Amalie - a chavvy misspelling of Amelie?

[EdininiaMonsoon]

My husband is Tamil (Indian) and we need a Tamil name that English people (including myself) will be able to pronounce easily.

I really like Amalie, but there's no set spelling for it in the Roman alphabet, and we need a spelling that will encounter the least mispronunciation.

It's essentially the same as the French Amelie, but my husband insists the second syllable is an 'a' not an 'e' (even though they sound the same in this context). People would also assume it's just the French name if we spell it that way.

My question is, would you pronounce Amalie the same as Amelie, or would you assume it's Am-aa-li? And if it's pronounced the same as Amelie, does Amalie look like a chavvy misspelling that's been done just to look interesting?

I'm also open to any other less ambiguous spelling suggestions...

I know someone that had a similar problem.

In their culture it was pronounced more like:

Emelee/amel-lee

But they realised that Amelie in English is pronounced with a strong AM - mel-lee

So they just went with Emily in the end- as when you say the name quickly it sounds more like Emily.

Could you use Emily?

I know an Amalie OP - she is from the most English family you could imagine, and really quite posh. I don’t see it as chavvy at all.

I like it and I would pronounce it AM -ah-Lee

The one I know pronounces it like that - Emily with As.

I know a late thirties Amalie and it’s pronounced Am-ARRlie

What about
Kareena
Lavanya
Leena
Tara
Trisha

@babychange12

What about Kareena Lavanya Leena Tara Trisha

Thanks - I like Lavanya, but it happens to be the name of a male cousin. Might push for it as a last resort.

@whereorwhere

I like it and I would pronounce it AM -ah-Lee

Yes, me too

Amélie should have an accent which makes pronunciation clear - but good luck getting people to manage that!
Preciousssss is best left to Gollum.

How about Amalia?

I'd pronounce it Amahliuh like the German name of that spelling. If clarity of spelling/pronunciation is important to you, I'd go back to the drawing board tbh.

Tara's nice and very international, and isn't going to be mispronounced.

@mrsm43s

I think it depends to an extent where you live.

I'm in the South East with a fairly neutral southern accent (not heavily Sarf London), and I would pronounce Amelie, Amalie and Amali as A-muh-lee, with the "muh" bit said very quickly. Perhaps there would be a slight different "meh" or "muh", but I think you'd have to be listening very hard and carefully to hear the difference. Other regional accents are likely to vary, and the difference might be more pronounced.

This. I am really struggling to understand the people saying they would pronounce the middle syllable in Amalie / Amelie differently but that they would stress the first syllable: as soon as I pronounce the a in Amalie, that syllable becomes the one I stress.

I know an EE + Asian Tara and it works well for her fam, it's a really pretty name in itself which is the most important thing.

Also if you have some Irish in you then connects to that side too. Easy for anyone on the planet to say and doesn't look "wrong"

Amalie I would expect to be the sister of nevaeh sorry!