hello! My husband and I are currently debating the spelling of our daughter’s name (due 3/14/10.) Which one do you prefer? Our most important concern is pronunciation- which one looks like it should be pronounced Lor-a-lye? He likes one spelling and I like the other, and all the people we have asked are split down the middle. Thank you!
I think [name]Lorelei[/name] is the proper spelling, and the pronunciation is [name]Lore[/name]-uh-lie. ([name]Lorelai[/name] just looks misspelled and seems to invite the pronunciation lore-uh-lay, which I don’t think you mean to do).
It’s a great name!
I prefer [name]Lorelai[/name]. For me the ‘lei’ spelling makes me want to say ‘lay’ even though I know it’s pronounced ‘lye’ whereas the ‘lai’ spelling, like the name kai, reinforces the ‘lye’ sound. Good luck.
P.s I love the name, it has been on my list from the beginning - spelt [name]Lorelai[/name].
To get the ‘lie’ sound, I’d go with [name]Lorelai[/name]. [name]Lorelei[/name] looks like it should be said with the ‘lay’ sound (like [name]Leila[/name]).
I’d agree. Funny, because ‘lei’ is usually a ‘lay’ sound (well, in English anyway) but because [name]Lorelei[/name] is an established spelling I don’t think you’ll have any problems with mispronunciation.
I’d agree. Funny, because ‘lei’ is usually a ‘lay’ sound (well, in English anyway) but because [name]Lorelei[/name] is an established spelling I don’t think you’ll have any problems with mispronunciation.[/quote]
It is a strange thing, isn’t it? Lei is usually pronounced “lay,” and I even voted for [name]Leila[/name] as the preferred spelling of lay-la on that other thread, so I can definitely see the hesitancy in using the [name]Lorelei[/name] spelling.
I think for me what it comes down to is just common usage. [name]Just[/name] like some words are phonetic outliers, so are some names, but when they are classic familiar names, I prefer the traditional spelling. It might bother me that some people would pronounce [name]Lorelei[/name] as [name]Lore[/name]-uh-lay, but I would take comfort in the fact that they were just WRONG 
(And people can be wrong in all sorts of unpredictable ways, so why even start to try to account for it). At the end of the day, I’d rather have someone else pronounce my child’s name wrong than have spelled it wrong. And [name]Lorelai[/name] just looks like it’s spelled wrong.
Agree with jlm 10000%:
At the end of the day, I’d rather have someone else pronounce my child’s name wrong than have spelled it wrong. And [name]Lorelai[/name] just looks like it’s spelled wrong.
I vote [name]Lorelei[/name] because it is the traditional spelling of this name. ‘lye’ is the traditional pronunciation of this name. So if the occasional person says it incorrectly, you can correct them. Seeing it spelled wrong would make me think you wanted a different pronunciation, that ‘lye’ is not the sound you were going for.
We are naming our daughter [name]Lorelei[/name] ([name]EDD[/name] 2/26/10). The other spelling we considered was [name]Loralie[/name] - and for the same reason. But like the previous poster, I prefer the traditional spelling of [name]Lorelei[/name], so I’m sticking with that. Some people will mispronounce a name no matter how it’s spelled.
I think some people will have never met a [name]Lorelei[/name] and be confused for a second. On the other hand, [name]Loralie[/name] would also be unfamiliar but probably called [name]Laura[/name] [name]Lee[/name] more than [name]Lorelei[/name] is said [name]Lora[/name]-lay (and probably occasionally also [name]Laura[/name] [name]Lee[/name]). [name]Laura[/name] [name]Lee[/name] does sound pretty, but I would spell it like [name]Laura[/name] [name]Lee[/name]. Another option is to use the name [name]Laurel[/name].
As far as trying to spell a name more phonetically, it is making the spelling a mess to avoid (mostly unsuccessfully) the sounding a mess. To me, that is like painting graffiti on your house to tell your neighbors you don’t like their loud music; instead of just asking them to turn it down, you’ve defaced your own house.
