Thérèse

My grandmere's name was Therese. She was born and lived in France her whole life. She pronounced it Tay Rez. NOT Thay Rez! If you people are not French please try not to act as if you're experts! It's insulting and annoying.

My name is Thérèse (note accents) and it has always been pronounced ta-RAZE. Obviously this is the way I prefer it to be pronounced and my French friend told me that this was probably the closest English equivalent to the French. Maybe this is just the Aussie way to say it, but I like it- it's an absolutely gorgeous name.

In the French spelling of Therese, the first accent over the first e is called accent aigu, which means acute. It is pronounced shortly and bright. The second accent over the second e is called an accent grave, which is almost but not quite a hard A. The correct pronunciation of Therese is ta-rez. It is also often pronounced Ta-Raiz. It is hard for English speakers to get it just right. But I have never heard Tay-rez, that is clearly incorrect, as is thay-rez.

My interpretation of your pronunciation can't be right - I'm perceiving your prescribed pronunciation to be "tar" (as in English) with an "ez" (as in "fez") ending. Please correct me if that shouldn't be the case.
Alternatively, I have a feeling you might be using the letter "A" to denote a vowel that should be pronounced in exactly the same manner, in which case we'd both be correct; I was following the pronunciation guide, and hence denoted the first vowel as an "ay" - it's closest to that, or so I feel.

"Thérèse" may also be pronounced "thay-REZ" (note the inclusion of the "h" - implies that it isn't a silent "h"). (The letter "é" should be pronounced with an "ay" sound, while "è" is pronounced almost like the word "air".)

Actually, judging by the placement of the accents, it should sound a bit more like TAY-res (instead of -rez), but I could be wrong.

Correct French pronunciation is ter-EZ.

I'm pretty sure it is tay-REZ. I like this name better than Theresa.

I am positive that it's pronounced ter-EZ.