Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Baby names

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

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Just watched Louis Theroux

45 replies

ReadyFreddie · 03/02/2011 23:19

and have fallen in love with the name Louis!

My baby is due in 3 months (we don't know what we're having) and haven't found The Boy's Name yet.
My son is called Frederick and I just googled Louis Theroux to discover that his son is also called Frederick!

So what do you think of Louis? And does it go nicely with Frederick?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

saintlyjimjams · 03/02/2011 23:21

I have a Louis and a different child with a middle name of Frederick. SoI'd say go for it :biased: I think I added Louis to the list after watching Louis Theroux as well

BustleInYourHedgerow · 04/02/2011 00:30

Yes I like Louis. I have a friend Louis and although it's an unusual name around here, he gets no grief for it.

saintlyjimjams · 04/02/2011 07:51

Be warned though people will try to spell it louee and pronounce it as Lewis

OnEdge · 04/02/2011 07:52

i know a gorgeous Louis

gorionine · 04/02/2011 07:54

I know a Louis, is a right little character (in a good way!) Lovely name!

kreecherlivesupstairs · 04/02/2011 09:02

I know about eight louis. One little boy that my DD went to school with was called Louis but his mum put an extra e on the end so he was called Louise. Poor little sod, to make it worse, she was Thai and had registered him in his english dad's absence. No chance to change the birth cert.

rachel234 · 04/02/2011 11:08

Would you pronounce it Lou-ee or Lou-is? I agree people will need to told/educated because it is slightly ambiguous in English.

(In French you don't have that problem as the s is always silent). (And in German and Spanish you'd always pronounce the s).

Original poster

ReadyFreddie · 04/02/2011 11:26

It's pronounced Lou-ee. How can people not know this??

OP posts:

saintlyjimjams · 04/02/2011 12:36

I am always staggered when people pronounce it Lewis. I am sometimes to be found muttering about this.

KirstyJC · 04/02/2011 12:47

We called DS1 Louis after Louis Theroux!! And yes, people CONSTANTLY get it wrong. The best was at a hospital apointment when the nurse called Lewis and I said 'It's Louis actually' and she said 'no it's not - says Lewis here'.

When I pointed out how I knew my own son's name thank you very much she gave me a filthy look and I overheard her talking to the doctor later - saying 'watch out for the mother she's really arsy 'cause she can't pronounce her son's name....'

When I saw the doctor after this I pointed out that a) the nurse was being incredibly unprofessional speaking about a patient's relative like that, b) a bit thick to think a curtain had magic soundproofing qualities and that I wouldn't hear her and c) was wrong to argue with me as I know how it is pronounced, it is a common enough name - 16 Kings of France, anyone?

So, moral of the story is - Louis is a lovely name, I am very glad we chose it...but be prepared to get annoyed

Original poster

ReadyFreddie · 04/02/2011 12:53

Kirsty - UNBELIEVABLE!! Some people are just plain stupid.

What are your other children called?

OP posts:

ratspeaker · 04/02/2011 12:54

I'd say Louis as Loo-ee
Lou-is is more the way they pronounce it in USA, like the city St Louis

AllieW · 04/02/2011 13:25

I hope the doctor apologised to you, Kirsty. The nurse was definitely in the wrong (on both counts). Lou+ee sounds nicer anyway. I think the other pronunciation sounds more like a surname.

KirstyJC · 04/02/2011 13:45

Doctor apologised and looked really embarrassed actually - I felt sorry for her, not her fault the nurse was a cow!! (and she was, had dealings with her before - think 'battleaxe' and you'd be right!)

We really weren't expecting people to get it wrong actually - when we said the name to the registrar when we registered him she immediately asked 'is that spelt LOUIS' so it never occurred to us some it could be pronounced any other way!

Surely if you want to call a child Lewis, you would spell it L-E-W-I-S, no?

Our other child has a three letter name that you couldn't get wrong if you tried!

mopsyflopsy · 04/02/2011 15:32

In French you'd pronounce Louis as Lou-ee.

In English (and Spanish and German), however, we tend to pronounce consonants at the end or words. For example Lois, Augustus etc. People will therefore pronounce Louis as Lou-is. I'm surprised some of you are surprised by this.

Yes, you can insist on the French pronounciation of names (e.g. Louis without the s or Margot without the t) but you can't blame people if they sound out the name phonetically correct.

KirstyJC · 04/02/2011 16:37

I think it's reasonable for a reasonably common French name to be pronounced correctly in England though, isn't it? As far as I know there is no name spelt LOUIS pronounced with -s at the end in English, as the English name pronounced LEWIS is spelt that way.

If you saw Jacques you would say Jack, not Jacks wouldn't you? And I can't believe people would say MARGOT with the T, that's a well known name in English pronounced MARGO.

And actually I don't blame them for initially getting it wrong (although it really bugs me), but I do blame them for arguing about it with me and insisting they're right!

Original poster

ReadyFreddie · 04/02/2011 16:44

Agree with Kirsty. Totally disagree with you Mopsy.

What about Sean? Niamh? Isla? MARGOT! Never heard (and can not believe that anyone would) pronounce the T at the end. Would you pronounce Thomas with a TH at the front?

It's called common knowledge!

OP posts:

LoneRanger4 · 04/02/2011 16:54

I have a Lewis, spelt L.e.w.i.s because that's what I wanted. Said Lewis hates it - calls himself Louis, spelt Lewy. Sometimes you just cant win. Louis is fab by the way, suits any age and goes great with Frederick.

mopsyflopsy · 04/02/2011 17:01

Well, maybe it is my German background that is making my brain want to prounounce the s in Louis and the t in Margot (where it IS pronounced Mar-gott)

rachel1970 · 04/02/2011 17:30

My nephew is Louis and while most people get it right, a few do pronounce it Lou-is (as in St Louis). Still a nice name .

saintlyjimjams · 04/02/2011 17:31

I wouldn't be surprised if someone german mispronounces Louis, but I am very surprised at the number of English people who do. There is only one correct pronunciation in English and that is Lou-ee

Original poster

ReadyFreddie · 04/02/2011 17:43

St Louis is pronounced St Lou-ee. As in the film, Meet Me In St Louis.

OP posts:

LJBanana · 04/02/2011 19:45

I have a Louis (lou eee) and he's a proper little dude.

mathanxiety · 05/02/2011 01:21

'It's pronounced Lou-ee. How can people not know this??'

People are obviously completely ignorant of history (The French Revolution, anyone?. I'm baffled by it too. But really, Lewis the Fourteenth, Lewis the Sixteenth? It's a French name and not an obscure one either.

(Although, being Irish, I do pronounce Thomas with a TH at the start... But in my defence, in Irish Tomás has that TH sound.. And 'St. Louis' is pronounced both ways in the US)

I think Louis and Frederick are fabulous together. Very regal.

saintlyjimjams · 05/02/2011 08:14

Ha ha my little Louis got up this morning and told me he's very cross because so and so at school calls him Lou - i and he's not Lou-i he's lou-ee.

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread