How do you pronounce Coraline?

I saw a character on the TV show Moonlight who pronounced it [name_f]Cora[/name_f]-leen. But I think the book of the same name pronounces it [name_f]Cora[/name_f]-line (like [name_f]Caroline[/name_f]).

Does anyone know the proper pronunciation?

Famously, [name_u]Neil[/name_u] Gaiman came up with the name for the character/book by accident when he mistyped [name_f]Caroline[/name_f], so for that reason, I’ve always thought of it as [name_f]Cora[/name_f]-line, i.e. [name_f]Caroline[/name_f] with the o and a the other way around.

I too think of the [name_u]Neil[/name_u] Gaiman character.

I can’t find any alternate pronunciations on Forvo, but I looked on thinkbabynames.com and they say it’s pronounced [name_m]Cor[/name_m]-uh-line as well. Because it stems from “[name_f]Coral[/name_f].” I also have heard of [name_f]Coralie[/name_f], so I think they may traditionally be connected as a romanticized forms of [name_f]Coral[/name_f] or [name_f]Cora[/name_f].

I don’t actually think Gaiman invented it at all, but instead he recreated a fairly extinct antique name.

Oh yeah it was definitely a name before the book, I only meant that Gaiman planned to call the character [name_f]Caroline[/name_f], mistyped and decided to keep it as [name_f]Coraline[/name_f]. I’m not sure where I read that but I am a huge fan so I’ve read and watched a lot of interviews with him.

[name_f]Coralie[/name_f] was fairly popular in [name_f]France[/name_f] in the 90s when I was living there, along with the similar sounding [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f], so perhaps it’s a [name_m]French[/name_m] form of the same name? [name_m]Just[/name_m] a guess though.

Oh yes, I do remember hearing that anecdote as well!

That’s very interesting. So perhaps it is a [name_m]French[/name_m] name, but almost forget? In the same style as the other -line names.

If [name_f]Coraline[/name_f] is/was a [name_m]French[/name_m] name, then it should be pronounced [name_f]Cora[/name_f]-leen, like [name_f]Emmeline[/name_f] and [name_f]Angeline[/name_f].

Having said that, the same rule doesn’t seem to apply to [name_f]Madeline[/name_f]…

Or [name_f]Caroline[/name_f]… It’s quite the puzzlement, I’m really not sure.

I’ve always said “line” like the word, drawing a “line” in the sand. I never can love [name_f]Coraline[/name_f] because it makes me think of “chorus line.” I came in to read the thread hoping that others would declare that it’s definitely supposed to be cora-leen. I’d be ever so relieved and happy! I like [name_f]Coralie[/name_f] much better because I say it cora-lee.

P.S. [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] [name_f]Rosamund[/name_f] is gorgeous.

I say it to rhyme with [name_f]Caroline[/name_f].

Hmm. I would also prefer [name_f]Cora[/name_f]-LEEN. Does anyone know the TV show character that I am referring to, or any other evidence to support [name_f]Cora[/name_f]-LEEN?

[name_m]Just[/name_m] like they do in the movie