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Pronunciation Question
If you saw a boy's name that had a similar feminine name written down and you know the person is a girl how would you prn it? Eg - if you saw Daniel or Noel written down but you knew the name belonged to a girl would you 1) assume it was a girl with a boy's name and prn the name as Daniel or Noel or would you 2)assume it was a variation (or mispelling) of Danielle or Noelle and prn it as the feminine version?
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#2.
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That's a good question. I'd probably go with #1 - pronounce them the way they look. I'd be half-expecting to be corrected, though!
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I'd assume they were pronounced just like the boys' names.
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Daniel - I would want to say DAN-yul but would probably settle on the dan-YEL knowing it was a girl.Noel - I say Noel and Noelle the same way, so if I saw Noel written down I would naturally say no-EL.
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If I knew it was a girl, I would probably use the feminine pronunciation unless they corrected me.
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If the person is French or if I happened to be in France or somewhere else where French is spoken I'd pronounce Noel and Noelle both as no-EL. Daniel and Danielle would both be duhn-YEL (kind of) just as Michel and Michelle would both be mee-SHEL.If I met them in an English speaking country or if they were from one I'd pronounce them DAN-yel (Daniel) and dan-YEL (Danielle) and NO-el (Noel) and no-EL (Noelle) as this is how they'd usually be pronounced in an English speaking country.If I saw Noel written down I'd assume her parents had given her the boys name and I'd pronounce it NO-el. I also would assume her parents didn't know much about the French language and didn't know how to spell or pronounce the feminine form or the masculine form in French.If I saw Daniel on a girl I would first be a bit confused but definitely think it would be pronounced like the boys name (DAN-yel). I wouldn't assume their parents were trying to name her Danielle but didn't know how to spell it because Daniel and Danielle are way to common for that to happen.Oh and sorry, I'm not good at explaining pronunciations but I hope you can see what I mean.Oh and I'd assume most people in the US would pr. Noel (boy) as NO-el or NOL so if I wanted it pr. the French way I'd put the dots on it. Otherwise I'm not sure, it would be correct but can cause a lot of trouble, too.

This message was edited 8/28/2009, 5:56 PM

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Depends on the name. If I saw Noel written down and knew it was a girl, I would pronounce it like Noelle and not like Noel (which I prn to rhyme with Joel).If I saw a female Daniel, I would be confused. I honestly don't know how I would pronounce it but I'd probably assume someone had just misspelled Danielle.
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I pronounce noel like noelle.but i would say them the feminine way if i knew it was a girl
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With Daniel, I would consider both options, but probably pronounce it as the boys' name.With Noel, even though I pronounce it to rhyme with Joel, I know a lot of people pronounce it like Noelle anyhow, so I'd say it like Noelle.
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I pronounce Noel as NO-ul and Noelle as no-EL. I've seen Noel as a female name before, so I'd assume it was pronounced like the male version.
Daniel on a female would confuse me a lot, and I'd immediately think it was a typo! - but if I knew it wasn't, I'd probably assume they'd spelt it that way because they wanted the dan-yul pronunciation, and not dan-YELL.
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If I saw Daniel written for a girl I would pronounce it the same as Danielle.Noel / Noël is pronounced no-EL, the same as Noelle, so I'm not sure what you're talking about here.
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I have never heard people say Noel as No-EL. It would depend upon where you live.
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Yeah I say Noelle and Noel the same too...
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Doesn't sound right to me that way...Noël being French and all.
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I pronounce Noel to rhyme with Joel.
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So do I.Noelle has two syllables.
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Same, and is the proper.
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I've heard both, and I think both are acceptable.
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English manglings of French names are not proper pronunciation.
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I'm pretty sure it's only no-EL if it has the dots over the "e".
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And Chloe is pronounce KLO and Zoe is pronounced ZO, I'm sure.
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If you were my mom, Zoe was pronouced ZO. And I too pronouce Noel to rhyme with Joel.
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Why so snarky?Can't we disagree about pronunciations without getting all catty toward each other?I pronounce Noel as "NOLL". The guy on the far right in my signature is named Noel, and he pronounces it "NOLL".You pronounce it differently, and that's fine. I've heard your pronunciation too, though it is counterintuitive to me. We're both still here, we both have our opinions, and both pronunciations still exist. Let's calm ourselves.
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They are by some people, ha.queenv has posted before that her Mother was named Zoe prn. 'Zo' and that's how she says the name.
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Not everywhere.Like Mar said, that's just the way it is in English.
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It's not the 'proper' pronunciationIt's just the English pronunciation.... That doesn't make it any more legit than no-EL.
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Oy. Noel is masculine, Noelle is feminine.If it has the two dots over it, Noel is pronounced no-El. It honestly ticks me off when people pronounced Noel as no-el and use it for a girl. Noel is strictly masculine.
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I agree with your second comment. I see Noel as strictly male too. Still if I encountered a Noel here in the Netherlands, I'd assume it was no-EL. If I met a Noel in an English speaking country I'd assume it was NOL.+edit: no-EL pronunciation doesn't make it feminine for me, if that's what you thought I meant.

This message was edited 8/28/2009, 5:04 PM

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I pronounce both Noel and Noelle no-EL, so I wouldn't run any risk of doing it the wrong way. I'd assume Daniel is a misspelling of Danielle. The one I can think of I wouldn't be so sure is Gabriel. I don't know if it would be supposed to be pronounced gay-bree-el like the boys' name or ga-bree-el like Gabrielle.
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I'd assume the female pronunciation.
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Well, Noel and Noelle are pronounced the same in my accent, so that wouldn't really be an issue... as for Daniel I's probably think it was pronounced like Danielle.
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I'd assume a female Daniel = Danielle. A female Noel = Noelle but that's how I say Noel for a boy as well.
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