monique

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.

StCirq

Ahn-a-yees <BR><BR>It has an umlaut in it - Ana&iuml;s - 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)

ah

Funny topic, since my mom wore this perfume and always pronounced it &quot;Uh-NAY-uss, Uh-NAY-uss&quot;. 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

ah

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 ;-)

StCirq

The &quot;French pronounciation&quot; is no different from the &quot;Catalan pronounciation.&quot; It would not rhyme with &quot;mayonnaise.&quot; 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 &quot;s&quot; in &quot;vin de pays.&quot; You do pronounce it in Ana&iuml;s.

jahoulih

StCirq is absolutely correct, except that the diacritical mark is referred to as a &quot;diaeresis,&quot; not an &quot;umlaut,&quot; 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.)

monique

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)?

PatrickW

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.

jahoulih

The s is pronounced like s. Light stress on the last syllable.

StCirq

Thanks, jahoulih - I knew &quot;umlaut&quot; was not correct for romance languages but could not for the LIFE of me remember the word diaeresis.

oui

tr&eacute;ma?

Sue

Oui, trema, en francais.

jules

&quot;diaeresis&quot; or &quot;dieresis&quot; in English, &quot;tr&eacute;ma&quot; in French, &quot;crema&quot; in Spanish. Amazing how these two little dots change names!

x

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.

weird

How strange!!! I was just thinking of that name for my future daughter too...<BR><BR>I personally prefer to pronounce it <BR>&quot;a-nay&quot;...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!

xxx

No matter how YOU pronounce it, the other kids will call her Anus.

Marilyn

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.

Michelle

I second the above. Don't give her this name. She will constantly have to spell it and correct the pronunciation.

monique

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 &iuml; be pronounced a-nay? Not planning on her for at least a few more years!

Marilyn

No, without the &quot;i&quot; it would be Ah-nah, more or less. To get a French ah-nay, you would have to drop the &quot;s&quot; I think. But &quot;Anai&quot; doesn't look as pretty.