Anaïs

[Middleagedmotheroftwo]

How would you pronounce Anaïs?
(Using phone, so for the avoidance of doubt, I have written it with an umlaut over the i.

I would say An-eye-ees, but a friend has named DD this and calls her Annay, which seems wrong to me.

Eh? I can't see an i

It's Ann-Aye-Ees. But I do remember the perfume Anaïs Anaïs being referred to as Annay Annay by people who didn't know any better.

I'm sure you're right, but I know people who call the perfume 'annay annay' so we may be out numbered.

I know 2 Anais'.

One is pronounced An-ay like the perfume, the other is An-eye-ees.

They are both a similar age but from 2 completely different circles of friends.

And having already nailed my massive pedant colours to the mast, I will go on to tell you that the two dots in Anaïs are a diaeresis, not an umlaut. You're welcome!

Bluestocking, is that Aye as in Aye aye Sir?
Or rhyming with Hay?

I know one pronounced:
Ann-ay-iss.
It's pretty!
Annay.... Well that's just odd!

Thanks Blue - isn't "umlaut" the German for "Diaeresis", or have I got that wrong??
If I'm wrong, what is an umlaut?

There's a good explanation of diaeresis vs umlaut here.
I would have rhymed the middle syllable with "hay" but having listened to some "pronounce this word correctly" websites I think that it should sound more like Anna-Eece.
What a minefield! I hope your friend's DD doesn't feel burdened with a name which people will mispronounce.

Well blow me down! I've been wrong for the last 40 years! Thanks for correcting me, and for TBI link. V interesting.
Friend did not know there were two ways of pronouncing name until I opened my big mouth!

She told me baby was called "Annay". I said I'd never heard the name before. She said its French, and like the perfume, and before I could stop myself, I said " Oh, you mean Ann-eye-ees!". Could have kicked myself - she looked a bit miffed.

I would have said Anais before reading through the whole thread!

Do you want to have explain pronunciation & correct spelling a lot? Then go for it

OP as previous poster says, there are v helpful websites with sound-clip pronounciations by native language speakers. Here is one - as previous poster wrote, the three French speakers say (approx) Ann-ah-eeess: www.forvo.com/word/ana%C3%AFs/#fr

Dd2 has a friend called Anaïs.

She is called Ann-ace at school, generally, but her mother shudders whenever she hears that. Her family all say An-eye-eece, but you can't dictate what manglings other people will come up with over time. Her brother goes by a nickname, as the mum could not stand the awful pronunciation of his name, and so would rather he is called something else entirely!

Thanks Flora, but I know how to pronounce it correctly!

Assuming you mean Anais, not AnaA s yes, it is pronounced An-eye- eese.

Middle I once worked with an utter arse of a woman who told me she loved Ver-says perfume and her DH always gave her some for Christmas. I said I'd never heard of it, she got it out of her bag and and I said 'oh, you mean Versace! It's pronounced Versarchy, it's Italian. not Ver-says.^

We then had a rather strained conversation about why I was right she thought you could say it either way if you wanted to, and how I was being unreasonable, and then she flounced. We were not friends to start with but we were definitely not friends after that.

I would always have pronounced it A-Neece but purely because that's how it sounds to me inside my head iyswim!

But the perfume is definitely Annay Annay, I'm sure there was a TV ad for it back in the day where it was pronounced like that at the end.

I remember an ad for the perfume where the voiceover said 'an-ace an-ace.'
I think most people would say 'Ann-aye-eece' though.

The perfume was not Annay Annay - it just ended up being called that by ignorant people in the UK.

What Bluestocking just said!

The only one I know pronounces it Annay

Very sorry, OP, I didn't mean to suggest that you didn't know. Your original question makes it clear that you do. I was just offering the link for general information, and to add to the general chorus of posters who were saying 'ann-ah-ees', 'ann-eye-ees' ...

No worries flora