View Message

I find your findings interesting. I was at school with two Evelyn people, both always known as Eve. I don't know how the other one pronounced her name - we were in different years - but the one I was in the same class with for five years said EEV-lin and our scary Maths teacher said EH-veh-lin and nobody, least of all Eve herself, ever corrected her! (She also mispronounced Eve's surname; nobody else's. But she was a brilliant teacher and we all adored her, though not necessarily her subject.) At that time there was practically no American influence on English pronunciation in South Africa. Of course, language changes all the time. But, people have cited Evelyn Waugh and, interestingly, I found this in Wikipedia:

---

"In December 1927, Waugh and Evelyn Gardner became engaged, despite the opposition of Lady Burghclere, who felt that Waugh lacked moral fibre and kept unsuitable company.[63] Among their friends, they quickly became known as "He-Evelyn" and "She-Evelyn".[25]"

---

The marriage ended in 1929 though the divorce took rather longer. But, surely their names must have been identically pronounced for the He-Evelyn, She-Evelyn joke to have worked? And the late 1920s aren't that long ago ...?