How would you pronounce Alethea?

Recently I’ve fallen in love with the name [name_f]Alethea[/name_f]. I prefer it pronounced alluh-THAY-uh, but I’m not sure if this is correct. How would you pronounce it?

I would have instinctively gone for a-LEE-thee-uh but actually seeing your post you’ve converted me, a-luh-THAY-uh is much nicer. Maybe spelling it Alathea would work?

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Uh-lee-thee-uh is my instinctive pronunciation

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I work with someone called [name_f]Alethea[/name_f] they pronounce their name Uh [name_u]Lee[/name_u] thee uh

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It sounds so delicate and beautiful, right? :slight_smile: I don’t usually like messing with the standard spellings of names… [name_f]Alathea[/name_f] is pretty, though!

Thank you! I did think maybe it was pronounced this way. I think I prefer a-luh-THAY-uh because uh-LEE-thee-uh sounds like [name_f]Alicia[/name_f] with a lisp on the c to me… Maybe I should just get over that, though? I just worry that people would confuse the name with [name_f]Alicia[/name_f]. (Which is a lovely name, just not my style!)

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It’s so pretty! So cool that you’ve met someone with this name. :slight_smile: Does her name ever get confused with the name [name_f]Alicia[/name_f]? I’m curious! Because they sound very similar to me and [name_f]Alicia[/name_f] is more commonly heard. I’m worried about constantly having to correct it.

Actually, the more I pronounce is uh-LEE-thee-uh, the more I like it! Maybe I’m just overthinking things here. :slight_smile: I love that it means truth, too. <3

Thanks for your input, everyone!

That’s so interesting! I’ve never heard that pronunciation. It’s beautiful!

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I would say Uh-Lee-Thee-Uh because that’s how my friend’s daughter pronounces her name. They call her [name_f]Leafy[/name_f] most of the time!

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a-lə-THEE-ə

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I pronounce it uh-LEE-thee-uh. Unfortunately, it’s always sounded like [name_f]Alicia[/name_f] with a lisp to me :confused:

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Either Al-LEE-thee-uh or Al-LITH-thee-uh.

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I’d pronounce it “uh-LEE-thee-uh”.

I think it’s an uncommon enough name that you can pronounce it however you want and people will learn it that way. When I was a kid, I had a friend named [name_f]Thea[/name_f] but “Tay-uh” not “Thee-uh” and she never had any trouble - we all just assumed her pronunciation was the normal way. None of the teachers could ever pronounce it day 1, but she’d just tell them and that would be that.

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[name_f]My[/name_f] first intinct is to pronounce it uh-lee-THE-a.

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[name_f]My[/name_f] instinct is [name_f]Althea[/name_f] with an extra letter, so Al-eh-THEE-uh

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I know two little girls with this name (one with a slightly different spelling). One is a-LAY-thee-a; the other is a-LEE-thee-a.

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i know an alethea who pronounces her name uh-LAY-thee-uh

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omg, I LOVE the nickname [name_f]Leafy[/name_f]! That is the sweetest thing!

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The first time I said it out loud, it sounded a bit like that to me, too!