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HelpRe: Westley or Inigo?
in reply to a message by honeypie
Inigo, without hesitation. Sound architectural antecedents, an attractive alternative to the ghastly Ignatius; the only possible drawback might be people expecting a spectrum name and inserting a redundant -d-.
Westley, on the other hand, isn't Wesley. Which is heavy Methodist and therefore not my scene. Puts it in the same category as Calvin and Luther, a kind of tattoo on the forehead. I've been told that Americans pronounce Wesley with a ss sound, like the s in West, in fact; in British English it's a zz sound. And the added -t- would then modify the pronunciation in a British direction, which is mildly amusing; it was originally West Meadow but when the -t- dropped out, the -s- sound became a -z-. In modern English, Westley sounds and looks wrong to me, like a proofreading error or the best effort of a spellchecker.
So, then: a mn for little Inigo! Inigo Aled? Inigo Emrys? Inigo Ieuan? What about Inigo Yorick, or Inigo Constantine? Inigo Lawrence?
Westley, on the other hand, isn't Wesley. Which is heavy Methodist and therefore not my scene. Puts it in the same category as Calvin and Luther, a kind of tattoo on the forehead. I've been told that Americans pronounce Wesley with a ss sound, like the s in West, in fact; in British English it's a zz sound. And the added -t- would then modify the pronunciation in a British direction, which is mildly amusing; it was originally West Meadow but when the -t- dropped out, the -s- sound became a -z-. In modern English, Westley sounds and looks wrong to me, like a proofreading error or the best effort of a spellchecker.
So, then: a mn for little Inigo! Inigo Aled? Inigo Emrys? Inigo Ieuan? What about Inigo Yorick, or Inigo Constantine? Inigo Lawrence?
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Replies
I'm American, and I don't pronounce Wesley with an SS sound like the S in "west". I pronounce it with a Z sound, as in British English. But most likely there are Americans who pronounce it with an SS sound. American pronunciation can vary so widely. Some Midwesterners actually pronounce Ann and Ian the same, which is weird to me. Some pronounce Aaron and Erin identically, but I sure don't. My best friend in high school pronounced Harry to sound exactly like "hairy", but I don't.
This message was edited 4/21/2020, 7:15 AM
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How do you say Aaron, Erin, and Harry? (I'm west/midwest American and I say Aaron and Erin both like air-en and Harry like hairy. Maybe I'd say Erin a little shorter than Aaron but not much difference.)
I don't say Ann like Ian but the "A" in Ann is definitely a diphthong regardless of the accent. I'm imagining it's really obviously two syllables in southern American too, like AY-unn.
I don't say Ann like Ian but the "A" in Ann is definitely a diphthong regardless of the accent. I'm imagining it's really obviously two syllables in southern American too, like AY-unn.
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I say Erin Air-en as you do, but the A sound in Aaron and in Harry is far flatter, like the A sound in "cat". Therefore in my accent Harry is not identical to "hairy".
Southerners do say AY-unn, but that's not identical to Ian, which Southerners would say with an initial EEE sound rather than the "AY" at the beginning of Ann. To be honest, I've never actually heard anyone say Ann so that's it identical to Ian or vice versa. I read that it occurs in "Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States" by Bill Bryson. I am certain he said it occurs in the Midwest, and maybe he specified Michigan? That book was so interesting, I should get another copy and read it again.
Southerners do say AY-unn, but that's not identical to Ian, which Southerners would say with an initial EEE sound rather than the "AY" at the beginning of Ann. To be honest, I've never actually heard anyone say Ann so that's it identical to Ian or vice versa. I read that it occurs in "Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States" by Bill Bryson. I am certain he said it occurs in the Midwest, and maybe he specified Michigan? That book was so interesting, I should get another copy and read it again.
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Midwesterner here: I pronounce Harry like hairy (which is why I've never seen the appeal of the name) - probably because I pronounce merry, marry, and Mary all the same as well - and Aaron and Erin sound alike to me. However, this is the first I've ever heard of Ann and Ian being pronounced the same! Ian is EE-ən, definitely two syllables.
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Wesley pronunciation
I have actually heard both the S and Z pronunciations in the United States, sometimes from the same people actually. Though for Wesleys in the U.S., the nickname Wes (soft-S) is common.
I have actually heard both the S and Z pronunciations in the United States, sometimes from the same people actually. Though for Wesleys in the U.S., the nickname Wes (soft-S) is common.
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That's a surprise! Or maybe a surprize? In British English, which we basically speak in South Africa if we're mother-tongue speakers, Leslie and Lesley both have a z sound, and so does Les, which was mostly a male nn I think. So, if Americans use Les as a nn for Leslie, does that sound like Less or Lez? Does Leslie sound like Lesslie or Lezlie? And is it possible to use, say, Wezley with nn Wess? Lezlie with nn Less? I'm fascinated! Of course, the USA is much too big to generalise about ...
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I'm American and I say Wess-ley and Less-lie but I've heard Wez-ley and Lez-lie.
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I can't speak for every American, as has been discussed, but I definitely say Leslie with a Z sound, Lezlie. And although I pronounce Wesley as Wezley, I pronounce the nickname for it, Wes, with an S sound, and Leslie is Lezlie, but the nickname is Les with an S sound.
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Yikes!
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