Respondents: 132 (This poll is closed)
I started off pronouncing it ex-zay-vee-er, because it just felt right and I didn’t know it had another pronunciation. Then I moved onto zay-vee-er and this is the pronunciation I prefer/use, one that is more common too now that I know of one [name_m]Xavier[/name_m] that goes to school with my cousin. Saying that, I am constantly finding myself using ex-zay-vee-er in my head when I read the name. I went with the 3rd option because of this.
I’m from the UK, [name_f]England[/name_f] to be precise.
I pronounce it like Zay-vee-er, and I come from Europe, but my prn. was influenced by American movies/TV shows/book characters and celebrities, so there’s that.
Zay-vee-er and I’m from the Northwestern US.
I say it more like Zay-vur in two syllables. I am from the Southern US but have lived in the NE US for awhile.
I say it with the strong X sound 90% of the time. I am from [name_f]Canada[/name_f]. This is mostly due to being a [name_f]Marvel[/name_f] comics fan.
I know of someone with the [name_m]Zavier[/name_m] spelling which guarantees the Zay-vier pronunciation for him.
I’m from the UK and everyone I know as well as myself pronounces it Zay-vee-er.
I’m from the Midwest and pronounce [name_m]Xavier[/name_m] with a “Z” sound, so Zay-Vee-Er. There is a local high school that pronounces [name_m]Xavier[/name_m] that way so that may be where my influence comes from. I also pronounce [name_m]Xerxes[/name_m] (street in minneapolis) as [name_m]Zerk[/name_m]-Sees. If a word starts with an X it gets a Z pronunciation but an X in the middle of the word gets that “X” sound. [name_m]Just[/name_m] like Xylophone is pronounced Zye-Lo-phone.
Canadian
I say “ex”
I wonder what is considered technically correct.
I chose Zay-vee-er (and I’m American) because it was the closest to my real answer : My first reaction was to pronounce it Zav-ee-ay.
Maybe that’s the [name_m]French[/name_m] pronunciation? Maybe I’m just a weirdo, I don’t know.
I pronounce it this way too and I’m originally from the southwest (US)
I say it almost like two syllables: Zay-vyur. I’m from Ohio, where we have both a college and a high school called [name_m]Xavier[/name_m] and everyone around there says it that way. So it also boggles my mind when I see that some people actually use the pronunciation “Ex-Zay-Vee-er”
The closest is ex-zay-vee-er, although I say ex-zay-vyer.
I in the U.S. I say ZAYV- yur.
I am American, from the Midwest, and I would say ex-zay-vee-er initially, although I would not be surprised if someone corrected me to zay-vee-er. However, all the Xaviers I have met have pronounced it with a X sound at the beginning.
However, I will give an aside to this. If I was in a context where I knew people spoke Spanish, or perhaps the child had a Spanish-derived last name, I would probably initially pronounce the name like [name_m]Javier[/name_m] ([name_m]Javier[/name_m] and [name_m]Xavier[/name_m] are often used somewhat interchangeably) and then ask how they liked their name to be pronounced. I mention this just because I don’t know what your last name is, if this is a consideration at all for you.
According to behindthename it has multiple pronunciations so I don’t think you need to worry about people thinking you pronoumce your child’s name wrong. I live in the Midwest and have only known one [name_m]Xavier[/name_m] pronounced Ex-zay-vee-er.
Thanks everyone for the all the responses. I’m not sure that I’ve gotten any real clarity, but it has been interesting to see everyone’s take on the name.
@kibby I think my husband was influenced by [name_f]Marvel[/name_f] too. That’s how he says it. I wouldn’t know an X-man if it hit me in the face.
@namelover0711 The “xylophone” example makes a lot of sense, but there seem to be just as many people who pronounce it with the X as without.
@abertawe I wonder too! I’m still not convinced there’s a single “right” way, but I wish I knew.
@l_e_d2009 Thanks, that’s reassuring!
[name_m]Chay[/name_m]-vee-er
I’m from [name_f]England[/name_f] and live in [name_m]Wales[/name_m].
I start off saying ‘zay-vee-er’, but then some people pronounce their names differently. So I will change it to how they pronounce it themselves. E.g. I know an ‘ex-ay-vee-er’ and a ‘zav-ee-air’.
I’m from the southern US and say it bothers ways. Historically I always said ex avyur. Now I waffle between the two