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Help[Opinions] Re: Madeleine
in reply to a message by Renee213
Madeleine is my favorite spelling of the name, and I love how simple and pretty it sounds in French, and I love putting the emphasis on the final syllable. I wouldn't use it here, though, unless I was willing to accept a more English pronunciation of the name.
My theory is that it's always easier to enforce a more authentic pronunciation if the name itself is unfamiliar. Most people who see Athénaïs, Colombe, and Dieudonné would be clueless, and you'd have the opportunity to guide them to the pronunciation you want. With names like Madeleine, Genevieve, and Laurence, on the other hand, people already "know" how to pronounce them. They're well-established names in English and have English pronunciations already on deck, so to speak. Wringing mad-LEN or mad-eh-LEN out of most Americans would be both difficult and frustrating.
My theory is that it's always easier to enforce a more authentic pronunciation if the name itself is unfamiliar. Most people who see Athénaïs, Colombe, and Dieudonné would be clueless, and you'd have the opportunity to guide them to the pronunciation you want. With names like Madeleine, Genevieve, and Laurence, on the other hand, people already "know" how to pronounce them. They're well-established names in English and have English pronunciations already on deck, so to speak. Wringing mad-LEN or mad-eh-LEN out of most Americans would be both difficult and frustrating.
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