Caroline

My first name is spelled Caroline, but pronounced Carolyn (Care-oh-lyn or Care-uh-lyn). I am named after my Great Aunt Caroline and my Great Grandmother Louise, one relative from each side of my family. My parents always pronounced it Carolyn and never used Carol as a nickname because they didn't like it.

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I was born and raised in the Southern U.S. region. My name was frequently misspelled or mispronounced especially since there is a mismatch between people's expectation of the pronunciation associated with the spelling and vice versa. My mom claims that where she was raised in Michigan that the Caroline typical pronunciation was not commonly used and that the Carolyn pronunciation was spelled both ways. My mom was born in 1945 and I was born in 1974, when neither version was super popular. According to the frequency charts the Carolyn version was popular among my mom's age range peers in the U.S. in 1940s as she was growing up.

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I like my name now, but sometimes didn't as a child since it was longer and I had the spelling/pronunciation issues. My parents had also considered Mary for my first name, and at one point I wished I had been named that.

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I like my family's pronunciation of my name better than the typical pronunciation of Caroline, but I get frustrated sometimes with it rarely being spelled or pronounced the way I want or that is correct to me. I will attempt to correct people a few times and then drop the issue, but sometimes still be privately annoyed at the error. My own paternal grandmother often misspelled it as Carolyn.

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My mother and father always intended the Carolyn pronunciation but wanted it spelled like my mother's first name ended, with the -ine in Jacqueline, which doesn't have a difference in pronunciation between Jacquelyn and Jacqueline.

In the Dutch-speaking world, there are two pronunciations for Caroline; which one you hear, largely depends on the preference of the parents of the bearer, as they decided how the name of their daughter ought to be pronounced. The pronunciations in question are:

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• /ka:.ro:.'lin/ (based on the French pronunciation)
• /ka:.ro:.'li.nə/ (fully Dutch, i.e. no foreign influence that I know of) [noted -ed]

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You can hear them for yourself below:

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• https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Caroline#Dutch (in English)
• https://nl.wiktionary.org/wiki/Caroline (in Dutch)
• https://nl.forvo.com/search/Caroline/nl/ (in Dutch; disregard the pronunciation for Caroline van der Plas, as she is half Irish and thus pronounces her name in the English way)
• https://youtu.be/7qrmdZ4RdPs (in Dutch; the name is said at 0:05 → this is the Dutch pronunciation)
• https://youtu.be/Hodvjwb7T0k (in Dutch; the name is said at 0:02 → this is the French-based pronunciation)
• https://youtu.be/JpDmUkKvx-U (in Dutch; the name is said at 0:04 and 0:07 → this is the French-based pronunciation, and the host even asks her how he should pronounce her name at 0:09 to 0:17)

Variant English Pronunciations: KAR-ə-leen, kar-ə-LEEN, KAR-leen, kar-LEEN, KAR-lin, kar-LIN, kar-a-LIN, kar-a-LIEN.

Too many people MISPRONOUNCE it as CAROL-LINE so that I thought I mispronounced it... However, I do not suppose you should emphasize the LINE...

My name is Caroline, and I really like it. I find it to be really pretty and feminine. But, I have found that everywhere I go, people pronounce my name wrong, and I don’t even understand how that’s possible. It’s so simple and easy to say, yet I get Coraline all the time, Carolyn, Kathrine, and so much other stuff. It’s CARE•O•LINE. If you know a Caroline, please pronounce her name right, because getting all these other names is just weird. Sorry for my little rant lol!

My name is Caroline. I've heard it pronounced every single way besides how you actually pronounced it. CARE-OH-LINE.

I pronounce it CAROL-LINE (long I) instead of CAROL-LIN.

I'm a Caroline and prefer the pronunciation Kah-Ro-Line, CARE-o-line tends to be the American pronunciation which grates a little. I have to say the most irritating version I get is car-line. Despite all this, and referring to myself as Caroline always, my parents and family have always called me Carrie, lol!

I haven't seen the Dutch pronunciation of the name. Me myself am Dutch, and the Dutch way to say this name is most likely;
"ka-ro-LEEN-ə" or "ka-ro-LEEN-e".

Common name in Scandinavia. We pronounce it CAROH-Lih-neh.

In English pronunciation the name Caroline is not pronounced KER-o-lien. It is always pronounced KAR-o-lien. I also have to agree with many of the comments about being called Carolyn instead of Caroline. It's incredible laziness to not listen to how a name is pronounced. I grew up as the only Caroline in my school, but there were many Carolyns. So I got lumbered with that, and I loathe the name Carolyn. Just awful.

In Sweden we pronounce it the original French way, kah-ro-LEEN. It is also spelt Karolin, but Caroline is the most common spelling.

Listen to the German pronunciation of Caroline here:
http://www.nordicnames.de/Aussprache.html.

I have a friend with this name and she pronounces it like Carolyn.