What are your thoughts on changing Elodie to Ellodie?

Had a discussion with a friend the other that felt most Americans would pronounce [name]Elodie[/name] as “EE-low-dee” and not “[name]Ell[/name]-o-dee” ([name]Melody[/name] without the “m”). I asked her if adding another L would help and she thought it would. I agree; I think it does, but I’m not a fan of weird spellings. Is this spelling strange? Does it look like a made-up name?

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I prefer just the one L…

So…exactly how do these people pronounce [name]Melody[/name] (with one L)? Or [name]Emery[/name] (shouldn’t that be “EE-mery”?).

Not all names that are in common usage in [name]North[/name] [name]America[/name] follow standard English pronunciation rules (oh, yeah - which English pronunciation - US, UK, Aussie?). I know two girls with the “same” name: [name]Chantal[/name] and [name]Shantelle[/name]. Is the former less likely to be read correctly? Perhaps…but in 15 years I’ve never heard her called “Chant-all” (as in chant). With one or two exposures, people can become familiar enough with a name to say it correctly - look at [name]Rihanna[/name] (ReeAnna?). Especially one with a familiar cognate such as [name]Elodie[/name]/[name]Melody[/name].

At some point, you have to just accept that there will be a few semi-literate people who will mispronounce your child’s name, no matter how “easy” you attempt to make the spelling.

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The double l looks really bizarre to me. I really doubt that [name]Elodie[/name] would cause many pronunciation problems as it is.

I completely agree with cressida!

It kind of reminds me of changing [name]Chloe[/name] to Kloey. I love the name, spelled the correct way. However, as unique spellings go, I’ve certainly seen worse than Ellodie.

I’d never seen this name before but I was able to figure out how to pronouce it right away. I’d spell it [name]Elodie[/name]. It looks much nicer that way than with the double L. I’m not really a fan of doubling letters without a good reason. It’s a pretty name.

Honestly, seeing “[name]Elodie[/name]” I immediately think it is pronounced as melody without the ‘m’. I really don’t see the “ee-low-dee” right up front. I would say the ‘E’ as ‘eh’ such as in “[name]Ella[/name]”, “[name]Ellen[/name]”, and “[name]Elise[/name]”. I think you should keep the spelling as is. “Ellodie” to me looks like you’d get pronounciations like ‘el-loe-dee’ (as in ‘yellow’), ‘el-loud-ee’, or even ‘ee-yo-dee’ (‘ll’ sounds like ‘y’ in some languages, but I’ll admit, it’s a little far-fetched that you’ll hear that one).
[name]Hope[/name] that helps a little.

I agree with pp that you have to accept that there might be illiterate or unexposed people who mispronounce an established name like [name]Elodie[/name]. I don’t think you should misspell such a beautiful name for their benefit. The vast, vast majority of people will know how to pronounce [name]Elodie[/name]. And if someone says it wrong, you can correct that individual - which is much easier than correcting every person who knows [name]Elodie[/name] is a name but has never seen it spelled Ellodie. Would you rather correct everyone’s spelling or the rare individual’s pronunciation? Plus when you misspell a name it looks as though you don’t know how to spell it - not that you were worried about someone else’s ability to pronounce it correctly.

Ellodie just looks like you misspelled [name]Elodie[/name]. Stick with one L… please.

I WOULD say Ellow-dee either way it’s spelled. If you want [name]Elody[/name] like [name]Melody[/name] you’ll just have to correct people like me :slight_smile:

People mispronounce my name a lot (mostly at doctor’s offices,) but it’s spelled how it’s supposed to be spelled. I pronounce it Deh-vun (like the county in [name]England[/name], duh…) [name]Devin[/name] is more of a boy’s way to spell it, and De-VAHN is just awful.

So basically coming from my point of view I would say spell the name correctly. [name]Elodie[/name] is NOT hard to pronounce, and don’t cater to people who don’t read well.

Ellodie looks like a typo. Please stick with [name]Elodie[/name]!!! It’s a beautiful name and it doesn’t need any yooneek spellings.
I never thought of pronouncing [name]Elodie[/name] any other way than Eh-loh-dee, and I don’t think it needs a different spelling to help with pronounciation.
Good luck! :slight_smile:

I agree with everyone who voted for [name]Elodie[/name]. Ellodie looks misspelled to me. With so many widely used [name]El[/name] names being pronounced correctly ([name]Eleanor[/name], [name]Elise[/name], [name]Eloise[/name], [name]Elaina[/name], etc.), I can’t see why [name]Elodie[/name] would be mispronounced. (If someone can pronounce [name]Melody[/name], I bet they can pronounce [name]Elodie[/name].) :slight_smile:

And even if someone couldn’t pronounce it correctly, that reflects their lack of knowledge, not any problems with the name.

So, one more vote for [name]Elodie[/name]!

Good luck!

[name]Elodie[/name] all the way, it sounds like a tryndee nonsense with two 'l’s" in it.

[name]Elodie[/name] is such a pretty name and so classic don’t spoil it by changing the spelling.

Thanks for your encouragement, everyone. It’s funny because everyone I’ve shown the name to, they aren’t sure how to pronounce it. I’m in the midwest, so maybe that’s the issue? I have no idea. But I really wouldn’t be happy with a double L spelling at all and I would regret it, I’m sure. Anyway, [name]ELODIE[/name] is on our short list. :slight_smile: Now we just need to wait and find out if it’s a boy or a girl! I appreciate the comments.

Are you American? [name]Do[/name] you live in [name]America[/name]? You said you were from the Midwest, so you must be. Well, hello there neighbor! I’m a Midwesterner, too, and I’ve never heard a person mispronounce [name]Elodie[/name]. So, you ask what my thoughts are on changing [name]Elodie[/name] to Ellodie, and they aren’t positive. Keep it the way it should be spelled. Good luck!

My name is Ellodie with the 2 Ls and it is commonly pronounced incorrectly I think if you don’t want people to pronounce it wrong you have to spell it [name]Elody[/name] but honestly I think my spelling is the prettiest.

I would definitely spell it [name]Elodie[/name]! It’s so much more classy and pretty, imo.

Besides, every time I saw Ellodie on here, I kept trying to say ee-low-die! As in, I died, not the dee ending sound. :confused: [name]Elodie[/name] is much less of a hassle, and I think most people intuitively will figure it out.

Edit to add: Just went through and read all the posts–glad to see you’re keeping Elodie! It’s such a sweet, beautiful French name!

Well there you go - an Ellodie that still gets it mispronounced. Honestly there’s hardly any name that doesn’t get messed up by someone. That doesn’t mean you have to reach for the lowest common denominator. Stick to the original beautiful spelling. Maybe someone will learn from it.

I think it should remain as [name]Elodie[/name].
Give Americans more credit lol.