Baby Names

I don't like it with that pronunciation--I like Sah-ray (like Saraiah without the -iah). I don't think that Sah-ra-ee would ever be pronounced correctly because it's not phonetic.

Sarai Jane
Sarai Louise
Sarai Margaret
Sarai Anne

Any simple middle name would work.

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(Not really, because "i" hardly EVER makes "ee" by itself. Sar-ah-eye would be phonetic, but with the exception of nicknames where it was normally followed by a consonant (ie, Candi for Candida, where the "d" makes it long--though the only Candida I know of says "Candid-a" and still gets called Candy), names like Staci, Brandi, etc are technically phonetically illogical. Brianna, too--that should be "bry-anna" (because it comes from Brian, BRY-an), not "bree-anna")

In pronunciation it is (see my previous comment for pronunciation), but it's a variant spelling of Seraiah which is Biblical. It's also spelt Sariah.

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The plural of anecdote is not data. ;) Just because you say things in a non-intuitive way doesn't make it intuitive, right? For example, the correct pronunciation if Ivan is EYE-van. The correct pronunciation of Iris is EYE-ris. If you want to be difficult and say them in a different way, fine, but that doesn't mean it's correct, you know?

All of those types of names (-ina, -isa, -ita) are proceeded by a consonant that makes them into "ee" sounds, not "i" sounds. Hence why I said it rarely ever makes an "ee" sound BY ITSELF, because "i" does not say "ee". "e" says "ee", "i" says "eye". That's just how the English language works.

The general accepted pronunciation if "ai" is either "eh" (like "a"), as in "Rai" or "eye" as in "Sarai". In a vowel-vowel combination in English you generally blend the vowels.

Behind The Name lists the pronunciation of "Sarai" as "SER-ie", which is basically "SAH-rye". Generally, a name can be pronounced however you want, but most people will stick to the correct or established pronunciation, so if you want to pull stuff out of your ass, people aren't going to say it right and it will cause a life of frustration.

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Yes, you have just proven my point. We live in a place where English is a standard (and French!), and if you live in an English speaking country, were born and raised here, and you have a name that is pronounced a certain way IN THAT COUNTRY (sorry, HTML is wonky lately so I'm not going to try it), you should generally pronounce that name in the correct way TO THAT LANGUAGE or else you will just cause problems for yourself.

If you were born and raised in a non-English-speaking country, it's a different story.

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This was a lot of my point. You can tell everyone how it's pronounced and she will have to do the same once she's older, or you can spell it how it sounds closer to that language's phonetics, or you can go with the common pronounciation, it's really up to you, but I have a name I've had to change the spelling of because it would have been pronounced wrong. I Have a friend whose name is ALWAYS pronounced wrong because it's an odd spelling and it drives her nuts to have to explain this over and over.

Here's some various background information on the name.

SARAI - http://www.behindthename.com/name/sarai
Gender: Feminine

Usage: Biblical

Other Scripts: שָׂרָי (Hebrew)

Pronounced: SER-ie (English) [key]

Possibly means "contentious" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament, this was Sarah's name before God changed it (see Genesis 17:15).

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http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Sarai.html

Gender:
Girl

Origin:
Hebrew

Meaning:
N/A

Pronunciation:
(sah RYE) [Guide]

Categories:
Biblical, Jewish, Christian, English, Hebrew

Used in:
English speaking countries

Additional info:
In the Old Testament, Sarai is the original first name of Sarah who changed it when she embraced faith in God.
Sarai is said to mean "my princess; my woman of high rank", maybe referring to her relationship with her husband, or perhaps as the princess of her house.

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Because Canada's official languages are French and English.

And you're just being pedantic. English is the most widely-spoken language in the United States. I didn't say English was the official language--I said that English was the standard. Therefore, using pronunciations unintuitive to English on names where there is a standard English pronunciation is problematic.

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:D The little girl is hispanic. Which why I pronounce it like that. That's how you say her name too. ^^

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Well it would be said that was possibly in Spanish, but the name is actually Hebrew so most of the world will pronounce it the Hebrew type of way.

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*way not "was" erg typos.

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Well, don't know about others, but it sounds totally different to me between the two.

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Not in the area I am from! The city I live in has a 80% hispanic population!

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Ah .. well then it does explain why people there pronounce it differently. No reason you can't do what you want so long as you know outside the hispanic community you'll have to tell them how to say it.

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Well really I have no thoughts of using it. I much prefer Itzel. (It-Zul or E-ZEL. Which I prefer It-Zul here.)

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I've never heard that name before.. another hispanic type name? Forgive my lack of knowledge there.. just curious.

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I think I read that it has Spanish roots. I personaly am not hispanic, but work with alot of children that are so I am always running across names that I really like. :D

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