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Help[Opinions] How would you pronounce Sonia / Sonya / Sonja?
With the 'o' like the 'o' in Sophie? (more of an 'own' sound)
With the 'o' like the 'aw' in awning?
With the 'o' like the 'o' in Monday? (more of an 'un' sound)
Does it differ depending on the spelling? Which pronunciation do you prefer and which pronunciation(s) do you find the most correct?
With the 'o' like the 'aw' in awning?
With the 'o' like the 'o' in Monday? (more of an 'un' sound)
Does it differ depending on the spelling? Which pronunciation do you prefer and which pronunciation(s) do you find the most correct?
This message was edited 4/17/2009, 11:52 AM
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Replies
SOWN-ya
More similar to Sophia than awning or Monday. I'd pronounce it the same for any spelling, but I could easily adapt my pronunciation to SAWN-ya if corrected. SUN-ya would be a more difficult transition of me just because it's unfamiliar.
More similar to Sophia than awning or Monday. I'd pronounce it the same for any spelling, but I could easily adapt my pronunciation to SAWN-ya if corrected. SUN-ya would be a more difficult transition of me just because it's unfamiliar.
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In English I'd use Sonya spelling, because the majority of English speakers seem to have a hard time with 'J' being pronounced 'Y'.
Otherwise I prefer and like best Sonja. I dislike it spelled Sonia, since there is no ‘ee’ sound in it for me.
It’s pronounced ‘SO-nya’,with O like in Sophie and own, BUT it's short, ‘NJ’ is a separate letter in Croatian alphabet (that’s why my name has 4 letters) and it’s pronounced like the Spanish ‘ñ’.
I know a British lady who spells it Sonia and pronounces it the same way and dozens of Sonjas that were born in the 1970s and 1980s in Croatia use exactly the same pronunciation.
BTW, my name is Sanja, pr. ‘SAH-nyah’.And I find it funny that when I ask about my name people say they’ve never seen it, but many seem to be pronouncing Sonja like Sanja anyway so I guess they use it all the time:-)
You can listen to Croatian pronunciation here:
Sonja: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIeq_kimlHw (minute 1:45, 1:50)
Sanja: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzQIWLn1y-I (minute 0:46)
This is the song after which my brother named me and the song is named after the lead singer.
Please, ignore the bad song and costumes. It was in the 80s, lol.
Otherwise I prefer and like best Sonja. I dislike it spelled Sonia, since there is no ‘ee’ sound in it for me.
It’s pronounced ‘SO-nya’,with O like in Sophie and own, BUT it's short, ‘NJ’ is a separate letter in Croatian alphabet (that’s why my name has 4 letters) and it’s pronounced like the Spanish ‘ñ’.
I know a British lady who spells it Sonia and pronounces it the same way and dozens of Sonjas that were born in the 1970s and 1980s in Croatia use exactly the same pronunciation.
BTW, my name is Sanja, pr. ‘SAH-nyah’.And I find it funny that when I ask about my name people say they’ve never seen it, but many seem to be pronouncing Sonja like Sanja anyway so I guess they use it all the time:-)
You can listen to Croatian pronunciation here:
Sonja: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIeq_kimlHw (minute 1:45, 1:50)
Sanja: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzQIWLn1y-I (minute 0:46)
This is the song after which my brother named me and the song is named after the lead singer.
Please, ignore the bad song and costumes. It was in the 80s, lol.
This message was edited 4/18/2009, 6:22 AM
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I'd pronounce all three the same way, with the own sound.
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"SON-ya"
"SON" rhymes with "gone", "con", "John".. not like any of your suggestions.
"SON" rhymes with "gone", "con", "John".. not like any of your suggestions.
This message was edited 4/17/2009, 4:53 PM
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Ditto
It has a short "on" sound at the start in Britain. All spelling variations are pronounced the same way.
It has a short "on" sound at the start in Britain. All spelling variations are pronounced the same way.
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Sonja in English?
I've heard Sonia and Sonya pronounced SAWN-ya in English, and I think that's correct, but Sonja isn't a name that I would use in English and pronounce SAWN-ya, because it's just not "natural" in English to pronounce a "j" like a "y", and I think it would be no blessing for the child wearing the name. I think it's alright and often nice to use a name from another language in, say, America, but then I would also pronounce the name *entirely* in the language of the respective country in most cases, and especially with single letters being pronounced differently in English, it's critical to me.
In German, Sonja is a very common name, but it's not pronounced SAWN-ya, but ZONN-yah, with a very short "o" and the "S" pronounced like a "Z".
I've heard Sonia and Sonya pronounced SAWN-ya in English, and I think that's correct, but Sonja isn't a name that I would use in English and pronounce SAWN-ya, because it's just not "natural" in English to pronounce a "j" like a "y", and I think it would be no blessing for the child wearing the name. I think it's alright and often nice to use a name from another language in, say, America, but then I would also pronounce the name *entirely* in the language of the respective country in most cases, and especially with single letters being pronounced differently in English, it's critical to me.
In German, Sonja is a very common name, but it's not pronounced SAWN-ya, but ZONN-yah, with a very short "o" and the "S" pronounced like a "Z".
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Well
If you're going to follow your own rule of using the pronunciation of the language that the name is from them the German pr. would hardly be accurate since Sonja is not a German name, but a Slavic one in origin.
But like most names it's used in many countries/languages and each of those can adapt the pronunciation/spelling to fit its phonetic rules. Croatian does it all the time with English, French or German names.
If you're going to follow your own rule of using the pronunciation of the language that the name is from them the German pr. would hardly be accurate since Sonja is not a German name, but a Slavic one in origin.
But like most names it's used in many countries/languages and each of those can adapt the pronunciation/spelling to fit its phonetic rules. Croatian does it all the time with English, French or German names.
