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ah-MAH-nee
eh-MAH-nee
ih-MAH-nee

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They sound similar, but the first letter is different.

Nope...

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...each with their own vowel sound; in this case, "uh", "eh" and "ih" as in "cup", "red", and "sip", respectively.

Well, for Amani I'd say "UH" at the beginning. For Emani it would be more like "EH", and for Imani it would be more of an "EE" or "IH" sound. They'd all be schwa-ish, but not entirely.

No,

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Amani - ah-MAH-nee
Emani - eh-MAH-nee or ay-MAH-nee
Imani - ee-MAH-nee

To me they would be:
Ah-mani
A-mani (we have a student at our school who pronounces it this way)
Ih-mani

uh-manee = Amani
ee-manee = Emani
ih-manee = Imani

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BUT.... I think most people pronounce them as uh-manee because they are so similar.

This message was edited 5/31/2011, 9:19 PM

If I knew how the name was spelled, I would differentiate. I do see you're point on the schwa sound, but I would do my best to differentiate.

Hm. Depends. I might have one of the worst vowel-neutralizing accents there is. If I'm saying them fast and I expect people to know who I'm referring to, they'd be hard to distinguish - but I still feel like I'm making different sounds, and I think if you were listening for a difference you could hear it.

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Amani - əm, almost but not quite exactly like in umbrella
Emani - em like in emblazoned
Imani - im like in immortal

No

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Amani: uh-MAH-nee
Emani: EH-mah-nee
Imani: IH-mah-nee

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EH and IH are very different in my accent.

Amani- uh-MON-ee
Emani- ee-MON-ee
Imani-ih-MON-ee

The difference is for all practical purposes indiscernible when I say it, but there is a very slight one, where you can hear the individual vowel sound. I think because it's not the stressed syllable that's changed it's harder to notice.

With my accent they come out almost exactly the same. I really have to enunciate the first syllable to make a difference between the three.

I think they can be pronounced the same. I think you can also pronounce them differently, too.

No

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Amani, ə-MAHN-ee
Emani, eh-MAHN-ee
Imani, i-MAHN-ee

Not exactly the same. For me it's:
AH-mahn-ee
EM-ahn-ee
IM-ahn-ee

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So they all sound almost the same, just a very subtle difference.