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Help[Opinions] Soleil : Would it be mispronounced often?
I was just thinking about how pretty Soleil is, but I was kind of thinking, how some names LOOK like they should be pronounced differently but people usually know how to say it. (Like Isla, Levi, Joel, or something)
Do you think Soleil is like that? Universal enough people can pronounce it correctly without god forbid somebody saying it as SO-LEEL. On a scale 1-10 chances?
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"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves." - William Shakespeare
Do you think Soleil is like that? Universal enough people can pronounce it correctly without god forbid somebody saying it as SO-LEEL. On a scale 1-10 chances?
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Replies
In most cases I would say it could be a problem, but Cirque du Soleil is known worldwide, and people don't have trouble with the pronunciation then.
I used to be fond of the name Marie-Soleil, one of the few "combination names" I'd actually consider.
I used to be fond of the name Marie-Soleil, one of the few "combination names" I'd actually consider.
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I doubt most English speakers would pronounce the -il part properly, it’s a hard sound to make.
I personally don’t particularly see the appeal of Soleil, it literally just means “sun” in French and isn’t used as a name in French-speaking countries.
I personally don’t particularly see the appeal of Soleil, it literally just means “sun” in French and isn’t used as a name in French-speaking countries.
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Soleil doesn't have any difficult sounds for English speakers? I don't think anyway... it more whether they recognize it as French and know that it's LAY and not LEEL. In the United States and Canada at least there is a history of large and old French settlements so it's not entirely foreign to us.
Also there is an actress with the name here in the states who was relatively popular in the 80s and 90s.
Also there is an actress with the name here in the states who was relatively popular in the 80s and 90s.
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I just think it sounds nice. The meaning isn’t the most appealing factor. But what’s wrong with a “sun” meaning?
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I think most English speakers are going to intuitively say Sol-ay, as its a familiar enough word. The opposite problem is likely to happen, of going to a place and saying "my name is Soleil" and they write it down as Solay or Solei because they're not sure how to spell it.
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If French is widely taught at school level, then people who learnt it would certainly know the word, if not as a given name; especially of course a female one. But otherwise I imagine the actual pronunciation would be hard to guess. So-leel is pretty awful, and Soul-ill is possible and hilariously horrible. My uncle and aunt lived for many years in a little, production-line suburban house called Beau Soleil, which they never changed, so I grew up knowing the truth about it!
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I think most people would know
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I think it would depend on where Soleil lives. I would have leaned towards most people knowing how to say it but then the first response you got was someone saying they see it and think so-leel, so... Maybe 50/50 chance of mispronunciation?
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I've always pronounced it so-LEEL, and I think it's very pretty said that way
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