Xavier

[FizzingWhizzbee123]

I’m pretty sure I’ve already been put off this name due to pronunciation confusion but just thought I’d check how you’d pronounce it?

There’s seems

Hav-ee-ay (Spanish)

Zavier (English/French)

Ex-zavier (seems to be American/X men!)

I’m not a language expert and might have got these slightly wrong. What would you automatically say?

Zav-ee-aye

Zavier as I'm English. Bloody awful name though, sorry, so pretentious.

Hav-ee-air or ex-ay-vee-a(x-men style)

I’ve always loved the name Zavier, it’s unique in an exotic kind of way.

I love this name! I would pronounce it zay-vier

Za -vee-ay. I really like the name.

Pretty sure the 'ex' sound at the beginning isn't an Americanism but the original Greek pronunciation (although happy to be corrected if I've misremembered). It's more of a 'kss' sound than 'ex' though.

Zav-ee-er.

I like it!

Zavier pronunciation.

I adore this name and really wanted to call DS2 it as it went really well with DS1's name. DH wasn't a fan of it sadly

I’m fussy about names but I like it.

It's not Greek, @TenShortStories, but Basque. It was the surname of a saint.

In English I would pronounce it Zay-via, in French Zavveeay. In Spanish I would probably spell Javier.

Zavier.

Xerxes might be simpler pronunciation-wise.

I know a couple of Xaviers (it's one of my favourite names).

One I know pronounces it X - ay-ve-ar ( being with the sound X)
One I know pronounces it Zay - ver -ar ( being with the sound Z)

I love it. It’s not that unusual these days so problems with probounciation will become less and less of an issue

Without being told first, I'd say it depends upon perceived first language of the owner. Spanish speaking - Hav-i-ay, English speaking - Zai-vi-er. American Child accompanied by parents who clearly belong to the I'm A Geek and Proud (perhaps because they're at a comicon at the time) - X-ai-vi-er.

I know dozens in Spain.

It is Have ee air (Xavier or Javier)

Shortened to

Have ee (Javi, Xavi)

If you want to be familiar.
It is incredibly common, probably every 3rd boy where I live in Valencia.
.

Zavier

Zavier
I like it.

I know one. Everyone calls him Jack.

Thank you. This has been helpful. Maybe I won’t strike it off the list just yet. I could live with the Zavier/Ex-zavier confusion as I don’t mind either pronunciation and they aren’t worlds apart. I’d prefer not to get Hav-ee-ay, as we have no Spanish connection and it’s a very different sound to me, but I expect that’s the least likely pronunciation to come up in a English city.

Zay-via in our house. Italian friend says Za vee air

The usual English pronunciation is to rhyme more or less with ‘saviour’.

I like it but with the Zav-ee-ay pronunciation. Ex-ay-vee-er is awful.

The French do actually pronounce the X, but only very lightly. It's like ksav-ee-ay.

Yep, the French do slightly pronounce the X, but in a more ‘ks’ way.

It’s my son’s name and he’s half French (DH is French). We pronounce it Zav-ee-ay.