Although not pregnant, my love of names means I constantly discuss different ones with my husband. And, now that we’re considering the expansion of our family, the subject of name possibilities has begun in more ernest.
For years I’ve adored the name [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f]. During my first pregnancy, I introduced it to my husband and he instantly fell in love with it. But…I’m not sure if [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] is a guilty pleasure, being perfect in theory and awkward in reality.
The problem: I pronounce it aw-ray-lee, which my husband loves. But, I worry that if we were to name a daughter [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f], she would get called or-ee-lee or aw-re-lee, and this sounds too much like “orally.” To avoid this, we’ve talked about changing the spelling to better reflect how we pronounce it, but we’re never sure about ‘made-up’ spellings.
What are peoples thoughts on the name [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] in practice?
[name_m]How[/name_m] do you pronounce it?
[name_f]Do[/name_f] you think the general population would say something similar to orally?
Should we change the spelling to Auraelie?
Or spell it the [name_m]French[/name_m] way–Aurélie?
[name_m]How[/name_m] much difference does the [name_m]French[/name_m] accent have on how it’s pronounced?
Is it really only suitable as a middle name?
The accent might help, but I think that’s a pain in the butt to use in the US and won’t ever show up on official forms, license, etc.
I’ve strongly considered using [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f], but my experience has been with stating it to people, not writing it. Most people seem unfamiliar with it, but like it, and I don’t think it’s hard to pronounce.
If you used this, I am sure at some point, probably a few times, your daughter’s name would be read as “aw-reh-[name_u]Lee[/name_u]” or something else incorrect. But it’s not a huge difference in pronunciation (to me more of an accent thing), and I believe once people heard her or you say it, they’d quickly say it as you do.
Some names that are very hard for Americans to pronounce I think should be passed on ([name_f]Soleil[/name_f] for example, has been bumped down my list), but I don’t think [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] would be misprounced heavily or often enough to negate how lovely it is.
I love Aurélie! My best friend was [name_m]French[/name_m] (consequently an Amélie), and her cousin is named Aurélie [name_f]Kate[/name_f], also from [name_f]France[/name_f]. I have always been massively in love with that name, and I have always preferred Aurélie to [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f]. I agree that the Aurélie spelling would probably be a hassle in the US, but I’m loathe to go sans accent, since, technically, in [name_m]French[/name_m], it’s spelled “wrong” without the accent.
I say it the [name_m]French[/name_m] way–oh-ray-lee–but sometimes I anglicize it to ARE-ah-lee (which, I can see how that would be construed as close to “orally”, but I don’t hear it) for Americans. I think aw-[name_u]RAY[/name_u]-lee is a good anglicization, too. I would absolutely not use Auraelie–it butchers it for me!–but I think [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] or Aurélie is fine. If you’re fine with correcting people, I’d think people would eventually catch on, and [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] ‘aw-ray-lee’ isn’t that outrageous, imo. Then again, I’m learning [name_m]French[/name_m], and understand much more than the average American does as far as [name_m]French[/name_m] things go.
Aurélie is a gorgeous name! It might be a bit of a hassle with documents and pronunciations and all that but in the end it’s an absolutely beautiful name and I think Aw-ray-lee is a very pretty pronunciation!
I think [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] is completely useable and there is nothing about it that strikes me as one of the more unusual, risky names. I would pronounce it the same way you do, and I like the spelling as is. I think changing it around might actually complicate things and create the problem that you are trying to avoid. I’m not a fan of the [name_m]French[/name_m] spelling either as I don’t think the accent is necessary for the pronunciation you are trying to achieve. Aurelie is beautiful
I am not certain of the forum etiquette–if I should respond to each reply individually or not. But, I do appreciate the feedback that has been given so far, thank you.
My husband and I both think that [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] is one of the more unusual (to English speakers) [name_m]French[/name_m] names that works in English because it is not too hard to say and does not sound strange in the sense of being ‘out there.’ I have mentioned the name to my mum and best friend in the past. They both loved how it sounded, but they did not see [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] written.
The more I think about it, my concern is not with the name itself. It looks beautiful written, with or without the accent. It sounds beautiful spoken, whichever way it is said. The problem is the English word “orally.”
On one hand, we would love to spell the name with the accent as it is [name_m]French[/name_m] and therefore seems more correct and true to the name. On the other hand, we live in Australia and doubt that official situations/documents or that people in general would know how to handle it. But, we wonder if the inclusion (where it can be used in the writing of the name) of the accent might result in aw-ray-lee over aw-reh-lee. What are people’s thoughts on this?
We also like the name when it is pronounced oh-ray-lee. But, we do not know that anyone would get oh-ray-lee from [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f]. They should get the -lee correct but not the oh-.
(Well, I might be bold and make a reply in someone else’s thread.)
I love love love [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] (and [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f]), with or without the accent. I have it somewhere on my long list, but will most likely leave the accent behind since in my case I know it’s not practical. I say it Aw-ray-lee or Aw-re-lee, but never anything close to orally. I say go for it. It is a beautiful name, widely recognisable but still not popular.
[name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] is one of those names I absolutely adore in theory but could never bring myself to use, personally. Maybe as a middle but not as a first.
I studied [name_m]French[/name_m] for years, and in my experience with typical Americans and Australians, the accent marks are just for decoration, to be blunt. It’s not a criticism; I have no idea what accent marks in, say, Portuguese mean. So I think that using accent marks in an anglophone country is just going to add unwanted frustration and hassle.
My name has a few different pronunciations, depending on who you ask, but I only accept one as “correct” for myself. I’m pretty biased about names with pronunciation confusions. I think there are going to be plenty of people who says [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] like “orally” or what I hear is “oh really?” and perhaps that doesn’t bother you…but will she be thick-skinned enough to deal with this all the time?
I think [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] and [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] have more potential as first names regarding pronunciation problems. [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] in the middle is also a beautiful option.
Sorry if this seems rather negative; I really want to like it but I’m sick of pronunciation woes personally so it’s an aspect of names that’s really important to me.
Thank you once again for the continued feedback on the name [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f].
It seems that there are slight variations in how people pronounce it in English.
Including the accent in the spelling would most likely be an absolute pain in Australia, yes. Including it with the hope of achieving [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] pronounced as ‘aw-ray-lee’ was with the (strange) thought that it might possibly cause those who say the name from reading it to ask how it is pronounced, lol! As I doubt most Australian’s would know how to read the accent. It was not really to achieve the [name_m]French[/name_m] (the correct) way of saying [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f], as to us that sounds too similar to “orally.”
My first name is one that has rarely been pronounced correctly from its written form, and this has never once bothered me. If it is by a person whom I will not see again, I do not even care to correct it. However, my name, if mispronounced, does not sound like a word that would have ever caused teasing. At school, it always resulted in other kids teasing the teacher for their error! The same is not true of [name_f]Aurelie[/name_f], though. So, perhaps it is better in theory or as a middle name…as we do not like [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] any where near as much.