When someone encounters a name that is new to them, if it is spelled wrong, they might think that is the correct spelling. If they have seen the name before, they are more likely to think you either don’t know how to spell it, or to think it must be pronounced differently than they’ve heard it before. If your idea of a phonetic spelling for one name, say [name]Loralie[/name], which any fool can see is recognizably [name]Lora[/name] and Lie, resembles many other names in which -lie is actually pronounce [name]LEE[/name], they are going to mispronounce it for sure. [name]Charlie[/name], [name]Kylie[/name], [name]Rosalie[/name], etc. It’s better to have them learn the name that is new to them then to attempt on your own to spoon-feed them - it’s hard to have an outside perspective when a phonetic spelling makes obvious sense to you.
It kind of makes me upset to think the value of a name has to acknowledge the human capacity for error and ignorance, and to acknowledge it in such a way that assumes one is more likely to encounter people who don’t know than do, and that when you meet them, you don’t have time to teach them the right way, you’d rather your child go through life having their name spelled the wrong way - and which will cause misspelling problems that I think are worse than sounding problems - mispronunciations are in the air, you hear them and they’re gone, you correct them and they know for next time. Misspellings are in print - people will misspell it by spelling it right, and also by spelling it wrong in a variety of ways because they know it’s kind of weird but they can’t remember exactly how it differs from the conventional spelling. Some people will always be wrong no matter what you do, so such is life, don’t try to “fix” your child’s name for those people.
I vote for [name]Lorelai[/name]
Go with the traditional spelling. [name]Lorelai[/name] looks misspelled. I’d always rather have “right” on my side.
As an aside, [name]Lorelei[/name] looks closer to its [name]German[/name] roots, whereas [name]Lorelai[/name] has Hawaiian overtones, to me at least.
And to seal the deal, I just noticed that spellcheck highlights [name]Lorelai[/name] is incorrect, but not [name]Lorelei[/name]. That says it all.
I vote for [name]Lorelei[/name]…I agree with Jlm totally. [name]Lorelei[/name] is the original spelling, so it is more authentic, and actually less likely to be mispronounced. If it is mispronounced, then the person who does it is wrong, and easily corrected. [name]Lorelai[/name] seems a bit…yooneek to me, like you were inviting incorrect pronounciation.
I also agree with Phoebesmom…spell checker never lies!!
[name]Lorelai[/name] seems more likely to get the correct pronunciation. It also looks slightly prettier to me.
I’m usually one for sticking with what’s more traditional (or “original”) when it comes to spelling, but in this is a case where I’d go with [name]Lorelai[/name].
Another factor is that most people who are familiar with this are going to know it through [name]Lorelai[/name] [name]Gilmore[/name] (which is spelled this way).
[name]Lorelei[/name]. There is a news presenter here with that name but she pronounces it Loh-ril-lee so that’s how I’ve always said it. But now I have a feeling that’s wrong…
I still think [name]Lorelei[/name] looks better anyway.
Good [name]Luck[/name]
- [name]Charlie[/name]
Ditto! I think [name]Lorelei[/name] is such a lovely name.
Good luck!
Some comments on nameberry are just so annoying. Seriously God didn’t etch the name [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f] with lightning into a rock. A human person made up the spelling [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f] they weren’t God. The spelling with an A is not U-neek or what ever derogatory term people like to use, I mean really one letter is changed.
When I first looked at the names I thought the two spellings were pronounced differently, I pronounced [name_f]Lorelai[/name_f] correct, Lai like [name_u]Kai[/name_u] and sky (L-ah-i), and [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f] incorrect like [name_m]Lay[/name_m] (L-eh-i). I have never encountered an (e) that sounded like an (ah). So I just couldn’t wrap my head around that spelling, and went with Lai.
