Amali - spelling

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Hi

I’m due soon and we FINALLY have a name I think… We need something that works in both British and Arabic. And seem to have settled on Amali

What are your thoughts on spelling?

Amali - simple Arabic spelling. I like this

Amelie - traditional French spelling but doesn’t directly translate

Amalie - also good translation into Arabic, but I feel like it’s too similar to Amelie and as if we’ve spelt it wrong

Let me know!

Maybe it depends on the pronunciation you're after.
If I saw your options written down I'd say them as follows

Amali - ah mar lee

Amelie - ah meh lee

Amalie - ah mah lee

I would pronounce Amali differently to Amalie/Amelie

a-mar-lee vs a-ma-lee

Completely different names to me too.

What pronunciation are you after?

I really like Amali (Uh-mar-lee) though, millions of Amelies around already and like that it is a little different.

Agreed. I wouldn't pronounce them the same at all. If you're after the a-ma-lee pronunciation I would go with one of the last two options personally.

Amelie is my favourite- said A-meh-lie (emphasis on the A). This would be easiest in terms of spelling / pronunciation if living in the UK (if that's important to you)

Amali - I would say A- MAH-lie - with the emphasis on the middle syllable. It's nice and I like that it translates more directly to your Arabic heritage, but it may get more spelling / pronunciation errors than Amelie, if that matters to you.

Amalie - I wouldn't be sure which way to pronounce it and would ask.

Amalie, Amali (which autocorrect keeps changing), and Amelie are three different names. You need to choose one.

If you choose the french spelling are you happy for Bengali relatives to pronounce it the Bengali way?

It's not always easy to straddle cultures, but there are times when a clear choice needs to be made, and someone will always be disappointed.

Amali/Amalie we would pronounce Am-AL-ee
Think Amal Clooney. In Arabic Amal is hope, and adding the ee (or maybe lee?) makes it My Hope. I’m not the Arabic side, but thats my understanding!

But then some areas would pronounce Amal more like Amel. All very confusing!

Amelie the French way is more A-may-lie. And we have French influence too. So that would be the pronunciation of that spelling for us.

Yes I thought it would be pronounced Am AL lee. Lovely name.

If you're in the UK people won't pronounce Amelie in the French way. If you like Amali then it has to be Amali. As Arabic names go I also really love Amelle.

We’re not in the UK. And friends/family are pretty evenly split across British and French speaking Arab. From experience of our other kids. The Brits seem better at pronouncing how we would like, possibly after an initial correction. The others just pronounce/spell how they like and I’ve learnt to let it go! So fully expecting this one to have a few variations on the go! Looks like we won’t get a clear answer of what is simplest so might aswell just go with what we like I think and muddle through

If you're not in the UK then Amali makes most sense - as you say Brits are used to a wide variety of different names from different cultures.

I thought Amal Clooney straight away so would always pronounce it Am-Al-ee

I actually prefer it as Amal, rather than Amali but if that's the one you prefer, I would spell it like that, the Arabic way

I knew a lovely girl called Amalia pronounced A-mar-lee-uh (so a bit like Amelia but with MAR in the middle.

Also I would think 'mali' as in the place in Crete, 'Malia'.... not sure where the 'R' sound is coming from

Maybe like the country Mali? There is no 'r', there is just a pronunciation difference.

Some accents and regions in the UK seem to add an r as part of their pronunciation

It's not adding an R. It's just a long pronunciation of the A.

Ah OK, yes, I can see the elongated 'a' sound as in the country 'Mali'.
Thank you to those clearing that up.
I was reading the replies in my head in my north east accent with a very pronounced 'r' sound and couldn't figure out where that was coming from.

I just see 'Amal' (Clooney) and 'Mali(a)' (town in Crete)

I was also confused by the Mar sound. But Mali makes that make sense now!

I do really like just Amal but we already know a few

I'd spell it in a way that's consistent with how you want the name to be pronounced and how you want it to be written in Arabic.