[name_m]Hi[/name_m] all, I am wondering if any Scandinavian people can help me out with the name [name_m]Leif[/name_m]. I love this name, regardless of prononciation, but I do want to clear up what it’s official pronunciation is.
I’m American and it seems that most people here want to say “leef,” which I know is not the Scandinavian pronunciation.
On name websites, I’ve seen that the name should be pronounced “layf.” I thought this was the correct pronunciation.
However, on forums and such, I’ve seen comments about it being pronounced like “life” in Europe.
So my question is, which one is the real Scandinavian pronunciation? [name_m]Can[/name_m] it be either “layf” or “life?” Is it some kind of blended sound that gets lost in translation?
Thanks!
I live in [name_u]Sweden[/name_u], and here it’s pronounced ”layf”
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Both are correct. It’s “layf” in Swedish, but “life” in Norwegian and Danish. In Iceland people would say “layf” (but the Icelandic form is Leifur, pronounced layf-ur).
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Hmmm… my family is from [name_m]Denmark[/name_m] (albeit a few generations ago— I think it was my great-great-grandparents who moved here). They took immaculate notes passed down through the family. On top of that, we have letters from government agencies that indicate it is “layf”. I wonder why the discrepancy?
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Really? That’s so strange, because “ei” is pronounced as “eye” in Danish. At least I’ve never heard it pronounced otherwise. They also say sol-veye instead of sol-vay for [name_f]Solveig[/name_f].
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For me it’s always been either “life” or “layf”
I live in a very Scandinavian community!
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I’m glad to learn something new here! Thank you. Now it makes me wonder how that came to be in our family history.
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Let me know if you find out, because it’s very interesting 
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