So…everywhere I look on Nameberry, people are talking about “ine” names…[name]Clementine[/name], [name]Josephine[/name], [name]Emmeline[/name], Laureline…
I was wondering if there’s a way to determine how to pronounce this last syllable! For example, in [name]Clementine[/name] it’s Ine, in [name]Josephine[/name] it’s EEn, in [name]Jacqueline[/name] it’s Inn…every time I see a new name with this ending, I wonder how to pronounce this.
In [name]Britain[/name] we tend to stick with the French way - ‘een’ , so:
[name]Emmeline[/name] = emma-leen
[name]Clementine[/name] = clem-en-teen
[name]Jacqueline[/name] = jack-el-een/in
[name]Josephine[/name] = joseph-een
[name]Celestine[/name] = sel-est-een
[name]Delphine[/name] = del-feen
[name]Geraldine[/name] = gerald-een
[name]Florentine[/name] = flo-ren-teen
[name]Francine[/name] = fran-seen
Marcelline = mars-el-een
The notable exception is [name]Caroline[/name] which is ‘caro-line’
[name]Bear[/name] in mind that most ‘ine’ names ([name]Clementine[/name], [name]Jacqueline[/name], Jospehine) are French in origin and so should therefore have the ‘een’ pronunciation.