[reetoreet]

Ok so this is a bone of contention with me. I went to school for linguistics and speech and language and I have a slight pet peeve with proper pronunciation/spelling issues (I am THAT person...I know, I know). So I had a slight disagreement with my BIL tonight and it is really getting under my skin. We don't get along anyway...but he has this way about him that he IS ALWAYS right no matter what you say or what you know. So my question is this: How would you pronounce the name Magdalena?

Thanks for giving me your opinion on this.

[Happywife]

mag-duh-LEE-nuh

There's a slight strong accent on the first syllable, but moreso on the third.

Just my opinion. . . I'm curious. How do the two of you pronounce it?

[Lovebug]

Mag-duh-len-a....does that make sense? The end sound more like "lent" than "lean"....but I have a thick NY accent so take that into account, too! Lol.

[keekee1006]

I have seen that name pronounced Mag-duh-lay-nah with some of the Hispanic women I've worked with, but I can see it being pronounced the way Happy said it as well. By the way you would be surprised at how many people mispronounce my name(Chloe).

[Gospelfan]

I think, as the posts have indicated, it would depend on the region the child is from.
Mag-duh-lin-uh, Mag-de-lee-nuh, and mag-duh-lee-nuh are all pronunciations, I've heard around here, in Texas.
(Your question makes me miss my phonetics course and SLP classes. )

[reetoreet]

Haha...I would never miss my phonetics class!! But I do miss my advanced language classes.

We are from Pennsylvania. With Spanish phonetics it would appear to be pronounced Mag-da-lay-na. But using English phonetics it looks to be pronounced Mad-da-lee-na. I am not saying I am the only authority on the English language or anything like that. I don't think this argument was specifically surrounding the name of the child. Working in schools, and having a long name myself, I have seen how tedious it is to correct people all the time. Everything my SIL and BIL do, it seems, they do to get under people's skin. They named their son after an evil elf in one of Tolkein's books (not LOTR), they got married on 6/6/06, my BIL tries to "school" me constantly on how adoption isn't the best thing for children (ooooh....he upsets me so much!), they refused to come to our wedding or my daughter's baptism because my BIL said he would never set foot in a church because "something might happen"....I don't know maybe he thinks he will be struck by lightening or catch on fire or something...haha. Maybe this is more of a vent about my in laws than an actual question....haha. I see that now.

[DannieAS]

Since I am hispanic I would say Mag-da-le-na but that's how I've heard it in the Spanish church I grew up in til I hit elementary where we switched to the 'English' church. lol

ah those SLP classes, totally unrealistic in real life! Trust me, I know!.

[reetoreet]

Originally Posted by DannieAS

ah those SLP classes, totally unrealistic in real life! Trust me, I know!.

Oh don't I know it! I don't miss that stuff at all.

[Barksum]

So...you care what your BIL thinks because...???? He just likes to yank your chain. Smile wisely next time he does something like this and just say, "You know best."

Had to edit to say, with people's names the rules of phonics and language do not apply. People name their kids and pronounce the names any way they please. Also you often have a huge mix of languages and ethnicities that get mixed and you have Italian-Hindu-Slavic-Celtic kids named after all their ancestors. You will NEVER win a name pronunciation contest because it does not stay within the Proper Language Rules box.

The same thing goes for last names. It may have started out as a French, Italian, or Swedish name, but then they came through Ellis Island and who knows what you'll end up with 80 years after THAT. On top of that you have people like Hyacinth Bucket who insist that it is "Boo-kay", in spite of all evidence to the contrary.

[greenrobin]

True enough, Barksum! I know a Darnius whose name is pronounce Denarius and a Vonnette with a Y. She spells it Yvonnette. Her mom didn't know the Y wasn't silent.

Names are exempt from the rules!

[Daisy1339]

Mag-Da-Lay-Nah

[reetoreet]

I understand that the rules of language don't necessarily apply to names. The reason it gets under my skin is because of the way he corrects people. He is very rude and treats people like they can't read when they mispronounce her name. "it's mag-da-laaay-na....there is no 'i' in her name"....ok that wouldn't really change they way people pronounce it. They chose to pronounce her name a certain way...I'm fine with that. But if her name is easily mispronounced don't be so completely rude to people when they don't say it correctly. My son's name is Kaiden...a lot of people think he is a female and some people think his name is "katelyn". I don't yell at everyone and try to embarrass them when they mistake his name. I was just wondering how other people would pronounce the name depending on region and things like that. Thanks everyone for your input.

[DannieAS]

My name gets mispronounced and misspelled all the time.
I don't know why, should be straight forward....

Danette sounds like Annette without the double /n/

[DebCsMom]

Our children's names all start with the letter "C". Our biological children are Chelsea and Cody...didn't plan on them both having a "C" name, just the names we liked. When we were in the adoption process, our son, who was 9 at the time said, "Both our names start with a "C", the company is named C&C (we own a small company), the babies will be black and adopted. If their names don't start with a "C", they might feel left out". Sooooo, Rylie became Cylie (Kylie). Our next daughter is Cirrah (Kira, Kyra). The spelling of Cira just was too simple looking to me. Then along came Caleb...who has TWO middle names! Cylie is usually mispronounced as Sylie and Cirrah is mispronounced as Ciara. I don't get upset when people misprounce it, I just correct them. Some times the kids and I even joke about whether or not it will be pronounced right!

[Kat-L]

Originally Posted by reetoreet

Ok so this is a bone of contention with me. I went to school for linguistics and speech and language and I have a slight pet peeve with proper pronunciation/spelling issues (I am THAT person...I know, I know). So I had a slight disagreement with my BIL tonight and it is really getting under my skin. We don't get along anyway...but he has this way about him that he IS ALWAYS right no matter what you say or what you know. So my question is this: How would you pronounce the name Magdalena?

Thanks for giving me your opinion on this.

mag-da-LAY-na