To the people that thought Lai looked Hawaiian, well, Lei is Hawaiian too. Not that it should be a bad thing.
btw rock’s name on the [name_u]River[/name_u] Rhine, for the U-neek crowd is Loreley, The name comes from the old [name_m]German[/name_m] words lureln, Rhine dialect for “murmuring”, and the Celtic term ley “rock”. The translation of the name would therefore be: “murmur rock” or “murmuring rock”. The heavy currents, and a small waterfall in the area (still visible in the early 19th century) created a murmuring sound, and this combined with the special echo the rock produces to act as a sort of amplifier, giving the rock its name.[1] The murmuring is hard to hear today owing to the urbanization of the area. Other theories attribute the name to the many accidents, by combining the [name_m]German[/name_m] verb “lauern” (to lurk, lie in wait) with the same “ley” ending, with the translation “lurking rock”.
From the [name_m]German[/name_m] Wiki site: Die Loreley (auch [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f], Loreleï, [name_f]Lore[/name_f] [name_m]Lay[/name_m], [name_f]Lore[/name_f]-Ley, Lurley, Lurelei, Lurlei)
In the [name_m]German[/name_m] language orthographic reform of 1903, in almost all [name_m]German[/name_m] terms the letter “y” was changed to the letter “i”, but in some [name_m]German[/name_m] names the letter “y” was kept, such as Speyer, Spay, (Rheinberg-)Orsoy, and including Loreley, which is thus the correct spelling in [name_m]German[/name_m].
And my [name_m]German[/name_m] friend pronounced it the way it looks, not with an ([name_m]AH[/name_m]) sound.
And some human poets wrote these poems. these poets and their U-neek spelling lol.
In 1801, [name_m]German[/name_m] author [name_m]Clemens[/name_m] Brentano composed his ballad Zu Bacharach am Rheine as part of a fragmentary continuation of his novel Godwi oder Das steinerne Bild der Mutter. It first told the story of an enchanting female associated with the rock. In the poem, the beautiful [name_f]Lore[/name_f] La[SIZE=4]y[/SIZE], betrayed by her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men and causing their death. Rather than sentence her to death, the bishop consigns her to a nunnery. On the way thereto, accompanied by three knights, she comes to the [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f] rock. She asks permission to climb it and view the Rhine once again. She does so and thinking that she sees her love in the Rhine, falls to her death; the rock still retained an echo of her name afterwards. Brentano had taken inspiration from [name_m]Ovid[/name_m] and the [name_u]Echo[/name_u] myth.
In 1824, [name_m]Heinrich[/name_m] [name_m]Heine[/name_m] seized on and adapted Brentano’s theme in one of his most famous poems, Die [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f]. It describes the eponymous female as a sort of siren who, sitting on the cliff above the Rhine and combing her golden hair, unwittingly distracted shipmen with her beauty and song, causing them to crash on the rocks. In 1837 [name_m]Heine[/name_m]'s lyrics were set to music by [name_m]Friedrich[/name_m] Silcher in the art song [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f][2] that became well known in [name_m]German[/name_m]-speaking lands. A setting by [name_m]Franz[/name_m] Liszt was also favored and over a score of other musicians have set the poem to music.[3]
The [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f] character, although originally imagined by Brentano, passed into [name_m]German[/name_m] popular culture in the form described in the [name_m]Heine[/name_m]–Silcher song and is commonly but mistakenly believed to have originated in an old folk tale. The [name_m]French[/name_m] writer [name_m]Guillaume[/name_m] [name_m]Apollinaire[/name_m] took up the theme again in his poem “La Loreley”, from the collection Alcools which is later cited in [name_f]Symphony[/name_f] No. 14 (3rd movement) of [name_m]Dmitri[/name_m] Shostakovich.
So either one is fine pick, pick the one that looks the prettiest to you. I picked the one that made more sense phonetically to me. unfortunately people still get it wrong sometimes, but its a small price to pay for an awesome name. And for the most part people cant spell in general, so it doesn’t bother me, if people get it wrong.