I loved the name [name_f]Imogen[/name_f], but I was pronouncing it Ih-mow-gen. On the nameberry page it pronounces it Ihm-eh-jen. Now I don’t like it that much… What do you think?
I’ve only heard it pronounced as Im-uh-gin. It took me awhile to get used to it, but now I do think its quite sweet.
i always thought it was [name_f]Imo[/name_f]-gin
I’ve always thought it was IM-ə-jən.
As far as I can tell UK accents make it sound more like IM-OH-jen
and US accents make it sound more like IM-ah-jen.
So you could really just go with either or a hybrid of both. (Though I always find that option odd).
I know Imogens of various ages ( Brits & Aust.) and they are all said IM-ə-jən.
For any one who does not know phonetics, the middle syllable -schwa- is called the neutral vowel and is the same as the first sound in apart . Its written /eh/, /a/- various ways to try to show pronunciation but the best thing is to remember the stress is on the first syllable /Im/ and the second syllable vowel /o/ is not given full value, just referred to as a grunt sometimes.
Thanks PP -I wondered why your explanation seemed best. When schwas seem part of the alphabet its very easy.