how do you pronounce Elijah?

[Pavlovthecat]

with a harsh J or silent J?

Not sure if this is pedant corner stuff or not, but seems to fit....!

[gigglewitch]

eee-lie-JA. haven't heard of a silent j version, it would be nice, I like it.

[solo]

Would be taunted at school though for being an E-liar IYSWIM.

[Desiderata]

I would pronounce it el-i-jah as opposed to the long eee. The 'J' is definitely hard, though .. or at least, it is in the UK.

[Pavlovthecat]

I am not considering it for any future child of mine or anything, just had a discussion with family members about its pronunciation, some disagreement so I told that them that if anyone knew, it would be MN, so off I toddled to ask!!!

I think Aliyah is probably what people are thinking of (I don't know correct spelling of that tho) which is a girl's name?

[S1ur]

I'm with Des here. el-i-jah.

Are you thinking for a new dc name? I quite like it personally.

[OverMyDeadBody]

It's as Desi said, I have a friend called Elijah.

Aliyah is a girl's name, yes. Arabic in origin so lots of variations on the spelling in English.

[gigglewitch]

my friend [female] is called Alia which is pronounced in a similar way - she was born in India.

[UnderRated]

In the US, most people pronounce it with a soft j, almost like a 'sh' sound. SO E-li-sha

[Pavlovthecat]

Not thinking of a new dc name! not thinking of a new dc at this moment in time. (esp with DH snoring next to me!).

Thanks guys, knew you would clear it up for me. Coincidently one of those thinking it was with a hard J was in US, did not mention the 'sh' version.

I am going to email them all now!

[Mumcentreplus]

Ee-Lai-Jah