Elowen

[Hippymama]

We've decided on the name Elowen for our baby girl. There are 2 pronunciations we could use.

El-owen, which is the traditional Cornish pronunciation.
El-ow-en, which is more as it is written.

We prefer the El-owen pronunciation, but it seems that El-ow-en is more common.

Which one should we go for?

I read it like the letters L O N.

I can't really understand the two pronunciations from the way you've written it.

When I see it written down it looks like it's pronounced el-oh-un

I know an Elowen. I'm not really sure of the differences you've suggested, but she's pronounced EL ow en, v slightly stronger emphasis on the first syllable. It's a lovely name, unusual but not too much so, if you know what I mean!

I can’t work out the difference in the pronunciations sorry.

I’d say it L O wen.

I also read it and would pronounce it as LON

I think they mean

Elle Owen
Or L O N.

? Could be wrong.

Sorry, the pronunciations made sense in my head but might not have translated so well here!

So the first way stresses the second syllable, Elle-Owen.

The second way is more like LON.

I'd say it the same as I'd say L. Owen.

I'd use Lowenna instead.

I know one who pronounces it El-owin - so I'd go that way. She says she has to correct people multiple times as they just can't seem to get it, especially people who see it written down frequently.

I really like it but the pronunciation issue really puts me off

Lowenna is a thousand times nicer. No pronunciation problems either.

The stress is always on the second syllable in Cornish names. It should be el-OH-wen

I would pronounce it el-OW-en.

Elowen flows beautifully and sounds so pretty with the stress on the first syllable.
I don't believe it would have been pronounced with the stress on the second. There isn't a lot of Cornish to go on but if it means "elm" it probably was "elmen" and the m got softened to a w and then some poor soul tried to write it down, felt there ought to be o in there. Like if you tried to write how in the West Country you say elm in English, you might write "ellum" but wouldn't put the emphasis on the u.

Cornish is a brythonic language, like Welsh and Breton so the emphasis on the penultimate syllable makes sense. El-OH-en.

www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2018/07/name-of-the-week-elowen.html

The above suggests emphasis on the 2nd of 3 syllables.

In Welsh the 'en' in the 'wen' would be pronounced 'en' as in pen or hen so i would guess it's likely to be the same in Cornish.

It's a lovely name but may need a little explaining pronunciation wise (which wouldn't bother me, I have a Welsh name in England which needs explaining to the majority of people I meet).

I like Cornish names - Lowenna is lovely, as is Morwennna which is Welsh and Cornish.

I find this name too confusing with the pronunciations and think it'll ultimately get shortened to Elle so depends if you like that

I'd have pronounced it (with no knowledge of the name whatsoever) as LON, with stress on the first syllable, and prefer if that way.

Both ways are nice though... I do think it's a lovely name, and disagree that Lowenna is nicer - I find that far too frilly and fussy.

I wouldn't worry, her friends will call her Ellie.

We loved this name for DC2 but didn't go with it due to the worry over the pronunciation. We would want the correct cornish pronounciation but having heard it shouted across parks and supermarkets, at baby groups etc, its always mispronounced as Ello-win. This would annoy me.

@missmouse101

Lowenna is a thousand times nicer. No pronunciation problems either.

Don’t people say Low-Ween-Ah?

I have never heard anyone say low-ween-ah

It was a joke, sorry

'ello N.

Sorry mince pies!

It was my fault it was a crap joke! I was thinking of roweeeena / row-when-ah confusion.