While I was in college we read [name]Willa[/name] Cather’s novella “My [name]Antonia[/name]”. I have fallen in love with the name, but the only problem is that it is the pronunciation. My teacher explained the pronounciation as "anton-ia" rather than “an-toe-nia”. I can’t recall where she said the pronunciation is from.
Does anybody have more history on the name. Which pronunciation do you prefer?
An-toe-nia.
An-toe-nia. I like [name]Antonia[/name] a lot. It sounds princess-y and spunky at the same time.
[name]Antonia[/name] comes from the women of the old [name]Roman[/name] family of [name]Antonius[/name]. It means “priceless” or “praiseworthy”. I believe your teacher pronounces it like the [name]Willa[/name] [name]Catha[/name] novel with the stress on the first syllable. “An-TOE-nee-uh” is the Spanish way to pronounce the name (a la [name]Antonio[/name] Banderas) which I think is more prevalent in [name]North[/name] [name]America[/name] with the stress on the second syllable. It’s really a question of preference and I prefer the Spanish version.
Within “My ”ntonia,” the titular character hails from [name]Bohemia[/name] (modern day Czech Republic). Her siblings, [name]Marek[/name], Yulka (a pet form of [name]Julia[/name] — the letter J is said like Y), and Ambrosch are also Czech names. (The pronunciation that your teacher say it (anton-ee-a), is the Czech way).
I like this name, but I am more familiar with the Italian/Spanish pronunciation (ahn-TO-nyah), but I really like this one as well. However, I think it will be a struggle to overcome “an-TOE-nia.” This is sad the reason that I scrap the name from my list and have swapped it out with [name]Antonella[/name]. It is a really lovely name though.
I had a terror of a sophomore my first year of teaching named [name]Antonia[/name]. She pronounced it an-to-NEE-a (the same rhythm as “mama [name]Mia[/name].”)
In English, the name is ann-TOE-nya.
In Spanish/Italian, it’s 4 syllables: ahn-TOE-nee-ah.
In Czech, it’s accented on the third syllable: an-tah-NEE-ah.
I pronounce it ann-toe-nee-uh
I’m from the UK and I pronounce it an-toe-nee-uh.
Personally, I prefer and am more familiar with the Spanish pronunciation an-toh-nya. The English pronunciation is okay too. I think it depends on where you live.
I’m Italian and say An-tone-ee-a. you can clearly hear “[name]Tony[/name]” in it.
Check out this link: Pronunciations for Antonia in Italian (from Antonia Lodron to Antonia Craxi)
I wonder if region dialects are coming into play here. I (and my family) say it more like the 3rd Italian example (“[name]Antonia[/name] Porta”), but I hear what [name]Blade[/name] and encore mention in the 1st example.
Also, for the original poster, there are lots of other examples on the side bar (even more under the “All Languages” tab). Is there an example that sounds like your teacher’s example?
teachermama, thank you so much for showing me that site.
The pronunciation I’m talking about is the Czech pronunciation. I think it’s beautiful.
I agree, the Czech pronunciation is absolutely beautiful! I like all the pronunciations, but that is definitely my favorite.
I love [name]Anton[/name] (An-ton), but strongly prefer An-toe-nia to An-ton-ia. It’s more melodic and flows better. [name]Toni[/name] is such a cute nn for a girl (I feel like it’s totally overused for a boy).
I’ve never read that novella so I’ve only ever heard an-TOE-nee-uh. I think it’s pretty!