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Spanish/French pronounciation of Jonathan?
I just read a post about Jonathan on the opinions board and when I clicked the link I saw that Jonathan is in the top 100 names in a lot more countries than I would have ever thought! I saw it was used in France and Spain; would anyone be able to tell me how it is pronounced there? In Spanish wouldn't it sound something like HOH-na-than? Thanks for any help. http://www.babynames.com/namelist/9576932 Please vote! (Not private)
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The Spanish correct form of the name is Jonatán (khoh-nah-TAHN), but, as many other names from Old Testament, it is not used.The use of Jonathan appears in 1970s after American films, soap operas and sitcoms; then, the pronunciation tries to be the English one. Since the sound of the English J is inexistent in Spanish, many of the speakers pronounce it as Y (it is the same with other newly used names, as Joel). The group TH is pronounced simply as a T.
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Thanks for your help. So in all it would be pronounced yoh-nah-tan? I didn't think it sounded right as hoh-nah-than! Thank you again.
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For the French pronunciation, the j- sounds like the -s- in the word "pleasure" (the ʒ in the IPA), the -th- sounds like a -t- and the final -an is nasalized.
In the past, the name was mostly borne by the Protestants and the Jews, but it's become more popular under the American influence (but with the French pronunciation since the English-th- is so difficult to say for French people)
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