(no subject)
Jun. 22nd, 2008 02:08 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
bluegenedream.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
babynamesI have a last name pronunciation question. I have an awful tendency to pronounce any French name I see with a French accent. (I used to confuse some people so badly when I said 'New Orleans') How would you pronounce Foucault or Feucault (the person has awful handwriting) correctly in English?
Would you pronounce it the French way? Fu-Ko (Foucault). Or Feu-Ko (Feucault). I don't even really know how to correctly write out the French pronunciation for "feu" in English but yeah... Any help?
And another more, what do you think, type of question.
Does a name own a person or does a person own a name?
Ok, that wasn't terribly eloquent so I'll try to elaborate.
Of course a person isn't always defined by their name but I was wondering how much you guys let your impression of a name affect your impression of a person. Like, you know, when you hear things like "She just doesn't look like a Jennifer, she looks like an Evelyn instead." Does it take a while for your preconceptions of a name to settle with a person? Are there some names that you feel need a certain personality or flair for someone to "own" it properly?
And then of course, on the other spectrum is a person who owns a name so completely that you can't ever think of it without that person. Like...for me it'd probably be...Ariel. I always think of The Little Mermaid. No questions asked. And when I finally met an Ariel, who was not little mermaid-like in any way, (he was actually a boy) I couldn't stop imagining him with flowing red hair and a tail. What are some names that are already so owned by a person you can never shake off the connotations?
Basically, I thought it'd be interesting to hear some of your thoughts. What sort of names etc...etc
Would you pronounce it the French way? Fu-Ko (Foucault). Or Feu-Ko (Feucault). I don't even really know how to correctly write out the French pronunciation for "feu" in English but yeah... Any help?
And another more, what do you think, type of question.
Does a name own a person or does a person own a name?
Ok, that wasn't terribly eloquent so I'll try to elaborate.
Of course a person isn't always defined by their name but I was wondering how much you guys let your impression of a name affect your impression of a person. Like, you know, when you hear things like "She just doesn't look like a Jennifer, she looks like an Evelyn instead." Does it take a while for your preconceptions of a name to settle with a person? Are there some names that you feel need a certain personality or flair for someone to "own" it properly?
And then of course, on the other spectrum is a person who owns a name so completely that you can't ever think of it without that person. Like...for me it'd probably be...Ariel. I always think of The Little Mermaid. No questions asked. And when I finally met an Ariel, who was not little mermaid-like in any way, (he was actually a boy) I couldn't stop imagining him with flowing red hair and a tail. What are some names that are already so owned by a person you can never shake off the connotations?
Basically, I thought it'd be interesting to hear some of your thoughts. What sort of names etc...etc
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-06-22 11:02 am (UTC)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault
It's pronounced Foo-COH
The english sound that comes the closest to the french "eu" is the short "i" in "first" or like the vowels in "search".
About the other question, it happens to me rarely that I think a character/person owns a name, I'm more likely to see a name like a dress and rather ponder whether it "fits" the person and how the person "pulls it off".
no subject
Date: 2008-06-22 11:29 am (UTC)I love the dress comparison as well. It's a very good way of illustrating what I was trying to say with the Jennifer and Evelyn thing up above.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-22 11:35 am (UTC)Feucault would be a total mouthful in french too, so that's why I'd strike it out. Whereas Foucault is a known last name.
With the dress comparison, I've never actually gone as far as "renaming" the person in my head, I think I have a hard time imagining a person with a different name from their own, even when I think it doesn't suit them.
I guess I lack imagination :P