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louis or louie ?

58 replies

bethjoanne · 01/10/2012 19:21

hi i love the name louie/louis for a boy.

which spelling do you prefer?

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halloweeneyqueeney · 02/10/2012 16:07

everyone pronounces Louis Vuitton lou-ie!

halloweeneyqueeney · 02/10/2012 16:08

has anyone ever heard anyone refer to a Lewis Vuitton bag?

lisaro · 02/10/2012 17:06

evamummy So how does that explain the song 'Meet me in St. Louis'? Of course people (unless they're a bit thick) don't mispronounce Louis as Lewis. And sonniebonnie - That's wildly incorrect.

usualsuspect3 · 02/10/2012 17:09

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cupcake78 · 02/10/2012 17:10

It's on my list as well, Louis

usualsuspect3 · 02/10/2012 17:10

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usualsuspect3 · 02/10/2012 17:11

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halloweeneyqueeney · 02/10/2012 17:13

its a bit like saying you should spell Joseph Joesef incase it confuses one person out of a thousand and they say "josep-eh"

sonniebonnie · 02/10/2012 22:06

Of course Louis Vuitton, being French, is pronounced the French way - I bet most non-French couldn't spell Louis Vuitton correctly, though!

St Louis is generally said LEWIS and Louis Armstrong calls himself LEWIS
in the song Hello Dolly in the refrain HELLO DOLLY , THIS IS LOUIS{LEWIS}
DOLLY.

fromo · 02/10/2012 22:18

I know 5 Louis-s. All pronounced Louie and all British. Don't like the look of Louie.

usualsuspect3 · 02/10/2012 22:20

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annasophia · 02/10/2012 22:23

We have a Louis and pronounce it Louis (with the s). I wouldn't call us idiots Shock. And I wouldn't assume that most people would pronounce the name the French way. It is quite a popular boys name in Germany currently where everyone pronounces it as Lou-is.

Viviennemary · 02/10/2012 22:26

I was also thinking about that song Meet Me in St Louis. The musical was on TV not long ago. And pronounced Lou-ie. I would never dream of pronouncing Louis as Lewis. Lewis is a completely different name.

annasophia · 02/10/2012 22:26

Seems that some Brits like to sound 'French' Smile. (The French, on the other hand, would never NOT Frenchify an English name Grin!)

The rest of the world, however, seems quite happy to pronounce Louis the phonetic way.

edwardrocks · 02/10/2012 22:26

I have a Lewis , often known as Louis/louie. We were pleased to find out my great grand father in Scotland was christened Lewie. Another option or more confusion?

usualsuspect3 · 02/10/2012 22:27

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Ouchdownthere · 02/10/2012 22:44

I have a Louis, pronounced Louie. More often than not pronounced Lewis in Dr surgery etc. Must admit didn't cross my mind that would be the case.

Having a name myself that can be pronounced two different ways I might have reconsidered choosing Louis, I hate having to always correct people on how my name is pronounced and often just let it go if they dont pronounce the 'right' way after one correction. That said, I love the name Louis still and Lewis ain't bad either. Grin

usualsuspect3 · 02/10/2012 22:53

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Buglove · 02/10/2012 23:01

Well seems I'm in the minority but I have a Louie, I didn't want to be forever correcting or pronouncing. I love it Smile

Viviennemary · 02/10/2012 23:05

Of course. Once I was told how a child and or his/her parents wanted a name pronounced then I'd pronounce it that way.

deste · 02/10/2012 23:28

My DF is a Louis pronounced Lou-ee but for some reason his sisters called him Lewis.

SomersetONeil · 03/10/2012 07:32

I'd say the jury's out on Louis Armstrong. He may have pronounced it once as Lou-is in Hello Dolly, but there's a strong chance, this being pre-Civil Rights, that he was just told to pronounce it the way other people thought it was pronounced.

In any case, all his peers pronounced it Lou-ee. YouTube Ella Fitzgerald singing Mac the Knife, and she pronounces it Lou-ee, as just one example. Plus, it's slightly odd that he's known worldwide as Lou-ee Armstrong, his friends, family, peers and musicians all called him Lou-ee, and yet the one example of Lou-is in Hello Dolly is trotted out as if this is definitive proof that he was Lou-is and not Lou-ie.

People should call their kids what they want, and spell it however they want, but it seems a bit obtuse to use Louis Armstrong as the case for pronouncing it Lou-is.

annasophia · 03/10/2012 12:05

Yes, absolutely people should spell and pronounce their however they want!

Some of the comments earlier in the thread, suggesting that there is only ONE way of pronouncing Louis correctly and that anyone who pronounces it the non-French way was an 'idiot', seem very narrow minded imo.

poppydaisy · 03/10/2012 14:39

I know an (English) Louis pronounced Lou-is as well as one whose parents prefer the French way, Lou-ee. If you want the French pronunciation, it might be safer to go with Louie - no confusion there Smile.

LemonBreeland · 03/10/2012 14:44

Louis, yes there are some who will say Lewis, but it is wrong.