Brontë

[Cupofteaandbiscuits]

My sister is thinking of calling her baby Brontë but has heard it pronounced differently!

is it bron-tea or brown-tay?

Given even your sis isn’t clear on the pronunciation, what about Bruno? Similar vibe.

Is Bruno a female name ?

Yes, but is it Felici-tee or Felicitay? ;)

I think we need a linguistic expert to advise!

The word umlaut does not mean two dots on top of a letter (despite what some people think).

Yes, indeed, we were told that earlier.

With the umlaut I’d say Bron-tay but I think it’s essentially made up

have come across Bronte pronounced Brontee

It's ünïsëx. This is Mumsnet.

I meant Mümsnet.

@RedRobyn2021 "It means "thunder" which is very cool IMO"

That's interesting. In what language?

Another one who started reading the thread and was going to comment that it's not an umlaut, it's a diaeresis, but some fellow language geeks have beaten me to it! 🤓

The first one would have been an acute accent and the second a grave accent, I imagine (Thérèse)

Yes, that's right, @MegTheForgetfulCat . Now try explaining that to every teacher and everyone else you meet....

I would assume Bron-Tay

Oh I get the issue! Unless her family was actually French it's a bit pretentious as the name is pronounced basically the same in English without the accents!

Brontë was a Greek god and in mythology was the personification of Thunder, hence the name meaning Thunder.

Hope that clears things up for you.

Absolutely! We were in Yorkshire in the 60s and it wasn't what you might call diverse. No, she wasn't French. Yes, the accents in her name caused her all manner of difficulty.
So all this "umlaut - no! diaeresis! - it's Bron-tay, no! Bron- teee" etc could get wearing for a child.

Bron-tea

I know one in her late 20s. Spelt Brontie though.

Would you use it with the diaeresis over the e? (ë) It makes it annoying to type....

I wouldn't because the diaeresis is meant to indicate that the vowel should not be treated as part of a diphthong (as in Zoë or Noël).

I think it's lovely and would pronounce it bron-tay but would equally not be surprised to hear it as bron-tee. I know a Bronte and she's a bad ass!

I know two lovely young women called Bronte - BRON-tee.
The Bronte writers are the literary inspiration.

Unlike Dante - DON-tay which is male.

I like Bronte. It's independent, energetic, not too popular and connected to interesting history.

It makes me think ‘Brontosaurus’.

Love the Brontë sisters work. I think it should be Bron- tee but tbh I’ve generally heard it pronounced by most as Bron-tay. It might be an Esme, Maya, Helena etc situation, where she has to accept two pronunciations.

Bronte is the modern greek word for thunder.

The ancient Greek mythological being mentioned by previous poster was:

1. Named Brontes, not Bronte. Pronounced Bron-tees.
2. A rough, savage, very masculine monster/ a Titan (member of an early race of immortal beings)/ a one-eyed giant aka Cyclops
3. One of three Cyclops brothers who made the thunderbolts thrown by Zeus: https://www.theoi.com/Titan/Kyklopes.html

Zeus - often known as 'the Thunderer' - was the Greek god of the weather, especially thunderstorms https://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Zeus.html