See the results of this poll: Irene pronounced EYE-ree-knee
Respondents: 83 (This poll is closed)
- Yay : 13 (16%)
- Nay: 70 (84%)
Respondents: 83 (This poll is closed)
I’ve never heard [name]Irene[/name] pronounced as EYE-ree-knee. Sounds silly. EYE-reen gets my vote.
The prn Eye-ree-nee sounds like I-weenie to me. I have never heard of the name pronounced that way, and I imagine it would cause many weird glances and pronunciation problems. I think [name]Irene[/name] has a classic, elegant sound.
I’ve never heard EYE-ree-nee either. I actually think it’s cute though. [name]Reading[/name] it I want to pronounce it eye-[name]REE[/name]-nee, which sounds a lot less like irony.
I still prefer EYE-reen, but could EYE-ree-nee be an personal ‘nickname’? I know that doesn’t really make sense, like a [name]Grace[/name] who gets called [name]Gracie[/name] by her parents, that sort of thing.
When I read your title, I thought, “What other pronunciation could there be to [name]Irene[/name] other than Eye-rene”…the other one just sounds really silly.
I hear Irony.
I would be less thrown to hear [name]Irene[/name] as “eye-reen-eh” than “eye-reen-knee” but if you’re looking for a third syllable…I’d go with [name]Irena[/name].
I agree with oliviasarah, Irenie(?) could be a nickname/pet form of [name]Irene[/name].
I miss-clicked… <_< I meant to press “Nay” lol… =/
I think Eye-ree-knee is overcomplicating the name a bit
I’ve only heard the Eye-ree-nee pronunciation on The Forsyte Saga :). The emphasis doesn’t feel the same as irony to me so I didn’t make that connection at all.
Okay, some quick googling tells me that Eye-ree-nee is the British pronunciation. So, depending where you are, one pronunciation will be more intuitive, not sure if that bothers you to correct people all the time but I like both pronunciations.
I know that the three syllable pronounciation is used in [name]Britain[/name]; I don’t know if this is the common pronounciation or not. I can not think of one time that I have heard that pronounciation used in the United States outside of a British movie. I vote nay.
I like the eye-ree-knee pronunciation quite a bit. I can’t decide if I like this pronunciation or the French ee-REHN better - both are lovely. Anyway, the eye-ree-knee pronunciation reminds me of the children’s movie The [name]Princess[/name] and the Goblin (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107875/), as that’s the way the main character’s names is pronounced. I also like that this pronunciation brings it back to its Greek roots. That said, I do think you’ll be asking for constant mispronunciation if you insist on using it in the states.
[name]Said[/name] in Spanish, you would get a three syllable [name]Irene[/name]. (ee-REH-neh) However, I don’t think eye-ree-knee is a good idea. Best to go with eye-reen
I’m going with “nay” on this one, but I love the pronunciation “ee-REH-neh” (or anglicized it comes out kind of like “ee-[name]REN[/name]-ay”
I don’t know whether this is pure coincidence, or geography, but I live in [name]Britain[/name] and reading this thread is the the first time I’ve heard the ‘Eye-ree-nee’ pronunciation. It’s not through lack of Irenes, I’ve known plenty, and they’ve all been of the Eye-reen variety. If my stupid computer would let me vote, I would vote ‘nay’. It sounds too much like irony to me.
I have only heard the Eye-reen pronunciation. I love the name, by the way, but my favorite Aunt is [name]Irene[/name] though we call her [name]Ree[/name]-Knee!
I’ve never heard EYE-ree-knee before. I quite like [name]Irene[/name], but only as EYE-reen, as I’ve always heard it. Perhaps you’ll better like [name]Irena[/name]? It’s got the extra syllable but sounds better in my opinion. [name]Hope[/name] this helps!
I’ve always heard it as eye/I-reen and that’s how ever [name]Irene[/name] I’ve met said it… I don’t like I-reen-ee, it just sounds icky imo
Nayyyy. We say ‘eye-reen’. No idea where that’s come from. I didn’t even realise there was another way of saying Irene.
The original Greek, [name]Eirene[/name], is lovely and pronounced much more softly (eh-reh-nee), which is preserved in Spanish. The French is also lovely (ee-REHN). But the standard English is and always will be eye-REEN, which is really too bad.
Eye-reen for sure! It just flows so much better.
Personally, I think it’d be a nightmare to be [name]Irene[/name] said “eye-ree-nee”. I do believe the original Greek form is [name]Eirene[/name], though, said the way you want–I find that more appealing than [name]Irene[/name], personally, anyway.