Amelie

[nowoohoo]

Love the name Amelie, but keen to understand if there would be any different pronunciations to how I would say it?

Would you say it;

Amma-Lee

Or

A-meee-leee

Amma- Lee. The two in my dd's class both pronounce it like this.

How about Elodie?

Ah-may-lee.

Surely it’s pronounced “Amma-Lee” like the well known film?

No, the film is Amélie. Pronounced Ah mé lee

neither
Ah-meh-lee
assuming the accent on the e

I’ve known an Amalie prounounced amma-lee- makes sense

Same here

It would be am-ay-lee in French, but all the English ones I know pronounce it just like Emily but with an A.

It would be am-ay-lee in French

Not really. More like Am-eh-lee. The é does not sound like ay.

Well, that all depends how you pronounce “ay”, doesn’t it? I speak French fluently and would absolutely pronounce é as I pronounce the written words “ay”, most definitely not “eh”. Think Edith Piaf in Je Ne Regrette Rien- “c’est payé, balayé, oublié, je m’en fou du passé. That sound she makes is how I say “ay”.

These discussions are useless without the use of phonetic symbols.

I speak French fluently and would absolutely pronounce é as I pronounce the written words “ay”

Then you're speaking with an English accent

In French é is definitely not ay

Its pronounced the same as chez or aller

Yes - I also say “chay” and “allay”. And cafay. I am confident that my pronunciation sounds correct to French people.

You are desperate to make a point here but it’s useless because you can’t hear what sound comes out of my mouth when I say “ay”. I am not a speaker of RP English so it may not be the same as the sound you make when you say those letters in English.

I doubt it as I’m not English. .

@HotCrossBunplease I'm absolutely not trying to make any point. I'm just trying to be helpful in pointing out how Amélie is (and is not) pronounced in French.

You are welcome to pronounce é, chez and aller all as AY

Am-ih-lee

I love it and considered it for DD. Much nicer + more classy than Amelia

I would pronounce it Am-eel-ee, or Am-ih-lee. It's pretty. Is it a French name?

No, you are trying for some reason, to undermine what I said. I am fairly confident that we both understand exactly how to pronounce Amélie in French and would make exactly the same sound if we were both saying the word. However we are struggling to agree how to depict it without the IPA. For reference, the IPA symbol for what I am describing is [e].

For reference, the IPA symbol for what I am describing is [e].

Agreed 👍🏼

This, only I've only heard it as AM-uh-ly.
It looks pretty but I don't like the sound.

Amma-Lee and its a beautiful name

The first one but more put together and not so much of an A sound
(Don't know how to put it in words here)

The second is just someone who's made up the pronunciation!

I have an Amelie and we say Amma-Lee. She gets Ammie as a nickname which my 7 year old started and it's stuck.
Have had a few people ask her name (she's only one) and say "oh lovely, Emily" but I just shrug it off haha

Amma-lee.

We like it but have decided against because we have no connection to France and think it's quite a strong French association.

@purpleme12 The second one was someone attempting to give the original French pronunciation.

Was it?!

@purpleme12 , yes, I presume so. In the UK, it's AMM-uh-ly, in French more like am-eh-lee/am-ay-lee.

I first read it as 'Am a lie' though.