This message was edited 4/18/2009, 5:48 AM
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I don't see...
I didn't say I would want a name to be pronounced in the original language, but the exact opposite: I think it's easier and OK and mostly even better to pronounce a name from a different country not in the original language, but in the language of the country you live in. That's why I thought it was strange to pronounce Sonja "SAWN-ya" in English, and not "SAWN-ja".
I didn't say I would want a name to be pronounced in the original language, but the exact opposite: I think it's easier and OK and mostly even better to pronounce a name from a different country not in the original language, but in the language of the country you live in. That's why I thought it was strange to pronounce Sonja "SAWN-ya" in English, and not "SAWN-ja".
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Oh, I thought that when you said 'respective country' that you meant the country of origin and not the country/language in which the name is being used. Sorry!
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Oh, that was the misunderstanding ;).
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Well, Sonja isn't my preferred spelling and I personally wouldn't use it, but I think the majority of people in the US realize that '-ja' names are just un-Anglicized spellings that are pronounced '-ya'. I wouldn't blink twice at a KAHT-yah spelled 'Katja', and I think anyone silly enough to try to pronounce it KAHT-juh would be the one who'd end up embarrassed. The same goes for anyone who'd try to pronounce Sonja SAWN-juh. Then again, it is possible that I'm giving the general populace too much credit here.
I agree that it would be a challenge to get most English-speakers to say ZONN-yah, as that pronunciation is particularly unintuitive from an English-speaking perspective.
I agree that it would be a challenge to get most English-speakers to say ZONN-yah, as that pronunciation is particularly unintuitive from an English-speaking perspective.
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Re:
Oh, OK, I get it, well, then maybe it's not even such a big thing to call your child this as it wouldn't be mispronounced all the time ;).
Oh, OK, I get it, well, then maybe it's not even such a big thing to call your child this as it wouldn't be mispronounced all the time ;).
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My aunt's name is Katja prn kat-ja. The only Sonja I know prns it sawn-ja.
ooh, the second one's a lie. I know two Sonjas, and one does pronounce it sawn-ya.
ooh, the second one's a lie. I know two Sonjas, and one does pronounce it sawn-ya.
This message was edited 4/17/2009, 3:23 PM
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Really? That's interesting, I never would have expected that. I think being on BtN so much kind of warps my perceptions of how people might pronounce things, since I just expect everyone to know/use the pronunciations in the database, lol.
ETA: Of course in the database the given pronunciation for Sonja is ZAWN-ya, so I don't know why I wouldn't expect it to be pronounced that way, then. *shrug*
ETA: Of course in the database the given pronunciation for Sonja is ZAWN-ya, so I don't know why I wouldn't expect it to be pronounced that way, then. *shrug*
This message was edited 4/17/2009, 3:30 PM
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All of them are with a long o, as is in own.
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This is how I pron. them too .
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I say all three with a long o so it would be closest to the Sophie option. This one makes sense considering that Sonya is a diminutive of Sophie.
My pronunciation preferences are (in order) Sophie, Monday and then awning.
My spelling preferences are Sonia and then Sonya. I don't like the j.
My pronunciation preferences are (in order) Sophie, Monday and then awning.
My spelling preferences are Sonia and then Sonya. I don't like the j.
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Like awning.... sawn-ya.
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Hm.. the O is more like AW for me, so it's SAWN-yah: for me, except the AW sound is said short. I Prefer Sonja or Sonya.
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I pronounce Sonja like the o in Monday (or the Sonn in Sonny) so something like sonn-yah. That's the Swedish pronunciation and the 'correct' one to me, but I guess the pronunication differ from language to language so I think all pronunciations are correct. I prefer the Sonja spelling (I had an aunt named Sonja). I pronounce all the different spellings the same.
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I pronounce them all "SOHN-yuh"
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SAWN-ya, all of them. In Germany, Sonja is actually pronounced ZAWN-ya and it used to be very very common. But I prefer SAWN-ya.
My favorite spelling is Sonia, followed by Sonya and then Sonja (because it could get mispronounced).
My favorite spelling is Sonia, followed by Sonya and then Sonja (because it could get mispronounced).
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I pronounce it Sonia as in s-OWN-yuh (similar to Sophie), but I have also been known to pronounce it s-AWN-yuh.
The spelling doesn't matter in pronunciation.
The spelling doesn't matter in pronunciation.
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I say them all the same, sahn-ya.
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Each one of them to me is sawn-ya, and I like the Sonja spelling best.
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ETA: never mind, I'm dumb - I was thinking you meant that you pronounced all my options the same way, not all the spellings the same way...duh
This message was edited 4/17/2009, 11:57 AM
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The Rule of Cecily (OT)
As I've often heard it called, explains the soft 'c' sound in the English language. If a C is followed by an e or i, it is said softly, as an S.
As I've often heard it called, explains the soft 'c' sound in the English language. If a C is followed by an e or i, it is said softly, as an S.
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Yeah, the long o to me would be like sew or sewn, or like own or crone or whatever. That's actually the only way I've ever heard Sonia pronounced, so it's sort of weird to me that most people seem to pronounce it sawn-ya or sahn-ya or what-have-you here.
I think with the letter 'c' it depends on what vowel sound follows it as to whether it's pronounced hard or soft? But English is totally weird that way - and different accents of English are so weird too, it always throws me off when I find out that some people pronounce certain words with completely different vowel sounds than what I'd expect.
I think with the letter 'c' it depends on what vowel sound follows it as to whether it's pronounced hard or soft? But English is totally weird that way - and different accents of English are so weird too, it always throws me off when I find out that some people pronounce certain words with completely different vowel sounds than what I'd expect.
This message was edited 4/17/2009, 12:35 PM
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