Pronunciation of Clementine

[Chamallo]

We’re having a girl and my front runner at the moment is Clémentine (I know the accent won’t be on passport).

Would you pronounce this Cle-mon-teen or Clem-un-tine (long i / eye sound)? Or something else?

And if this was your name, would it bother you if people (including different family members) pronounced it differently?

If I met a Clementine I wouldn't know how to pronounce it - tyne or teen - I'd have to ask.
If it had an accent, as in Clémentine, I'd know to pronounce it the French way. Cleh-mon-teen.

I would pronounce it the way I was asked to - it’s a beautiful name, either way. If I was naming a baby I’d probably pronounce it to rhyme with “time”.

Yep, with an accent I’d be saying Clay-mon-teen.

I'd say Clem-in-tyne (as in the river)

Haha I wasn’t expecting this to be so controversial. So general consensus is that British English speakers are slightly more likely to go with -tyne but won’t have an issue with -teen if corrected.

To answer some questions…
Spelling would be Clé- as DH is French and French side of the family will pronounce as “Clay-…”.
I would pronounce that phoneme as Cleh, and don’t think it’s an issue because the French “Clay-“ sound doesn’t really exist in English (in my accent at least) and I don’t plan to affect a French accent when speaking English.

Eldest DD is Melody which French side always pronounce May-loh-dee. Not an issue.

The -teen v -tyne bit was my doubt since both sounds do exist in English and there’s an obvious difference to English ears.

I do like nicknames Clem and Clemmie, and the song doesn’t bother me. We sing a lot of silly songs at home, so thank you to @HoppityBun for full lyrics!

Thanks for all the opinions! I still really love the name and the pronunciation issue doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.

I was a nanny for a Clementine.. and she loved me singing 'Darling Clementine' to her. Clemmie for short.. beautiful name..

But it won’t be you that has to deal with pronunciation issue after a few years, it will be the child for the rest of her life.

I say and prefer Clemen - teen.

The other pronunciation is fine.
I prefer Clemency/Clemence.

It's what you think that matters.

Honestly there really is nothing to “deal with”. You just …say your name. If someone says it the other way as they say your name before you have introduced yourself you smile and say the way you pronounce it.

You say that but this thread has shown that there are quite a few different ways that people say it.
OP's family will say it in more than one way.

I mentioned a Stéphanie who hates being called Stephanie. She corrects people to 'Sté phan ee'. (Her name, her choice) but it's hardly ever going to be her preferred pronunciation because unless they can get the French é right and the syllable stress right then it sounds odd.
It comes out as 'Stay-far-nee' or 'Stephany'. Shame really because it's her name and a lot prettier than that.

Time. Like the river and the song. You will have to be happy with both pronunciations (and so will your child) as I don't think either is wrong