Xavier - pronunciation

[heron20]

Someone has named their baby Xavier.

Lovely name.

However they are pronouncing it Eks-ayv-eer

Surely it should be more French zzhav-ee-ay? Or Spanish hav-ee-air?

Should I keep my mouth shut?

Love this name. Top pick if I have another boy in the future and we will be going down the French route. Won't mind if people pronounce it differently though

It isnt wrong its just another way.
So do you say ex-ylophone and say it’s not wrong, just another way?

I learnt it in my French lessons. It was the name of one of the characters in the book We learnt from so I’ve always said Ksav ee ay.

@daisypond but there are at least two ways of saying bath/scone etc

Hell there is a whole song about tomato/potato/either/neither

So yes sometimes there are just different way in different cultures. This (like it or not) is an X men American driven way of pronouncing it

The difference between potayto potahto etc is a change in how the vowels are pronounced and happens everywhere, even as regional accents. Changing the consonant so radically is very different. It alters the word. Would people say exander for Xander?

But the phonetic sound for x in English is ks so isn’t it just using the English x sound rather than the French or Spanish

We don’t question the Spanish/Portuguese differences in Jorge because we allow cultural differences

This is a US one that doesn’t make it wrong

I love Xavier nn Xavi but ive just been put off 😳

But the phonetic sound for x in English is ks
The name of the letter does not equate to the phonetic sound. Words starting with x in English make a z sound phonetically. Xylophone. Xander. Xenophobia. Xerox. Only if you pronounce the letter x as a word in its own right - like x-ray - do you say ks. You don’t say William is pronounced double-yoo-illiam.

Love how everyone is treating language as this static and immovable thing - its ever evolving. So if different pronunciations have evolved, they have and they exist, you dont have to like it.

One of my dad's old school friends is pronounced eks-avier.
He's in his late seventies, (and not American - actually Irish catholic background, named for St Francis Xavier.) Nothing to do with X men. I always assumed his was the 'normal' pronunciation growing up. It is perfectly fine, normal and natural for different cultures to pronounce names in different ways, or indeed multiple ways.

@Whathappenedtothelego absolutely agreed.

Ex-ay-vier is just stupid. You don't pronounce Xander as "Eks-ander" or Xanthe as "Eks-anthee

It’s only a matter of time

Some of my Basque rellies pronounce it "Sab - ee - air"

Javi - when I lived in Catalunya

@daisypond yes there are two way to phonetically say x and for the most part the the /z/ one is more common. But that doesnt make it wrong though

\some googling found this

poll: How do you pronounce the name?
ZAY-vee-er (and I'm from the US) : (150 votes)
26 %
ZAY-vee-er (and I'm from Britain, Canada, Australia, or elsewhere) : (79 votes)
14 %
eck-ZAY-vee-er (and I'm from the US) : (273 votes)
47 %
eck-ZAY-vee-er (and I'm from Britain, Canada, Australia, or elsewhere) : (73 votes)
13 %
575 votes