Both of us reasonably intelligent so all a bit shameful really.

Good book, OP?

No-vik-eh

So far yes. I only started it yesterday.

Noh-vick

Nov-eek-e (hard E at the end)

dontgobaconmyheart, JKR put the bit in with Hermione telling Krum how to pronounce her name because so few people knew how to say it before the movies came out!
I used to say Herm-eye-one. 😁

I totally get this! It really niggles me if I can’t decide how I want to pronounce a character’s name.

My gut reaction was No-vick.
But I like No-veek-er.

No-vee-cookie

To throw a spanner in the works :)

I can't remember which one it was, but I remember some comedian once discussing novels that have been translated from Russian, with the original names obviously left unchanged, and he said that, if we're honest, most of us just mumble or make something up when we're 'reading' it using our inner voice!

Same

The double k prevents the final e from being a magic e (split vowel digraph), so the i remains short.

So Novike would be No vike (two split vowels), but Novikke only has one split vowel, and a weak one at that, so it would be something like
Noh vik
Noh vih kuh
No vik
No vih kuh

But where is the stress? 1st, 2nd or 3rd syllable?

JKR put the bit in with Hermione telling Krum how to pronounce her name because so few people knew how to say it before the movies came out!

Former MP Michael Portaloo always has to do the same when he meets new people.

Oooh, it’s sounds (looks?) almost Finnish to me. So, no-vik-e’, last syllable sounding like eh or a short breath in. Maybe?

There's a Finnish (male) first name Vikke which is pronounced just like Vic (eg, first syllable of Victor, Victoria, vicar, etc., or like Vicks Vapo-Rub), so I would kind of instinctively say NO-vic for this one. Or possibly no-VIC?

Well that's cleared that up then

Erm...

Is that not the same pronunciation as in the book? Her-my-oh-knee? That's how I always say it in my head.