See the results of this poll: How do YOU pronounce Thea?
Respondents: 55 (This poll is closed)
- THEE-a : 49 (89%)
- TAY-a : 5 (9%)
- TEE-a : 1 (2%)
- THAY-a: 0 (0%)
My instinct would be THEE-a, but the only person I know who has this name pronounces it [name_u]TAY[/name_u]-a. She gets upset when people mispronounce it, which happens a lot.
I would automatically say THEE-uh.
The other pronunciations I’d use if they were spelled as follows…
Téa - [name_u]TAY[/name_u]-uh
Théa - [name_m]THAY[/name_m]-uh
[name_f]Tea[/name_f] - TEE-uh
It absolutely depends on where you are and what culture the [name_f]Thea[/name_f] in question is from. All your listed pronunciations are legit. I would personally pronounce it TEH-ah (without the AY sway, more of a straight eh vowel) in my head. However, living in the US, I think the most common pronunciation might me THEE-ah or [name_m]THAY[/name_m]-ah.
Where I live most people pronounce it [name_u]TAY[/name_u]-ah, but to me personally [name_m]THAY[/name_m]-ah is the most logical pronunciation. It really depends on where you’re from.
I know one Dutch lady who is nearly 70 who pronounces her name [name_f]Thea[/name_f] as [name_f]Taya[/name_f]. Now I’m living in the U.K. I know a few little girls whose families pronounce it thee a. I do also know one little girl from a Dutch family whose name is spelt Teya and pronounced taya.
I’m in the UK and know lots of Theas and I’ve only ever known one pronunciation - Thee-a. I think possibly if you live in an area with a large Spanish or even Italian community it might confuse people more, but I wouldn’t say it’s one of those names that generally has multiple accepted pronunciations.
I knew a [name_f]Thea[/name_f] ([name_u]Tay[/name_u]-a) so that’s how I pronounce it, but everyone always mispronounced her name as Thee-a.
THEE-a in English but TEH-a in my native language