Easy to say in English?

[MamaLoLo1]

I'm debating a French name due to family links and wondering if these are easily said aloud by British/English speaking people... By that, I mean that the name is said smoothly and pronounced well rather than fumbled over!

Marguerite
Coralie
Apolline
Solène

Solene I would have guessed SOL-eeen.

I think Coralie is best. I can't see how anyone could mispronounce and it's a very pretty name.

Well, is it Cora or Coral at the start?

@bridgetreilly

I think Coralie is best. I can't see how anyone could mispronounce and it's a very pretty name.

Well, is it Cora or Coral at the start?

The Coralie I know pronounces it Coral-ie.

@bridgetreilly

I think Coralie is best. I can't see how anyone could mispronounce and it's a very pretty name.

Well, is it Cora or Coral at the start?

With English stresses it rhymes with 'morally'.

Also, how much does it matter to you if people do pronounce slightly inaccurately? Because obviously they will but you can still use a beautiful name that you love.

I know how to say them all, but I don't think they'll all sound quite the same as they would in French. I agree with the others that Solène is the one most likely to trip people up.

If you watch Death in Paradise, think of the difference in the way the names are pronounced between the English and French-speaking cast.

Yes, that's how I'd say it too, probably. But my point was it's easy to imagine people pronouncing it differently, in answer to the person who thought that there could only be one imaginable way to say it.

Coralie is gorgeous 😍

I love Apolline!

I think that they'll suffer the same as Elodie and Amelie - pretty in a french accent but meh in an english one.

Solène is gorgeous but that grave accent will trip people up here

Thank you all for your input! I love all four of the names and am no closer to picking a favourite!

It depends whether you want to prioritise the likelihood of someone sight-reading it accurately (the supply teacher test) or whether you want it to sound closest to French in an English accent. Apolline will get an ‘ine’ sound instead of ‘een’, as discussed already Solène will get soleen, and people may glance at Coralie and misread it as Coraline.

Apolline is lovely.

I love Solène but I'm pretty sure 95% of people will not understand the grave accent and get the pronunciation wrong. Especially if reading off a form, where you can't always input an accent.

I have a fairly simple but non-English surname and people get it wrong even after I correct them. It doesn't really bother me, but my children have taken my husband's surname to be spared the same fate.

Coralie is so pretty. And easy for an English tongue to pronounce.