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Original poster

How would you pronounce this girl’s name?

127 replies

Babynamessss · 21/10/2023 18:45

Due our third girl in January and a name that was on our original list from #1 has came back round…Blythe. We both really like it and were almost decided on it until I mentioned it to my sister in law (I know, you shouldn’t). I had text it to her but when I saw her she was saying it but she was saying it differently to how I would. I didn’t say anything but I’ve since looked it up and it seems there are two ways to pronounce it and both are used, no one seems to know which is right.

How would you say Blythe?
Option 1: the ending sounds like the ‘the’ in bathe
Option 2: the ending sounds like the ‘the’ in bath?

Sorry no easier way of explaining 😆

OP posts:
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Original poster
Babynamessss · 21/10/2023 20:16

BouncyBallBall · 21/10/2023 20:11

very good
that advert varies depending in where you are in the country though!

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Need to go and listen to that advert again 😂

OP posts:
Kittenkitty · 21/10/2023 20:28

I don’t know the name and I’m Northern, I’d have gone for option 2 reading it blind. 😬

Original poster
Babynamessss · 21/10/2023 20:34

Kittenkitty · 21/10/2023 20:28

I don’t know the name and I’m Northern, I’d have gone for option 2 reading it blind. 😬

That was what I thought too, I think it’s definitely an accent thing but don’t know whether to go with the majority now 😂

OP posts:
ValancyRedfern · 21/10/2023 20:43

Anyone from the North East would pronounce it option 1 because of the town. To me (Geordie), all of these similar words have a voiced 'th': writhe, scythe, blithe, tithe, and I think that's common to most accents; it certainly is where I live now in south-east.

Ontopofthesunset · 21/10/2023 21:08

There is no word in English that is spelled 'ithe'/'ythe' and pronounced with an unvoiced 'th' like 'bath'. Lithe, scythe, writhe... The adjective 'blithe' is pronounced with a voiced 'th' like 'bathe' or 'breathe' or 'other' or 'bother'. The town of Hythe in Kent is pronounced with a voiced 'th'. So if you do pronounce it like the 'th' in 'bath' almost everyone else will pronounce it a different way - the correct way.

BitOutOfPractice · 21/10/2023 21:15

Option 1. I can’t even say option 2 or imagine how you’d say it.

merryhouse · 21/10/2023 21:15

mmmmm... could just be me, but I've always pronounced blithe with a soft th.

Interesting. Official sources appear to consider this a solely American option, which given that I grew up in the 70s in the English midlands without much television seems unusual.

(I do say tongue to rhyme with song, so you may find it easier to ignore me)

merryhouse · 21/10/2023 21:16

BitOutOfPractice · 21/10/2023 21:15

Option 1. I can’t even say option 2 or imagine how you’d say it.

Think of the word monolith.

Now replace the short i with a long i, and the mono with a b.

Simples!

MayMi · 21/10/2023 21:27

Sorry I don't know if you mean a more UK northern or southern way to pronounce 'bath' in your example.
I would read Blythe as 'blai-th' ('ai' like 'eye')

MsBlythe · 21/10/2023 21:37

Almostautumn2023 · 21/10/2023 19:00

Like bonny and blithe.

OP, I do hope you have another daughter called Bonnie! 😀

BitOutOfPractice · 21/10/2023 21:59

Erm thanks @merryhouse I think.

givemeasunnyday · 21/10/2023 21:59

Option 1 - and it's a lovely name

dinghymum · 21/10/2023 22:02

My ds has a good friend with the name Blythe. She pronounces it in line with your option 1.

MyAnacondaMight · 21/10/2023 22:09

Blythe, writhe, scythe, tithe.

Would option 2 sound more like wife, strife, knife? But ending in th, obviously.

BarbieKew · 21/10/2023 22:19

You mean like the difference in the end sound of teethe and teeth? If so, the first one. I’ve never heard Blythe pronounced with a soft ‘th’.

LessOfMe99 · 21/10/2023 22:22

Option 1.

FeverBeam · 21/10/2023 22:23

I'm not sure I understand the difference between the ending of bathe and the the ending of bath. For me the difference between those two words is in the a sound.

BarbieKew · 21/10/2023 22:27

FeverBeam · 21/10/2023 22:23

I'm not sure I understand the difference between the ending of bathe and the the ending of bath. For me the difference between those two words is in the a sound.

Try teethe and teeth. Blythe and Blyth. Difference th sounds.

Dinnerlady12 · 21/10/2023 22:29

FayCarew · 21/10/2023 18:52

Like Blithe. The TH is like the TH in Heather or Breathing.

I'm confused by this. The TH in Heather isn't pronounced? It's TH as in the TH in the or this?

mathanxiety · 21/10/2023 22:38

Option 1.

How did your sister pronounce it?

mathanxiety · 21/10/2023 22:51

Dinnerlady12 · 21/10/2023 22:29

I'm confused by this. The TH in Heather isn't pronounced? It's TH as in the TH in the or this?

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Think of the word 'thigh'.
Where is your tongue in relation to your front teeth when you make the TH sound?
Be very specific.

Then consider 'heather'.

Dinnerlady12 · 21/10/2023 23:59

Thigh, my tongue is between my teeth. Heather,my tongue is behind my teeth there (also there my tongue is behind my teeth). This is interesting it must be a Scottish thing how I pronounce it I've never heard anyone pronounce Heather like with a TH like thigh!

SemperIdem · 22/10/2023 00:06

Is it not more about whether you pronounce the y with a long or short i? Rather than the “th” itself?

Anyway, option 1 is correct.

EBearhug · 22/10/2023 00:10

I think they both sound the same to me, but I think for bath, my tongue is slightly behind my teeth and for bathe it's touching the bottom of my front two teeth. But it's only really the vowels I can hear differently, so I wonder if it's a regional accent thing.

In any case, I'm with the writhe scythe rhyming group.

recyclemeagain · 22/10/2023 00:35

Dinnerlady12 · 21/10/2023 23:59

Thigh, my tongue is between my teeth. Heather,my tongue is behind my teeth there (also there my tongue is behind my teeth). This is interesting it must be a Scottish thing how I pronounce it I've never heard anyone pronounce Heather like with a TH like thigh!

You're right, pronounce Heather the same way you do. Can't imagine itv being said without the nice soft 'th' like you're describing (with the tongue kind of up at the top of the mouth rather than between the teeth) Surely no-one's out there flinging a "th" like thigh into a beautiful name like Heather 😄