Irene - pronunciation?

[smartypants1000]

We love the name Irene, but want it pronounced eye-ree-nee. Will she spend her life correcting people who say eye-reen?

Would you spell it Irenie to avoid confusion? I think so but dh thinks not as it "looks made up"!

I've never actually known an Irene butvi thoughtvit was pronounced eye-rene. The eye-ren-ee pronunciation actually freshens things up for me on it! But I do think therr would be a lot of corrections unless you change the spelling.

There is no such name as Eye-ren-ee. It sounds silly pronounced like that.
Yes it can be. There was an old English actress called Irene Handl and her name was pronounced Eye-reen-ee. I agree it sounds nicer than Eye reen. If you want to use it OP you will just have to let people know that is how it is pronounced as I agree people will assume it is Eye Reen

My grandmother’s name was Irene (3 syllables), and she was born around 1900. When I was born in the US to my English mum and American dad, I was given the same name, with the 3-syllable pronunciation. A lifetime of explaining it! This is the first time I’ve known that this pronunciation has been phased out, more or less, in the UK, and is virtually never used in the US.

Eye-ree-nee, but she'll be correcting people

Having said that Renee was Reeny in my parents' generation but now it's Run-ay

Irene in lovely

Was never sure how one should order a Cockburn's Port so tended to go for a Brandy and Babycham.

I would pronounce it with three syllables because my dads family are Greek and I have a cousin Eirene. I think it’s a beautiful name, said the Greek way. I imagine most people in England would pronounce it Eye reen, which is much less nice. But you would just explain the pronunciation and then people would know! I think it’s lovely.

I love the original Spanish pronunciation but it will always be i-reen In the UK I think

Irene should have both e's pronounced. That is the original way, as in Greek.
Irene without the last e is technically incorrect, although has been used often enough over the years in Britain for it to become normalised.
That's what we do.

Can’t believe this name is coming back! The older women I know who were born with this name all absolutely hate it and go by their middle names my late grandmother included. Every elderly client with this name I have had uses her middle name.

The op's Irene will be 8 now...

Iris and Ivy are back, so why not Irene.

@strawberrypenguin

I would say eye-reen it wouldn't even occur to me to pronounce it any other way, sorry.

Same here. I've never heard it any other way.

I have met Greek and Italian women who are called Irene/Ireni and the “e” sound on the end is pronounced. In English though Irene is just 2 syllables like most people have said. So I think you’d need to use the spelling Ireni in the Uk if you want that sound. I do have an Australian/Greek friend who spells it Ireenee, but I think this is because her Greek parents moved to Australia and knew how it would be pronounced using the usual spelling. I think it’s a bit of an odd spelling.

I went to school with an Irene pronounced eye-ree-nee. Nobody mispronounced her name.

I once knew an Irinie - pronounced the way you want and spelt Irinie.
I always thought how pretty it sounded.

I always knew that Irene Adler in Sherlock Holmes was meant to be pronounced I-ree-nee but have never heard it otherwise; I think it's one where the original pronunciation has been lost and everyone will always call her eye-reen I'm afraid. For what's it's worth I really like the I-ree-nee pronunciation though!

eye reen

I would assume it was pronounced Eye-Reen, had no idea there was an alternative pronunciation.

I know a woman called Iryna (she's Ukrainian), pronounced as you'd expect, eye-reen-a

I was named Irene (pronounced Irenie) after my maternal grandmother, and no one here in the US has ever heard that pronunciation before; they think it’s a nickname. I’ve learned to just deal with it and keep the original spelling.

Simply put, Irene (3 syllables) is a beautiful name. Irene (mispronounced 2 syllables) is also fine if you like it. Most people don't. Oxford Dictionary and Collins Dictionary offer both pronunciations as alternatives. Everyone named Irene before it fell it the hands of songsters (Good Night Irene I'll see you in my dream... ouch!) pronounced their name with all 3 syllables. It means the Goddess of Peace and Tranquillity. It conforms to the same 'knee' pronunciation at the end, as Ariadne, Hermione, Aphrodite, or just psyche. Or, actually your shoes: Nike. It is not exclusive to Greeks alone. Many Victorian and 1930s Englishwomen adopted it as a 3-syllable name, until people began to mispronounce it.

Cherish it, bring it back, use it. I teach my daughter to say, 'It's Irene with -ee at the end. Just like Nike.'

After all, if your name is Anne and everyone spells it Ann, you say, 'I spell it with an 'e'. What could be simpler?

Apologies, I meant the same -ee end-sound as in Hermione, Ariadne, Aphrodite, psyche, Nike

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FROM 2014

I’m living in Spain and it’s much more popular here than in the uk so I’m more used to the Ee-Rey-ney pronunciation. It’s not difficult for people to say so I think they’d get used to it quickly, especially if you use Reenee as a nickname. And if she ever moves to Europe it’s by far the more natural pronunciation for most people. My Nan’s sister (English, born 1920 ish) was a Reenee. I always thought it was lovely.

I know an Iryna not quite the same but a nice name.

I pronounce it Ih-reh-neh

3 syllables