Yvonne

When I lived throughout the Southwestern U.S. for several years I most often heard the pronunciation Yə-VAHN, though incorrect.

Oh... So it's not yeh-VON? I think I've been saying it wrong my whole life! I personally wouldn't use this name just because I imagine other English speakers would be a bit puzzled by how to pronounce it also, unless I'm just one in a million.

This is my sister's name, the way we pronounced the 'Y' isn't in the key, We pronounced it "Yuh-Vahn".

The pronunciation I have usually heard is "ee-VAHN" (about like the Russian pronunciation of "IVAN". See also my comment for that name.)

A less common pronunciation has the Y as a consonant instead of a vowel, with a slight schwa sound between the Y and the V, and the heaviest emphasis is on the last syllable, pronounced "on". I know of only one case so far where Yvonne is pronounced like this, and it's my best friend's middle name.

Can be pronounced "YA-vawn", "Eh-vawn", or "Ee-vawn". The last two are more typical as the French pronunciation, "EE-vawn" probably more so.

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

I also heard of the girl whose name was pronounced "wie-von-ee." Supposedly this was a real person where I grew up (Illinois). I have often heard this name pronounced "ya-vawn."

I read a story about a couple who lived in the country who were looking in a book for a name for their daughter. "Yvonne," with which they were unfamiliar, struck their fancy. They pronounced it "Wie-VON-ee"!