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[Opinions] Re: Rachel or Rachael?
Definitely Rachel. I think it's pretty, it's just a simple and neutral pretty instead of a frilly feminine pretty. The pronunciation of Rachael being the same as Rachel doesn't make any sense to me. Why do you need two vowels if it's just going to be an unemphasized schwa? How does that "a" by itself make an "ay" sound while the "ae" barely makes any sound?
Rachael would be nice in a language that pronounces all the letters (like how Michael is pronounced with "ka-ell" at the end in some languages), but as a spelling for the Rachel pronunciation I think it's pretty bad.Apparently Rachael is just a variant of Rachel influenced by Michael, and the "ka el" in Michael means "like God", so if Rachael is going to be a thing I'd want to both pronounce it "rah-cha-ell or ra-ka-ell" and come up with a meaning for it. Idk if there's a "RA" syllable that would make sense with "like God". Maybe if you wanted it to be a true variant of Rachel you could say it's the Ra from Rahel and the meaning is "a ewe like God"? It would be a totally contrived etymological disaster but it sort of makes sense, the meaning would be about seeing God in innocent creatures or something? idk

This message was edited 10/9/2024, 3:19 PM

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