Posted by fallsfall on August 20, 2004, at 7:31:13
In reply to Thanks everyone for your impressions, posted by pegasus on August 19, 2004, at 12:40:26
I'd pronounce it Soul-Lee'-ah.
At least any mispronounciations would be recognizable as her name. And most people could fairly easily come up with some way to pronounce it.
I work in a library. Instead of people bringing their cards, they usually give their last name (and most who have tricky last names spell the names, thank you!). Then I have in front of me the handful of family members' names and I try to guess which one is standing in front of me. First, I try to choose the names that match the sex of the person (chances are that the boy in front of me is not Sarah). So I read off the first names that might match ("Are you John? or Francis? or Bartholemew?"). But sometimes I can't tell what sex the name goes with (Solea does look like a feminine name to me). Other times the names are hard to pronounce - if I think I can come up with a reasonable guess, I'll try it. Sometimes I turn the computer screen towards them and say "Which one". Sometimes I say "and your first name...?" The people with really hard first names usually try to help me out - neither of us want me to butcher the pronounciation of their name. I think there is a balance between having a unique name and having a practical name - and different people prefer being in different places on that continuum.
Leo is pretty easy.
Assuming that you are pronouncing it Soul-Lay'-ah, I would have mispronounced it, but once you told me how it is supposed to be, I would be able to remember the correct pronounciation. If you like the sound of the name, but aren't adamant about the spelling, you could spell it Soleya to have a better chance of having it pronounced right. I'm liking Solea more as I think about it - It seems peaceful (and I like your pronunciation better than mine...)
What fun to name a baby!
poster:fallsfall
thread:378312
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040820/msgs/379818.html