[Opinions] Re: Isael
in reply to a message by Argentina
It looks like a misspelling/mistyping of 'Israel'; in fact, I misread it as Israel at least twice. Even Google gives the 'Showing results for Israel', but if I say, 'Search instead for Isael', it does of course come up with results, including a Brazilian midfielder named Isael da Silva Barbosa.
According to ebabynames.com (which also comes up on my Google search), Isael is in fact a form (Portuguese) of Israel. It does not, however, offer any clues as to the pronunciation beyond that. :/ I'd guess, given the Israel connection, that your 'ee-sa-EL' guess is not too far off, though it might be closer to IZ-ay-əl or IS-ay-el (I really am not an expert on usual Portuguese pronunciations, though!).
I'm guessing a lot of people would mistake it for Israel or even (presumptuously) assume it's a typo and attempt to "correct" it to Israel which could lead to a lot of frustration to anyone named Isael. (I have a brother named Aidan who has endured a lifetime of people mispronouncing and misspelling his name, often with no logical reason, even when reading the name off a computer printout!) I don't mean to say that I think this is a good reason not to use the name. People (like me) can get used to seeing/hearing things they're not initially used to - how else can we ever learn? ;)
The name is quite lovely. It has a sort of "softer" feel to it than Israel, I think, but it doesn't exactly sound "feminine" to me.
According to ebabynames.com (which also comes up on my Google search), Isael is in fact a form (Portuguese) of Israel. It does not, however, offer any clues as to the pronunciation beyond that. :/ I'd guess, given the Israel connection, that your 'ee-sa-EL' guess is not too far off, though it might be closer to IZ-ay-əl or IS-ay-el (I really am not an expert on usual Portuguese pronunciations, though!).
I'm guessing a lot of people would mistake it for Israel or even (presumptuously) assume it's a typo and attempt to "correct" it to Israel which could lead to a lot of frustration to anyone named Isael. (I have a brother named Aidan who has endured a lifetime of people mispronouncing and misspelling his name, often with no logical reason, even when reading the name off a computer printout!) I don't mean to say that I think this is a good reason not to use the name. People (like me) can get used to seeing/hearing things they're not initially used to - how else can we ever learn? ;)
The name is quite lovely. It has a sort of "softer" feel to it than Israel, I think, but it doesn't exactly sound "feminine" to me.
Replies
Interesting. When I first saw it, it looked like Ismael which is one of my favourite names. I got it from the Internet, and the Isael in question is a young boy from the US. Maybe his parents are Brazilian?
I guess Isael may look like a typo, and it could be annoying to correct people all the time. But you're right, people can just get used to it, there are much more complicated names out there.
P.S.: Aidan looks like the natural spelling to me. The first and only Aidans I met are from Ireland, where the name is used with this spelling. Actually, I was surprised when I started seeing Aiden, etc.
I guess Isael may look like a typo, and it could be annoying to correct people all the time. But you're right, people can just get used to it, there are much more complicated names out there.
P.S.: Aidan looks like the natural spelling to me. The first and only Aidans I met are from Ireland, where the name is used with this spelling. Actually, I was surprised when I started seeing Aiden, etc.
This message was edited 8/31/2015, 7:18 AM
I hadn't even thought of Ismael, but that's also only one letter off! I guess since I'm more used to seeing it spelled Ishmael.
(Almost no one was named Aidan when my brother and I were growing up, but he was named for one of our ancestors - we're Canadian and our background is mostly English, Irish, and Scottish. Now, everyone under ten is named Aidan or Aiden or Aden or Ayden or whatever.)
(Almost no one was named Aidan when my brother and I were growing up, but he was named for one of our ancestors - we're Canadian and our background is mostly English, Irish, and Scottish. Now, everyone under ten is named Aidan or Aiden or Aden or Ayden or whatever.)