Based on having a husband from Argentina, he would pronounce it (to English-speaking ears): Day-see-THEY-dee-ahh (the second D has a "th" sound and the "r" sounds very similar to a "d" in English but much lighter.It seems very cumbersome to pronounce in Spanish and it is probably given the nickname "Day-see" (Desi)The French version is much easier to pronounce and although visually beautiful, I can't imagine that this name would be popular in the USA or in Spanish speaking countries.
― Anonymous User 9/25/2010
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A poetic interpretation of its Latin root (de sidere; literally, 'from the stars') yields the meaning 'wished for on a star'.
― Anonymous User 5/28/2009
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Since no exact pronunciation is given, I would pronounce it Dee-sid-err-eye-uh.
This is a lovely name, and I also like the French equivalent, Desirée. It sounds poetic. Of course, the white trash crowd will think it's "yucky" and will want to use a truly yucky name like Destiny.
Said deh-zee-dee-ree-ah, the ending -deria kind of sounds like "diarrhea" to me and you KNOW if it's that easy to make the connection, the bullies would pick it up, too. Said deh-zee-day-ree-ah, as the French would pronounce it, makes the ending sound a bit like "derriere", a franco-anglo word for "backside", which is better than "diarrhea" but not by much. *sigh* And it's actually such a pretty name. Bummer. What about leaving off the "-ia" and going with, Desidere, pronounced: deh-zee-dare? Just a thought.