Avonlea for my baby girl?

[candicejade.livejournal.com]

I'm five months pregnant with a little girl. My mother-in-law and I both love Avonlea and Delaney, but I'm concerned that people who are unfamiliar with Anne of Green Gables will have trouble with Avonlea.
How would you say it? Ay-von (as in the company) or more like ah-von and lee or lee-ah? It should be Ah-von-lee, and my husband wants to call her Ava, which would have a different A sound, but is close enough to work, I think.
I also love Olivia, but I'm alone on that one. My husband's top choice is Remy/Remi (yuck).

So, how would you pronounce Avonlea, and which name of the four do you prefer? (Big brother's name is Josiah)
oh, middle names are Marcella Mae after her grandmothers.

thanks!

Comments

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

If it counts for anything, I'd pronounce Avenlee 'AVE-en-lee'. If you really want to name her Avonlea, why not just stick to the original spelling? I don't think people will have much trouble with it.

[omgzits--tam.livejournal.com]

I agree; since it's such a popular series, I don't think they'll mispronounce it spelt the original way.

[0o-faerie.livejournal.com]

When I saw it, I thought 'Ah-von-lee-ah'. I like it =) I'm afraid people are gonna pronounce it the way I did, though, so 'lee-ah' instead of 'lee'.

[audiobiblio.livejournal.com]

I was a big fan of Anne of Green Gables and all of that, so I automatically thought of the correct pronunciation of it. If you want to be sure that people wouldn't pronounce is as "lee-ah", you could maybe spell it Avonlee instead. I think it's an adorable name nonetheless. :*)

And Delanie is my oldest daughter's name. :*)

[sarahrose.livejournal.com]

ahhh-vunn-lee, like the town, lol. Anne of Green Gables is one of the films that shaped my cinematic life and passions at the ripe ol' age of three.

It's on my name list. So is Delaney, but I like Avonlea better. I think it's beautiful.

Remy - eww.
Olivia - EWWW.

[politicking.livejournal.com]

i say it how you do, because i grew up reading those books, watching the movies, & the actual series Avonlea. so, i love it. but i do understand your concerns... perhaps use it as a middle name? or spell it a little differently- Avonlee, Avonlie?

i do not like Remy/Remi... as it reminds me of Rémy Martin.

[easter.livejournal.com]

I think people who aren't familiar with the series will pronounce it Avon, like the make-up company.

I like Olivia best and Ava second. I don't think Avonlea works as a child's name so much.

[waitingonsunday.livejournal.com]

As a devoted L.M. Montgomery fan, I would pronounce it correctly, but when I first started reading the Anne books when I was ten, I thought Avonlea was pronounced something like Uh-VON-lee-uh. I had no idea about the correct pronunciation until I was discussing the books with one of my friends who had also just started reading them and I said something about uh-von-lee-uh. "WHAT did you just call it?" she asked. She had the advantage of having the Disney Channel, which was running "Road to Avonlea" at the time.

I also thought of Mrs. Lynde as Mrs. Lin-dee.

[miss-tee.livejournal.com]

Huge Anne fan here so I would say it correctly.

[schuklins.livejournal.com]

I read it with a long a sound (so Ay-von), but I read the first commentor's name (Avenlee) with a long a as well. Maybe it's because I'm from the midwest?

[schuklins.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I would say "lee" as well.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_x_blackroses_x/]

I read it as "Ah-von-lee." Just like that. I'm not sure how it's really said because I've never seen Anne of Green Gables.

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

I'd read it Ah-von-LEE-ah in English, and Ah-von-LEH-ah in italian.
Ava could work as a middle name, I read it Ah-va, I dislike Ay-va.

Remi is a boy's name!

I think Avonlea works better than Delaney with Marcella Mae.

[godmod.livejournal.com]

I knew it was Avonlea. I think most people will get it right and she can correct the others. No big deal.

Ava is a perfect nickname for it.

I surprisingly really like the name.

[godmod.livejournal.com]

Haha...I meant I knew the correct pronunciation.

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

I love it, I think it should be spelled Avonlea, it's much nicer than Delaney, and I find myself going "THAT is how unique names should be done!"

So yes. Like it, would pronounce it like the books, and... come to think of it, I read the books YEARS before I ever saw the movies, and just by reading the series I had the correct pronunciation in my head, as a little girl. If a little girl can instinctively guess the right way to pronounce the name, it's probably fine!

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

I'm really familiar with the Anne books so I would say AV-on-lee, and then I would wonder why you named your daughter after a fictional town! :-P

I love Olivia. I like the nickname Remy. My mom, Rosemary, goes by Remy. Out of the four names you listed, I would go with them in this order: Olivia, Delaney, Remy, and then Avonlea.

[mountain-nest.livejournal.com]

AV-un-lee.

[laurakirstine.livejournal.com]

in the movies, they pronounce it 'ave-on-LEE', like the "a" in "apple" or "avenue".

however, according to wikipedia, it's 'ah-von-LEE'.

but who knows? anyone can edit wikipedia!!

i've personally always said it the first way, and that's the way i like it best. if i were to name my daughter that, i would use that pronunciation because she would inevitably watch the movies and it would probably be the only time she'd hear the name spoken, and might wonder why her name is different.

or you could email the museums on PEI and find out which pronunciation is the most common!

[http://users.livejournal.com/hajari_/]

I've never read/seen Anne of Green Gables... My first thought was 'AVE-on-lee', short 'a' sound.

[queen-mab.livejournal.com]

I'd pronounce it Av-in-LEE-uh just by looking at it if I hadn't read the books or seen the movie. But I would hope most people would be familiar with it.