Calliope

[Picklesocks]

Hello, a good friend of mine has just had a baby and named it Calliope (Callie for short). I’ve only ever met one other Calliope, and they pronounced it Ca-LIE-oh-pee, whereas my friend is pronouncing it Cally-OH-pee.

Is this one of those where both are right and it’s just preference? I didn’t want to question whether my friend was pronouncing her own baby’s name right 😂

The Americans definitely say the instrument that way.

I had an English Classics teacher who also said it that way, but the other two said it the Greek way.

Its fine if you're Greek

She can't have named her daughter wrong surely, because she named her daughter the name she wanted her to have.

You pronounce it the way her parents want it pronounced, whether of not it's "wrong"

I would have said Cally-OH-pee like your friend. But it’s up to her! My grand-daughter is Naomi and we’ve always pronounced it NA-omi. So many people seem to pronounce it Na-OH-me which really grates with me!

The Greek pronunciation is Cally-OH-pee, but the name is written as Kalliopi.

I know one called Callie - OH - pee

I’ve only ever heard this name on MN!
i honestly don’t remember learning anything about Greek mythology etc at school?
maybe an Ancient Greek project at primary but nothing at secondary? Is it more a posh school thing?

If you study Latin or Classics you will hear a lot about it.

Your friend is correct, that’s how it is pronounced in Greek/Greek

There are lots of classical and Biblical names which acquired their own 'English' pronunciations, along with placenames (many large cities have English names which sound very different to what they're called in their own countries). "Calliope" is one of those. There's a naval base near me called HMS Calliope, and it's definitely Ca-LIE-oh-pee. And, of course, modern Greek pronunciation is quite different to classical Greek, too!

This has been so illuminating, thank you. It sounds like she’s totally correct but will spend her life correcting people. I would obviously always have used the pronunciation she chose regardless!

I always thought it was callie-opie but learnt recently that cah-lie-oh-pee is apparently more common? Think it might be American influence?

The common shortening of Callie feels much more natural from a callie-opie pronounciation than cah-lie-oh-pee to me, but I know that's not always indicative.

Kind of annoying because I've always loved the name Callie but if the actual pronounciation is Cah-lie-oh-pee then Callie doesn't sound like a natural shortening to me.

Sounds like an ice lolly
so no

I’m not sure the “it’s how modern geeeks pronounce it” argument is all that relevant. We don’t refer to going to Paree when speaking english, we say Paris. Names from Greek myths don’t come to us via what people nowadays in Athens are calling their children, they come from the long tradition of reading the Greek myths and geek literature in this country and so the names are pronounced in English. On that basis, the name is Ca LIE o pee and to pendent otherwise to me suggests she read it in a book and has never heard it said. As with the penny lope examples given upthread.

obvs, the situation is different if she is of Greek heritage.

And ultimately, she can of course call her child anything she wants even if it sounds as though she can’t pronounce her own child’s name.

This.

And what @MoralOrLegal said.

I have heard both used and attribute it more to different contexts of usage than to the fact one is categorically right, and one is categorically wrong.

For instance if you called the American instrument a Callie-ope, I think that would be unusual.

There was a similar discussion recently on a thread about Anastasia, and the name Genevieve is pronounced quite differently in French, but it could sound a bit contrived to insist on it in the context of an English speaking child living in an English speaking country.