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ArchivesRalph - RALF or RAYF
Here in the US, the name Ralph is always pronounced RALF. I was wondering how common the RAYF pronunciation is in other English-speaking countries. (In the operetta "H.M.S. Pinafore" Ralph is pronounced RAYF.)
This message was edited 5/24/2007, 2:14 PM
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It is traditionally pronounced RAYF in England but just like the English pronunciations of Maria (ma-RYE-a) and Sophia (so-FYE-a) have fallen out of use in favour of the European pronunciation, so has Ralph. It is still pronounced like this occasionally but seen as quite pretentious.
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Any other less common pronunciations?
Thanks to everyone who responded. I never knew Sophia could be pronounced that way. Are there any other older pronunciations of English names that are becoming less common?
Thanks to everyone who responded. I never knew Sophia could be pronounced that way. Are there any other older pronunciations of English names that are becoming less common?
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Not now, I don't think. But in the eighteenth century, if I remember, the -th- in Dorothy was pronounced like the Th in Thomas ... so she'd have been Dorotty. Then with the spread of literacy, people started pronouncing the letters they saw, instead of doing what they heard older people do ... probably because Dorothy was never as popular a name as Thomas, so they weren't so accustomed to it.
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I'm having lunch on Sunday with a 25-year-old Sophia who is and has always been so-FYE-a, to the extent that her childhood nickname was Fya, like fire without the r; pretty good as she's a redhead.
Here in South Africa we are very used to Afrikaans-speaking Sophias, or of course Sofias, sounding like so-FEE-a and English-speaking ones sounding like so-FYE-a. This could I suppose change as American TV becomes more ubiquitous ...
Here in South Africa we are very used to Afrikaans-speaking Sophias, or of course Sofias, sounding like so-FEE-a and English-speaking ones sounding like so-FYE-a. This could I suppose change as American TV becomes more ubiquitous ...
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Yeah, I know one 'Sofia' who pronounces is like that.
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The classic English pronunciation didn't have (and doesn't have) the L sounded. Nowadays it's beginning to sound a little bit precious, because (a) American influence is stronger than ever before - satellite TV, movies, Internet etc, and (b) a tendency in education not to "correct" minor errors like spelling pronunciations, or even to encourage them on the grounds that, if there's an L in there, it must be there for a reason and that reason is to be heard.
In South Africa it's complicated by the presence of more Germanic names like Ralf and Rolf, used by speakers of Afrikaans; this makes people accustomed to an L sound, so they do the same in English. I've known a few English-speaking Ralphs but only one who was a Rafe ... his mother was a social climbing English teacher! (I was also at university with a Rafie, but that was short for Raphael.)
In South Africa it's complicated by the presence of more Germanic names like Ralf and Rolf, used by speakers of Afrikaans; this makes people accustomed to an L sound, so they do the same in English. I've known a few English-speaking Ralphs but only one who was a Rafe ... his mother was a social climbing English teacher! (I was also at university with a Rafie, but that was short for Raphael.)
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