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HelpRe: How do you pronounce this name?
in reply to a message by Isabel
I've never heard it used by English-speaking people.
In South Africa, there have been a couple of well-known Ebenezer people who were/are known as Eben. The Afrikaans pronunciation (which everyone uses because that's what they were/are!) is close to your ee-ben, but after the ee there's a schwa, so the vowel is more of a diphthong.
If you think about it, Ebenezer is e-be-NEE-ze. So, since the Eben component is unstressed on both syllables, it makes as much sense to use a long ee as a short eh, and it seems easier to pronounce ee-ben than eh-ben.
In South Africa, there have been a couple of well-known Ebenezer people who were/are known as Eben. The Afrikaans pronunciation (which everyone uses because that's what they were/are!) is close to your ee-ben, but after the ee there's a schwa, so the vowel is more of a diphthong.
If you think about it, Ebenezer is e-be-NEE-ze. So, since the Eben component is unstressed on both syllables, it makes as much sense to use a long ee as a short eh, and it seems easier to pronounce ee-ben than eh-ben.
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