Xavier

I think that the pronunciation of "ex-ZAY-vyer" is a modern phenomenon caused by people who were never taught that X is for xylophone and thus did not know how to pronounce the name. I have nothing against it though.

I hear some people say (Ks-Ay-Vee-ur)

I live in England and most people I know pronounce it the French way, or somewhat close to it. Like ZA-vee-ay.

The name is also frequently spelled Xavier and pronounced like Javier (ha-vee-EHR) by bearers in the United States who have Latin American heritage.

In English Xavier is pronounced "ZAY-vier". If it was "EG-ZAY-vier" it would be spelled Exavier.

Behind the name says Zay-vyer but every time I’ve heard it in X-Men or here in the US it’s pronounced more like Eg-zay-vyer or Ek-zay-vyer. Very soft g or k. In elementary school I knew an Xavier.

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If I have a son I want to use this as a middle name. It’s a great name and X is an awesome middle initial.

I know there are multiple ways of pronunciation, but me, I like the "X" sound at the beginning. "Zaiver" sounds "flat" (to me.) So...I like X-a-vee-r Or Eg-Z-A-Vee-r. Because the "eg-z" and "X" are close in sound.

As a USA born Latino American, the USA Spanish pronunciation of my name Xavier sounded like: “Sab-yehrrr” (trill the r),
And/or with the V sounding like a hard ‘b’ sound ("b grande"). Though due to the prominence of the other Spanish “Javier”, I answered to the same childhood nick-name “Xavi / Javi”, pronounced “Ha-Vee”. Mostly though, the nickname of my generation was “X-Man!”, based both on the retired basketball star Xavier McDaniel and of course the comic book “The Uncanny X-Men” and the main character Charles Xavier… I still prefer to use the French pronunciation whenever I travel through Europe and non English/Spanish speaking countries :)

One of my Spanish friends has Xavier as his name, and he pronounces it as SHA-Vee-Air.

I pronounce the X. Otherwise why not just have a Z and be done with it? I like the X sound much better.

It's pronouncer Sha-vee-EHR in Portuguese. [noted -ed]

In Portuguese this name is pronounced "Sha-vee-air".

ZAY-vee-ər? I'm an English speaker and I've only heard Xavier pronounced ZA-vee-ər.

In Czech, Polish and Slovak, it's ksa-vee-AIR.

The 'X' in Xavier (Xabier in Basque, like Xabi Alonso, the footplayer) is pronounced in Basque like 'SH' in English: Shabier.

This is my name. I am very familiar with the difficulties English speakers have understanding this name because it was not popular when I was named. HERE'S HOW IT IS:
gzahv-YAY is the proper French pronunciation
hahv-YAIR is the proper Spanish pronunciation
ek-ZAYV-yuhr is the proper English pronunciation
English speakers will frequently mispronounce the name a dozen different ways and confuse it with many other names.
Now you've got it from the horse's mouth.

In Spanish, it's Ha-vee-AIR.
In English, it's "ZAY-vee-er".
And NEVER is it meant to be pronounced ek-SAY-vee-er, except maybe in French, a language I know little about.
That said, it's a rather tacky name and overused in alphabet books.

My husband is French and his son from his previous marriage, my stepson, is named Xavier. In French the pronunciation is eg-ZAH-vee-ay. It took my French teacher a full half hour to teach me to say it right because the American brain wants x's to sound like z's instead of "egz" -- that is, with a slight vowel sound at the start.

Czech and Slovak pronunciation is "Ksaviur".

The pronunciation for XAVIER in original languages such as Catalan, gives the initial X a sound as the English "Ch" or "Sh", and totally mutes the ending R.

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cha-VYAY (Catalan)

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Xavier Castellà www.uniweb.cl/xavier.castella

Spanish speakers pronounce this name hah-VYAIR, and I think that is the best pronunciation.

My son is called Xavier. We pronounce it as a flat zah-vee-ur, unlike any of the ones suggested here. Most people have never heard of it. We are Greek and it goes well with our surname.

This name is pronounced "shuh-vee-ehr" in Portuguese.

The Amharic pronounce it, Eg-za-be-er.