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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how you pronounce Amelia

389 replies

moonlightmile · 19/04/2017 03:08

DD is called Amelia. Most people I know seem to pronounce it 'ah-mil-yuh', which is how I have always said it. However, we have recently moved to a completely new area and EVERYONE here pronounces it 'ah-mee-lee-yah', which imo sounds so so annoying. I know I am probably being pretentious not liking the way people say it, but I never realised it was pronounced like that!

Is this the normal way and I've always been saying it wrong??

OP posts:
passingthrough1 · 20/04/2017 19:57

Scotland32 I think Aleesha for Alicia because of Alicia Florrick (Good Wife), but actually thinking about it your way / the conventional way is nicer.

cauliflowercheese14 · 20/04/2017 20:07

I live in an area with a very strong accent, which I don't share. My daughters names are both pronounced 'wrongly' to my ear by almost everybody and even worse, they now pronounce them this way themselves. My fault for not thinking of this when I named them! I still pronounce their names how I prefer but essentially you do lose control of all this once they're out in the world! They also call each other shortenings which I would never have predicted and again I have no control over this.

car5ys · 20/04/2017 20:10

Second pronunciation for me as well, 4 syllables so sound all a-me-lee-a Smile

Teatimebear · 20/04/2017 20:10

Never ever heard it the first way, only the second!

debbiew21 · 20/04/2017 20:25

I guess it is all down to regional pronunciations, as many names are. A shortened version of my sister's name is used by her husband and everyone she knows in the area she now lives in but sounds wrong to my ears.
Another example is "Michelle": in South London when I was growing we all pronounced it MEE-shell, like in French, with the emphasis on the first syllable, as opposed to Mi-SHELL, with the emphasis on the second.
Back to the OPs question, I've lived in both the south and now the north of England and only ever heard A-MEE-LEE-A.

Fuxfurforall · 20/04/2017 20:32

A-me-lee-a.

ijustdonotknow · 20/04/2017 20:32

The only Amelia I know has pronounced her name Ameeleeyah for over 80 years. I've never heard different.

TwelveTwentyfour · 20/04/2017 20:41

Can't believe there are 14 pages of chat on how many syllables there are in Amelia.

Persephone70 · 20/04/2017 21:08

Only ever pronounced it a-meel-ee-a here, the same as Delia, Celia, Ophelia. The pronunciation illustrated in the OP just makes me think of Del boy's 'milyuns'! Sorry, OP! 😆

SecretsInSpitalfield · 20/04/2017 21:12

Same! Lol!

Million - milyun

William - Will yum

Amelia - Amilya

😂

honeyfull · 20/04/2017 21:20

Fuck sake.

It is of no consequence tomorrow.

Put down the wine there folks. NOW.

lostintranslation73 · 20/04/2017 21:35

a-mil-yuh. it's obvious!

PidgeonSpray · 20/04/2017 21:38

The way you say it op, it should be spelt Amilia?

I have always pronounced Amelia as "a-mealya"

MopedManiac · 20/04/2017 22:14

Sorry OP prononced the 2nd way in Australia. With, of course, a typical Australian twang at the last syllable!

IDoNotHaveTheFoggiest · 20/04/2017 22:47

2nd - 1st way is odd and I've never heard it said that way before

Vigbymumparis · 20/04/2017 22:57

I have always pronounced Amelia as "a-mealya"

Me too: rhymes with Delia, stress on 2nd syllable. 'Ah' for the first syllable sounds like trying to be posh/foreign to me (says the posh-ish woman living in a foreign country!)

Vigbymumparis · 20/04/2017 22:59

Oh and by the way, this thread may be mad, but when you've got Marine Le Pen on the radio making political capital from the terrorist attack that just happend it's a perfect distraction Sad.

WanderingNotLost · 20/04/2017 23:09

A-me-li-a. How it's spelt, in other words.

Original poster
moonlightmile · 20/04/2017 23:36

Spoog
Yes you are being pretentious. Guessing you are English and you can't expect a foreign pronounciation of a name that is common in English usage.

I'm not English Confused and I don't expect anyone to pronounce it differently to how they're used to, I'm just not used to the accent here and I was wondering if that was the way you're supposed to pronounce it.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 21/04/2017 07:21

rhymes with Delia

See, this is where these threads all fall down. I also pronounce Delia the same as Amelia but A-MEE-lee-a and DEE-lee-a rather than A-mealya

user1492757084 · 21/04/2017 08:33

My daughter is called Amelia. Most people say Ah-meal-ee-uh.

JumpingJetFlash · 21/04/2017 08:59

The people saying that in America they use the first version because Owen does in Greys' - he's Scottish and a number of Scottish people have said that they pronounce it the first way - I wonder if that's why rather than it's American?

Verbena37 · 21/04/2017 09:07

A-Mee-lee-a

Cassns1 · 21/04/2017 09:38

Hi, we all say it the 2nd way too. Never heard it prounouced "Ah-mil-yuh"

Cassns1 · 21/04/2017 09:45

Sorry post to soon. Guess it's all down to preference and dialect. We have an Emilia and pronounce it E-meal-ee-a. X