Does anyone around here have any experience with the name [name]Lucia[/name]? Either your name, sibling’s name, friend, co-worker, etc.
I’m concerned mostly with pronunciation. First off, how do you/they pronounce it? Also, is it commonly mispronounced when read for the first time (e.g. read Loo-see-uh when you pronounce it Loo-sha)?
Are your experiences with the name overall positive or negative?
I’m really starting to like this name, but I would like to hear some responses from people with real life experience.
Uh… Ex-boyfriend’s sister? Loo-chee-ah. I thought it was gorgeous. She was fun - lots of dark lipstick and vintage clothes, much smarter than her brother, wore the name well and seemed quite happy with it. I don’t think pronunciation would be such a hurdle. There are obviously a couple of accepted pronunciations, but it’s not like naming your kid some obscure Celtic name with lots of silent letters.
Hm. I’m from NYC… maybe the Italian chee pronunciation is more common here. I’ve also heard Loo-sha, which I assume is the Norwegian pronunciation, as in St [name]Lucia[/name]? [name]Do[/name] you know about St [name]Lucia[/name]'s day? It’s a really lovely Scandinavian tradition.
I’ve really been loving [name]Lucia[/name] lately, too! I honestly love both Loo-shah and loo-chee-ah; I think they’re both lovely. loo-see-ah is nice, too, I’m just not a huge [name]Lucy[/name] fan, so the other pronunciations distance it from [name]Lucy[/name] for me.
The only real-life experience I have with [name]Lucia[/name] is with a customer who came into my former employer’s–her name was [name]Lucia[/name], and I honestly didn’t know how it was to be said (I’d loved [name]Lucia[/name] for years, but it seems like each pronunciation is more prevalent in different areas, and I honestly didn’t know which was more common in my area), so I said loo-see-ah, and I was corrected, “No, loo-shah.” I was pretty happy about that, since it’s my favorite prn. Other than that, I really have no experience with it, but I do think it’s lovely!
I’ve never met a [name]Lucia[/name] before, so I don’t know how my area would really respond to it. There were 26 [name]Lucias[/name] born in my state in 2011, but I definitely haven’t seen any of them. I prefer the Loo-sha pronunciation by a mile. I’m with ashthedreamer when it comes to the Loo-see-ah pronunciation. I’m not sure what my big worry is, except that it would get annoying having to correct pronunciation all the time. I have a very common name, so I’ve never had that problem. I don’t want to saddle a future daughter with a burden of a name.
[name]One[/name] of my good friends is named [name]Lucia[/name], she pronounces it Loo-see-ah. So to me the other pronunciations seem quite forced.
I’ve never asked her how often her name is mis-pronounced, so can’t help you there.
I love the name [name]Lucia[/name], it was my great-grandmother’s name (she was Italian). I adore it as a middle name too. My great-grandmother pronounced it loo-chee-uh. I’ve never heard it pronounced any other way, but she lived in the [name]New[/name] [name]Jersey[/name]-[name]New[/name] [name]York[/name] area and maybe they pronounce it differently elsewhere? Having heard it pronounced like that all my life, I don’t really like any of the other pronunciations.
I think this name is beautiful (I happen to like all the pronunciations!), but it will definitely give you pronunciation issues at some point. If that is going to bother you, I would find something else. But many names have that problem, so it isn’t necessarily a deal breaker for me.
If I had to guess, I would say it would be pronounced “loo-see-ah” the majority of the time. I have a friend in [name]Sweden[/name] who pronounces it that way. That is the only [name]Lucia[/name] I know! But if I saw the name on paper, I would be inclined to say “loo-see-uh” (I live in the midwest). I like the loo-sha pronunciation a lot, too.
I love this name, but only when pronounced LOO-SHA. As these replies attest, I have mostly found that people generally pronounce it as CEE or CHEE. The main reason it’s not currently on my list. But to me Loo-sha sounds so lush and warm and delightful.
My best friend’s boyfriend has a niece named [name]Lucia[/name]. She pronounces it Lu-see-uh, but when I saw it I thought [name]Lu[/name]-sha. We live in Pennsylvania (so Northeasten US) and there aren’t many pronunciation issues around here. There also arent many [name]Lucias[/name] around and there hasn’t really been any negative reactions to it either.
In my area in the US I have only met one. She was sweet. She pronounced it Loo-chee-ah. In books that is always how I read it in my head. Loo-sha does sound cute though.
My daughter is [name]Lucia[/name] and we use the “Loo-sha” pronounciation. We [name]LOVE[/name] her name and get many many compliments on it. We chose it because it is strong and unique and spunky and it fits her to a tee (she turned 3 after [name]Christmas[/name]). To me it also has a slight vintage feel also, which I love.
We get some pronounciation of Loo-see-ah occasionally (usually just at the Dr’s office or some case where they are calling her name outloud). It doesnt bother me at all. I correct them and its over. All of our family and friends know how to pronounce her name. We live in the midwest so we dont have a ton of Italians here, but my dad lives on the [name]East[/name] Coast and did get quite a few people who thought it was Loo-chee-ah at first… oh well. Now they know
I look forward to taking her to St. [name]Lucia[/name] for a special birthday (maybe 18th?) someday for a mommy/daughter trip!
The toughest part about her name is finding one we love as much for her little sister due in [name]July[/name] with enough spunk to live up to [name]Lucia[/name]!
Best of luck!
ps: we thought we might use the nn [name]Lucy[/name] but in reality [name]Lucy[/name] doesnt fit her. We call her [name]Lu[/name] quite a bit just as a quick short version, which my family thinks is really cute.
I say loo-CHEE-ah or loo-SEE-ah. Former is Italian, and applies mostly when I’m speaking Italian or the person is Italian, the latter is how it’s pronounced in Norway and [name]Sweden[/name] (very big on celebrating St [name]Lucia[/name] - all the children dresses in white and have candles and glitter on their heads. And gives out lussekatter - amazing saffron buns!). I find both very pretty
