How would you pronounce Bleu?

[Iknowacrackingowlsanctuary]

Ok, friend of a friend had a little boy a few days ago and announced name of fb. I ended up seeing the announcement because friend of a friend commented on it.

They've named their baby Bleu. Am I going mad? That's pronounced like Bl-er isn't it? Like Corden Bleu?

All comments are saying how lovely it is and how he is their 'little boy blue.'

I didn't say anything and then our my friend mentioned that her friend had had a little boy and named him Blue. I said "oh like the colour?" and she said "yes, but they've spelt it the french way, think it's Bleu"

I said that Bleu isn't pronounced Blue but Bl-er and she looked at me like this -->

Isn't this baby going to go through life with 'Bl-er' as a name or have I got it really wrong?

If I saw it written down in this context I would know it was intended to be pronounced Blue, but in my head I'd say 'bleugh'. It's really very silly, like writing it 'in French' makes it a more valid name when it's a colour.

Quite a few people on here know someone called 'Bleu (wrongly) pronounced Blue'. I'm hoping you all know the same one!

I pronounce names the way people tell me they are said. People where I live have adopted names and words from other cultures/languages and changed the pronounciation to fit their language. No problem with that, certainly a lot less poncy than insisting it's said the native way when they have no native links.
There's something about French that people get really snobby about saying words/names totally correctly and any alternative is a big social no no. A lot of speakers say it with a hint of a u sound, not the rgh at the end that just sounds like an English person unsure where the word really ends, it's similar to Blu.
Not that it really matters. Their baby, their choice.

That doesn't work when you see the names written down.

And no matter what way people say they are pronounced, the letters have to actually make the sounds you are claiming they do, in some language. I can't tell you that my kid is called Bob, spelled T-R-A-C-Y, can i?

And "their baby their choice" is an asinine response. Not like the poor child gets a choice.

I agree with you OP.

Why spell the word the correct way, but pronounce the English translation.

Yes Bleu is French for Blue, but spelt the French way it's Bluh/Bleurgh/Blerr.

People who do this to their kids are ignorant with pretentious tendencies. And chippy when you get it 'wrong'.

Not like the poor child gets a choice.

Agree with this^^ really. I love unusual / 'different' sounding names, but unusual / alternative spellings like this one could so easily be interpreted as being ignorant of the culture they've been pilfered from. That could be kind of embarrassing for the person who has to introduce themselves with a name like this, imo.

I'm not English and I'd find it a bit odd, if not a little irksome, if someone took the version of a name, which was from my own culture but which also existed in English, and then insisted on pronouncing it the English way anyway.

Bl-er as in the way French people say the French word for blue.

In a bid to seem you-neek and cultured they look silly.

I know a lot of boys here in Brazil called Ryan. In Portuguese it sounds nothing like how we say Ryan. So they are ignorant of the culture they "pilfered" the name from. How embarrassing for them . I don't preach to them about the proper way to say the name just as I also don't preach to friends and family who say piranha as pi-rana or São Paulo as San Paulo. And I can bet everyone says Paris with the s too. Accent/pronounciation snobbery is usually selective to benefit those who want to sound "cultured". If the boy has to say his name is Blue not Blu I'm sure he'll cope! Hardly a major life drama.

Ryan isn't a word like bleu is in French though. Ryan isn't even the original spelling of Ryan, Ryan is the anglicised version of an Irish surname. So that's a little different imo.

"In Portuguese it sounds nothing like how we say Ryan."

But Bleu doesn't spell out blue phonetically in English either...so it's not the same at all.

In Brazil they pronounce Ryan how Ryan is logically pronounced in Brazilian Portuguese.

Bleu is not logically pronounced as "Blue" in English.

It's more like a Brazilian calling their child Matthew and then telling everyone that it's pronounced Mateus. Not offensive or anything to me, but would be pretty weird.

Bluh.

Bleu is not logically pronounced as "Blue" in English.

Some people do say it like that. Not everyone but some will. Just like Paris is pronounced with the S. The word is French but people don't always say it the French way. But ridiculing a family for their use of it is just poncy. We'll have to agree to disagree.

Some people do say it like that. Not everyone but some will. Just like Paris is pronounced with the S. The word is French but people don't always say it the French way

I don't think you fully understood my point. We pronounce Paris with the S because that is the logical English pronunciation of the word.

jamrock which part of the US, I'm American and have never ever heard of it! Honestly the stuff people on MN say is "popular in America" is bizarre, don't blame us for this! hmm

^yup!!

I'd pronounce it the French way if I just saw it. I'd try to remember but find it hard as even in the context of an English sentence my brain sees it as a French word.

My English phone spell checker turned it into Blue, safari offered me bleh.

chinlop ironically people in England have called my son Matthew despite the fact that he's Mateus. It doesn't bother him because the Portuguese pronounciation of Mateus is difficult for English speakers and most will automatically say it the Polish way, which is totally different, Matthew is at least closer.

English words don't end in eu. So without prior knowledge, they could pronounce the eu as ew like they would in feud. b-l-ew, not so far fetched and could be logical. And why is logical ok with French words like Bleu but goes totally out of the window with São Paulo or PIranha, or even worse Dalí as DARli. I think people really do like to pick and choose, if it's a name slag it off, otherwise butchering foreign words is "logical".

That isn't the sound it makes in feud...the most logical sound it makes in English is yoo or a very similar one to the sound it makes in French.

Probably "Blue" as that seems to be the conventional pronunciation for "Bleu" when it's being used as a name in an English-speaking country. I am half French, and to be honest, I am wincing more at people using 'bleurgh' as a description of the French pronunciation of the word than I am at the thought of it having a different pronunciation in a very specific context.

And why is logical ok with French words like Bleu but goes totally out of the window with São Paulo or PIranha, or even worse Dalí as DARli

The thing is, there is no translation to English for any of those words. Piranha in English is Piranha. Dali in English is Dali (sorry - can't to accents on my phone). There already is a word for blue in English, which is pronounced blue, as these parents want their son's name pronounced. They have gone out of their way to use the French word and mispronounce it. It's totally unecessary and just sounds a bit silly and pretentious to me. But you don't think so and that's fine. We all have different opinions on these things.

People calling my son Matthew if he was clearly called Matteus would definitely make me though. But not you, you're fine with it. Personal taste see?

Should have said Mateus, not Matteus^^ sorry.

They have gone out of their way to use the French word and mispronounce it. It's totally unecessary and just sounds a bit silly and pretentious to me
But what if they want to be original, you-neek and cultured...

tabulahrasa the most logical sound to make in English is b-l'ee as the first vowel takes the letter name (e) and the second vowel is always silent. But I guess that would be even worse than Blergh and I doubt anyone would actually do that!
Decaffstilltastesweird I don't think Saint Paul would agree that there's no English translation of São Paulo . But if people said that, or at least Sao in instead of San (San isn't even phonetically possible) but they don't, they say San and by the same logic they see Bleu and say Blue. It doesn't matter.
Clearly I'm less bothered about the way words are said, as I don't care if my children's names are anglicised and thankfully nor do they. I have an English friend of a friend who named her son after mine, mine is Tomás, she spelt it without the accent though, but says it the same. It would be rude, arrogant and pointless to correct her. English is a lot more fluid in its ability to spell all kinds of which way and say it another. Nothing wrong with that.

The baby is already named and the OP started a thread about how thick they are and everyone jumped in to indulge her is a bit .

Seems like a good time to drop this here