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HelpBerenice?
I've liked this name - particularly this spelling - for a while now. However, I've been pronouncing Berenice the same way I would Bernice: bər-NEES. However, when I checked the name on this site, the English pronunciation the gave was ber-ə-NIE-see, which I've never heard before. I vastly prefer bər-NEES.
Am I the only one who has been unaware of this "actual" pronunciation? If I were to use the name Berenice on, say, my daughter, would she constantly get it mispronounced? Does anyone prefer the ber-ə-NIE-see pronunciation over bər-NEES?
Am I the only one who has been unaware of this "actual" pronunciation? If I were to use the name Berenice on, say, my daughter, would she constantly get it mispronounced? Does anyone prefer the ber-ə-NIE-see pronunciation over bər-NEES?
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Replies
I would venture a guess and say that the ber-ə-NIE-see pronunciation is based on the fact that it is a Latinized form of a Greek name. Another Latinized Greek name that has a similar result when being pronounced in English is Eurydice.
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I was almost named Bérénice
my mother is French and considered it for a long time but she liked the other name better (the one I have now) and was also worried people would call me Barry or Berry. She said she almost named me after a character in a book, but I don't remember the title.
It's pronounced beh-reh-NEES in French. But the EH is really long, not short. You can listen to it here: http://de.forvo.com/search/berenice/
I don't like the other pronunciations but I do like Bernice.
It's funny, but I actually did meet another one in school. Her sister was named Chantal and they were both German.
my mother is French and considered it for a long time but she liked the other name better (the one I have now) and was also worried people would call me Barry or Berry. She said she almost named me after a character in a book, but I don't remember the title.
It's pronounced beh-reh-NEES in French. But the EH is really long, not short. You can listen to it here: http://de.forvo.com/search/berenice/
I don't like the other pronunciations but I do like Bernice.
It's funny, but I actually did meet another one in school. Her sister was named Chantal and they were both German.
This message was edited 7/25/2012, 9:30 AM
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That...
...is adorable.
Not casting aspersions on your current name, but the world needs more Bérénices. Said as such. A famous bearer is the ever-lovely Bérénice Bejo from The Artist, and, what, with all the press it got UK-side and with francophones, I knew about Bejo before I saw the film. I always thought it was be-reh-NEES and having it confirmed and seeing the film, I love it all the more.
Barry and Berry are fugggg, but Berenice / Bérénice - lovely.
Beeerh-neees / ber-NEES for some reason doesn't work for me. I find it ugly in comparison.
...is adorable.
Not casting aspersions on your current name, but the world needs more Bérénices. Said as such. A famous bearer is the ever-lovely Bérénice Bejo from The Artist, and, what, with all the press it got UK-side and with francophones, I knew about Bejo before I saw the film. I always thought it was be-reh-NEES and having it confirmed and seeing the film, I love it all the more.
Barry and Berry are fugggg, but Berenice / Bérénice - lovely.
Beeerh-neees / ber-NEES for some reason doesn't work for me. I find it ugly in comparison.
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I've always pronounced it beh-reh-NEES, like Bérénice Bejo. Another Bérénice, Bérénice Marlohe, is going to be the next Bond girl (her character is named Sévérine...swoooon!).
Ber-ə-NIE-see is new to me too. It's not an intuitive English pronunciation, and I don't know that you'd run into it all that often, but I also don't think people would assume bər-NEES as regularly as you'd like either. That middle E seems to beg to be pronounced differently than Bernice.
Ber-ə-NIE-see is new to me too. It's not an intuitive English pronunciation, and I don't know that you'd run into it all that often, but I also don't think people would assume bər-NEES as regularly as you'd like either. That middle E seems to beg to be pronounced differently than Bernice.
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I thought it was weird when
this site said that Candace can be pronounce kan-DAY-cee in English. I wonder whether these pronunciations are legit, never heard them.
this site said that Candace can be pronounce kan-DAY-cee in English. I wonder whether these pronunciations are legit, never heard them.
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Kan-DAY-see? Yikes.
I've never heard of that one, either, though I have heard of Dacey as a potential nickname. I wonder if kan-DAY-see could be a pronunciation that has just fallen out of use, like AN-ess for Agnes or ma-RY-uh for Maria.
I've never heard of that one, either, though I have heard of Dacey as a potential nickname. I wonder if kan-DAY-see could be a pronunciation that has just fallen out of use, like AN-ess for Agnes or ma-RY-uh for Maria.
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I prefer ber-ə-NIE-see to bər-NEES, but I think most people would tend to pronounce the name bər-NEES.
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I've never actually met or heard of an English Berenice, so until recently I always assumed it was more or less the same as the French pronunciation, which is beh-reh-NEES. I wouldn't have guessed ber-ə-NIE-see either, it's really non-intuitive in English.
I don't really see the point in using it as a kre8iv spelling of Bernice, though. Just use Bernice! - nothing wrong with it.
I don't really see the point in using it as a kre8iv spelling of Bernice, though. Just use Bernice! - nothing wrong with it.
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I have never heard Berenice and Bernice pronounced in the same way. What is the point of using the spelling of one and the pronunciation of the other?
Bernice has never appealed to me as a name at all; I just don't like the sound of it, or the inevitable Bernie nn. I do like Berenice, though it's a GP because I think that in real life it would come across as rather pretentious.
In my very brief career as an eight-year-old dance student, our elderly ballet teacher called the Bernice in my class "ber-ni-see" in a brave attempt to sound French. So no spelling can guarantee the proper pronunciation. Poor little Bernice was too intimidated, and had too many left feet, to argue back.
Bernice has never appealed to me as a name at all; I just don't like the sound of it, or the inevitable Bernie nn. I do like Berenice, though it's a GP because I think that in real life it would come across as rather pretentious.
In my very brief career as an eight-year-old dance student, our elderly ballet teacher called the Bernice in my class "ber-ni-see" in a brave attempt to sound French. So no spelling can guarantee the proper pronunciation. Poor little Bernice was too intimidated, and had too many left feet, to argue back.
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