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How do you pronounce "Anais"
Does anyone know the correct way to pronounce "Anais"? Just wondering because I like it as a possible name for a future child. I have loved the perfume "Anais Anais" for years, and have always pronounced it like "Renee". Or is it like "mayonnaise"?? Or is the 's' pronounced only before a vowel like other french words? I love ethnic names and I like to travel; this is supposedly a Catalan/Provencial version of Hannah.
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Ahn-a-yees <BR><BR>It has an umlaut in it - Anaïs - that indicates you pronounce the long i sound (the way a long i sound is pronounced in romance languages, which is the equivalent of our long e)
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Funny topic, since my mom wore this perfume and always pronounced it "Uh-NAY-uss, Uh-NAY-uss". Then, when I went to buy her some as a child, the sales lady prounced it with a spanish twist: Ah-Nah-EESE!<BR><BR>But, this is a french word, as far as I know.<BR><BR>In French, your 'mayonaise' pronunciation would be correct, (like 'vin de pais') with stress on the last syllable.<BR><BR>that's my $0.02
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Kudos to StCirq.<BR><BR>I didn't realize there was the umlaut, which makes his pronunciation the correct one. I guess the sales lady knew what she was talking about ;-)
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The "French pronounciation" is no different from the "Catalan pronounciation." It would not rhyme with "mayonnaise." It's Ahn-ay-ees or Ahn-a-yees, or however you want to transliterate it, in any language. <BR><BR>You do not pronounce the "s" in "vin de pays." You do pronounce it in Anaïs.
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StCirq is absolutely correct, except that the diacritical mark is referred to as a "diaeresis," not an "umlaut," when it's used in the Romance languages (or English or Latin or Greek) to indicate that a second vowel is pronounced separately from the first. <BR><BR>It's only an umlaut in German, where it has a different function. (Basically, it shifts the pronunciation of the vowel it's used on to the front of the mouth.)
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You people are great! Such a wealth of knowledge here! Is the s pronounced like s or like z? Is the stress on the last syllabal? Anyone know where I can find lists of ethnic European names (preferably French)?
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For French names, try <BR>www.prenoms.com <BR>www.e-prenoms.com<BR>noms.voila.fr<BR><BR>You'll need a bit of French to understand.
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The s is pronounced like s. Light stress on the last syllable.
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Thanks, jahoulih - I knew "umlaut" was not correct for romance languages but could not for the LIFE of me remember the word diaeresis.
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tréma?
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Oui, trema, en francais.
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"diaeresis" or "dieresis" in English, "tréma" in French, "crema" in Spanish. Amazing how these two little dots change names!
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Oh, do be ever so careful about that stress on the last syllable. If you must, caress it as you might a buttefly wing. Touch and be gone before anyone might supsect. Otherwise, give it equal weight, and you'll not be far wrong.
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How strange!!! I was just thinking of that name for my future daughter too...<BR><BR>I personally prefer to pronounce it <BR>"a-nay"...unless you want to be really accurate, i say it's your child's name so pronounce it the way you would like to call her.<BR><BR>That's the fun of making up names!
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No matter how YOU pronounce it, the other kids will call her Anus.
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I have always liked the name, but I agree with xxx. Give the poor kid a break and make it her middle name if you must.
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I second the above. Don't give her this name. She will constantly have to spell it and correct the pronunciation.
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Heehee! Anus... okay, maybe not such a good choice! I wanted unusual, but not something so difficult that it will always be pronounced wrong. Would Anais without the ï be pronounced a-nay? Not planning on her for at least a few more years!
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No, without the "i" it would be Ah-nah, more or less. To get a French ah-nay, you would have to drop the "s" I think. But "Anai" doesn't look as pretty.
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You pronounce Anaïs like this: <BR>Anna yis, but in one word,and with a short "a" like appétit or à Paris<BR>Not like Anna- yees because then the "ee" is too long!
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There used to be an ad on TV for that perfume that pronounced that name correctly, as I recall. I wouldn't give a kid that name, either, as no one knows how to pronounce it and I don't think it's very pleasant-sounding, either; it's difficult to say. Of course, I know I'm biased because I didn't care for her as a person from what I've read and thought her works were self-absorbed and neurotic to the max. I think if someone doesn't want to pronounce it correctly, they should name their daughter a name that would be spelled as "anay", which isn't that one. It gets very confusing later on in life and professionally when your name is pronounced differently than it's spelled (having known a few people with that situation). I don't think "anay" is a very attractive name, but I think some French variants of Hannah like Annelise or Anya or Anyssa are nicer than Anais.
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My own teenage daughter's name is Anais, a name that she carries beautifully wherever she goes. The occasional mispronunciation has not reduced the profound pleasure I have to hear the sound of that name over and over again. Growing up she has had her moments when she would have liked a more popular and easier name to pronounce, but in the end she has always loved it. She is often called Ana for short by her friends.<BR>She writes with the diaeresis and says it as it should be --Ahnah ees -- with the stress on the last syllable and a soft 's' trailing at the end.<BR><BR>My grand mother's name was also Anais. She was from Aix-en-Provence (where the name is quite popular).<BR>
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Why is no one mentioning Anais Nin and Henry Miller's pronunciation? Watch Henry and June and all problems will be solved.
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ah-nah-ee
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If that kid is going to be living in America she will have nothing but trouble with that name. Make it her middle name and save her the childhood stress of pronunciation correction and mockery.
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Re: Henry and June - I didn't check it, but from what I remember, Henry says "Anis" (rhymes with "this"). But his character in the movie is done as rather loutish, and he's American, and the rest of his French is awful, too - I wouldn't use that to determine the pronounciation any more than I would Leo Decaprio's "dar-TAG-nun" in The Man in the Iron Mask (for D'Artagnan).<BR><BR>How about this one: Cartier? The last time we were in either Europe or the states, we saw commercials for Cartier in which the announcer, in a very smooth voice, said: "Car-ti-air", with the "R" at the end very clearly pronounced. I'd always done it as though the word ends in "ay"?
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Yea, it pop up and I posted without noticing the date. Then the post that brought it back was deleted.
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