Would you consider this a mispronunciation?

[namechangefornamequestion]

Our DS is named Raphael.

To be honest I've had a lot of name regret. I like the name myself but have been surprised by people's reactions to it - mostly negative and a surprising amount don't seem at all familiar with the name.

About 70% of the time people pronounce it "Raph-ee-el" instead of "Raph-eye-el".

Would you class it as a mispronunciation or is it small enough that its just a slightly different way of saying it?

My DH has come to the conclusion that it's said that way so commonly that's maybe it's just a local accent thing. Eg we are up north and someone called "Claire" would get called "Cluur" and no amount of correcting it is likely to get people making the "air" sound any other way. I don't really think it's the case for Raphael (I am northern, DH is not and I can't think of any other situation where the "eye" sound becomes "ee").

I really don't like the sound of "Raph-ee-el" but I'm starting to think I might be facing the same problem as parents of Naomi's do (Nayomi, Kneeomi, Nighomi) and it's a losing battle.

To anticipate some questions, we do call him "Raphy" for short but I always introduce him as Raphael and the mispronunciation happens before they hear the shortened version.

The mispronunciation happens both when they see it written down and when we introduce him verbally.

I'll never forget my Latin teacher drumming into us that "ae" is pronounced like "eye". I don't remember much from my school days, but I do remember that.* *

That's different though (I did Latin A Level and teach languages). The 'ae' in Latin is a diphthong - one sound made of two vowel letters. The 'a' and 'e' in Raphael are two separate vowel sounds. That's why English speakers put a 'y' sound in to separate them, because the slide from an 'a' to an 'e' feels unnatand a bit of an effort to an English speaker. The two dots over the 'e' in the French version shows it though - it means pronounce the vowels separately. Like in Noël and Chloē.

Meant to say - if the 'ae' in Raphael were like a Latin 'ae', the name would be pronounced 'Raf- ile', not 'raf-eye-el'.

It's a gorgeous name.

I say Raff-eye-el. Where I work we have 3 Raffy/ Raffs under 4 (out of about 28 boys).

It's a beautiful name and I am surprised that it's mispronounced as Raph ee el!

I would also say Raph-ay-el

Ah I loved reading this as I have a Raphael too. No one has ever said his name wrong, I find that odd but guess it's just my friends listened when I first said it. Some might know someone else who pronounced theirs like that so that might be why but if it happens a lot then I've no idea

Thing is, someone TELLS you the name (9 times out of 10) so how is it possible to get it wrong if it's not written down!!??

I would say Raph - ai - el.

All the people writing:
I say it Raph-ay-el
that's a really ambiguous way of writing down phonetics!!

Do you mean 'ay' as in 'say' or 'ay' as in 'aye' - Yorkshire for 'yes'??!

I’d call it mispronunciation and there are so many names out there that suffer from this.

A pet hate of mine is Louis pronounced Lewis. I guess it’s American but I’m not keen.

Leonie should be Layoni not Leeoni but both sound ok

Locally Yvonne and Michelle are Eeevon and Meeshell - gate thus with a passion

It's a fabulous name. I'd pronounce it your way (the ninja turtle way,). Maybe you could tell people you pronounce it the ninja turtle way when they get it wrong?

Me too!

I'm northern through and through and would read it as Raph-ay-el but saying it over I think i probably sound more like Raph-ey-el

-ay as in say.

If it were like 'aye' we would have written 'eye'.

Although I'm now thinking it might be closer to Rafa-el.

Definitely an 'ah' sound rather than 'ee' or 'eye'.

So is the consensus that -ae- is two syllables and not a diphthong? I quite like the sound of Raphile.

@zzplex I'm probably a dumb colonial, but that's the only way I've heard it pronounced. And that includes a visit to the Raphael Rooms in the Vatican Museum.

ay has in say for me. That's the way I pronounce it.

Call him Rafa as a nickname and it'll be more obvious how to pronounce his full name.

Ay to rhyme with May/Way/Say for me but I'm in the Midlands. I'd have put Eye if I meant Raph-Eye-El, it's definitely Raph-Ay-El to me

A like the letter A
raff A L
three syllables

Me too.

I would go with 70%. Sorry.

Never heard this mispronunciation so wouldn't have even considered it as a possibility!

So would I, and I’d have thought that was the standard pronunciation.

You´d hate to meet me then. I would pronounce it Rah-fah-elle, but then, I am Spanish. It is quite a common name here, especially from 30 upwards. Rafael is one of my best friend´s name. I have never met anyone in England with that name. I think it is a case of ignore what you´ve heard and get a thick skin.