Oh dear… I love the name [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] but I hate the way it looks. Could I spell [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] like [name_m]Louis[/name_m]? [name_m]How[/name_m] do you pronounce [name_m]Louis[/name_m]? Everyone I know pronounces it [name_m]Lew[/name_m]-ee. I don’t know. Thoughts?
Its my husbands name!!! [name_m]Louis[/name_m], pronounced both ways depending on who we are talking too. His family is french so his sister and father tend to call him [name_m]Louie[/name_m] but my family and our friends are not french and all call him [name_m]Louis[/name_m] (with the s like [name_m]Lewis[/name_m]) He introduces himself as [name_m]Louis[/name_m] (with the s) so its what we hear most often. He does however have to spell it out for people when filling out paperwork. Its been written [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] on more than one occasion.
You know, before I frequented this site, I never knew so many people pronounced “[name_m]Louis[/name_m]” as “[name_m]Louie[/name_m]”. Both my dad and older brother are named [name_m]Louis[/name_m] (pronounced like [name_m]Lewis[/name_m]) and are called [name_u]Lou[/name_u] or [name_m]Louie[/name_m] as nicknames…so I pronounce it as I am familiar with. I think that if you live in an area where most people would pronounce it “[name_m]Louie[/name_m]”, then it might save you a headache to just leave the spelling as “[name_m]Lewis[/name_m]”. In a case like this, or if it were a situation like [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] vs. [name_m]Nicolas[/name_m], I would say to go with your preference…however, I think that, with the info you gave, you may have to keep your location in mind. By all means, if you prefer [name_m]Louis[/name_m] to [name_m]Lewis[/name_m], above all else, then go ahead! It’s a great name either way!
At least where I’m at, [name_m]Louis[/name_m] (and even the Spanish [name_m]Luis[/name_m]!) are said exactly like [name_m]Lewis[/name_m]. Not sure where you’re at, but I would think it’s fine to spell [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] as [name_m]Louis[/name_m]. 
[name_m]Louis[/name_m] is a french name pronounced [name_m]Louie[/name_m]. Please, respect the name and its origin. Go for [name_m]Luis[/name_m] of [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] if you want the S to be pronounced.
I know several men named [name_m]Louis[/name_m] (not [name_m]Louie[/name_m]) and they all spell it [name_m]Louis[/name_m]; I think the [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] spelling is unattractive too so I think it’s totally okay to use [name_m]Louis[/name_m] instead! It’s so much more appealing. [name_m]Just[/name_m] like @namergirl3 before joining this site I didn’t realize anyone more than a few outliers pronounced [name_m]Louis[/name_m] as [name_u]Lou[/name_u]-ee.
In the U.S., I would assume [name_m]Louis[/name_m] is pronounced the same as [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] unless I were told otherwise. I’m not sure if it’s regional, but St. [name_m]Louis[/name_m], [name_f]Missouri[/name_f], gets pronounced both ways, so that might be a way to test what people would assume. [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] is a family name for me, and though I don’t really plan on using it, that spelling has actually grown on me because [name_m]Lew[/name_m] seems like a more distinctive nickname than [name_u]Lou[/name_u].
I have always pronounced [name_m]Louis[/name_m] like [name_m]Louie[/name_m]. I personally prefer the [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] spelling, but think [name_m]Luis[/name_m] will get you what you want.
FWIW, [name_m]Luis[/name_m] is also ambiguous to me because it’s often pronounced with the accent on the second half: Loo-EES. It’s a name with enough regional and global variations that there’s probably no solid guarantee of a particular pronunciation until you just tell people.