Matthias

[lovetherobots.livejournal.com]

I went to visit a client and her newborn in her home. I said, "Aww, this must be baby Matthias"! I pronounced it "Mah-tee-us".
She looked at me as if I were crazy, and said, "It's MATH-EYE-US." Am I really crazy, or are there different ways to pronounce the name?

Edited to add: Would you give your baby a name that you know has multiple pronounciations? (Such as Matthias, apparently!)

Comments

[joereaves.livejournal.com]

Personally I thought it was Matt-eye-us

[lovetherobots.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was the other pronounciation that I thought it could be.

[cremepuff.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was Math-eye-us or Mah-tie-us, not Mah-tee-us.

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

I'd pronounce it Math-EE-us in English, and it's Mah-TEE-us for sure in German. I've never heard it pronounced like she does, and if it's even legit, it's certainly not the most popular prn, so she might as well spared the stink eye.

[in_excelsis_dea.livejournal.com]

Redwall by Brian Jaques -- it used to be on KIKA every so often. The German version pronounced it like expected, but the British version pronounced it Math-EYE-us. Big shock when I watched the British version on DVD.

[pianokitten.livejournal.com]

side note: love your icon <3

[pianokitten.livejournal.com]

totally so cute! :) i thought that was awesome in the show when Mer couldn't go anywhere and was like "just come here." haha

[cremepuff.livejournal.com]

*Shrug* guess it is pronounced different ways by different people!

[frost.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered how this was pronounced because I like the way it looks.

I've always gone with Math-ee-us or Math-eye-us (I guess I prefer the soft 'th' sound...).

[frost.livejournal.com]

To your edit: It depends on the name, but...probably not. I'd hate for my kid to have to correct everyone all the damn time. :(

[morphinae.livejournal.com]

I've only ever heard it the way you pronounced it.

[pianokitten.livejournal.com]

I would say either "Math-E-us" or "ma-thigh-us", not "mah-tee-us". everyone's different though!

[skittles22088.livejournal.com]

I say "ma-thigh-us," too.

[patsfan610.livejournal.com]

I've heard it pronounced Math-eye-us and Matt-eye-us

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

I'm friends/work with a guy with the LAST NAME Matthias. He pronounces it Math-ee-us. I've always heard people pronounce it like "Muh-thigh-us" (lol at my attempts at pronouncations).

[thellamaqueen.livejournal.com]

we were actually discussing this name (or maybe only a similar name with a different spelling, depending on how you see it) today, because one of my students' last names is Mattias. She was telling us about how one of the other teachers pronounce it "MAY-tee-us", and then another student chimed in and said that his brother's first name is Mattias and he pronounces it "Muh-TIE-us", but the girl who has Mattias has her last name pronounces it "Muh-TEE-us" (fwiw, she is Hispanic, which I think has an influence on how her family pronounces the name).

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

I always thought 'Math-EYE-us' was the more common pronunciation.

[velkoria.livejournal.com]

You know if I am not mistaken it's a Latin name. Since Latin has no real way of being pronounced then her pronunciation is just as valid as yours. It depends on demographics and accents. Typical case of Deus ex machina.. it can be said many ways, I like saying machina like 'muh-kee-nuh' but saying 'muh-chee-nuh' is perfectly valid.

As for naming my child names that can be pronounced different ways... I sort of have to... speaking three languages will force me to do that. In Spanish you basically have one way to go with pronunciation, in English a few and French is a lot like Spanish but they will, of course, change even if it's just a little.

[thellamaqueen.livejournal.com]

to your edit... I honestly had never really thought about it until I started liking the name Carys/Caris, and worrying that people might want to pronounce it "kuh-REESE" (yuck) instead of "CARE-iss" (which is how i want it to be pronounced). I really want to avoid that, which is why I'm leaning more towards the Caris spelling instead of Carys, because I think that Carys is more likely to be pronounced the way I don't like. All the other names I like are pretty straightforward (Jude, Elias, Zia, Cora).

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

I've only ever heard it as math-eye-us.

As a rule I avoid anything that would cause confusion with pronunciation and spelling. It's just a pet peeve of mine when people set up their kids to have to correct everyone about their name their whole lives. But there are perfectly good names, and even names that I like, that have more than one "correct" pronunciation. Helena, for instance; I love HEL-en-a, not fond of hel-EE-na, indifferent to hel-AY-na. I don't love Helena enough to annoy my child with it, but if it was a special name to me, I might do it.

[penguiny7.livejournal.com]

I pronounce it mə-THIE-əs (same way she's pronouncing it). That's the only way I've ever heard it said. I know ma-TEE-us is a legitimate pronunciation, but I've never actually heard anyone use it and that's not how you'd pronounce it in English.

I would use a name with multiple pronunciations if I really liked the name.

[harinakshi.livejournal.com]

Would you give your baby a name that you know has multiple pronunciations?

It can be hard not to. Some people just pronouce things differently. My son is Elijah and I've had people ask if it was Elij-AH or Eli-AS. Heck, my name is Savanah and surprisingly I've had people mispronounce it. I think a lot of it has to do with what region you're from, too. So, yea, I would, but I certainly wouldn't get mad at people for getting it wrong!

[kitchen-poet.livejournal.com]

I'm squarely in the Math-eye-us camp; never heard it pronounced Mah-tee-us.



About your edit; not sure how to answer this. I mean, it isn't up to me how other people choose to pronounce my (future) child's name. All I can do is inform them of our preferred pronunciation after the fact. Sure, I would choose a name that I hoped limited spelling and pronunciation errors, but not choosing a name you like based on other people's ignorance just doesn't sit well with me.

[mrssubee.livejournal.com]

yeah. I thought it was MAth-eye-us also...
but, if I wasn't sure or knew there were numerous ways to pronounce it- I wouldn't choose it

[so-there.livejournal.com]

I've heard math-eye-us a million times, and ma-tee-us once, when my third-cousin pronounced the name of her great-grandpa (the brother of my great-grampa) who lived and died in germany. so now I hear it in my head that way when I see it written.

[pythianlegume7.livejournal.com]

Wow I've never heard it pronounced that way in my life, but apparently I'm in the minority here. I'm with you, Muh-tee-us.

[pythianlegume7.livejournal.com]

Also, I don't know how the first syllable could be pronounced "Math" when there are two t's. If it were Mathias maybe.

[smallandneedy.livejournal.com]

As a Norwegian, I automatically say Mah-tee-us when I pronounce Matthias. I know heaps of little kids with that name as it was one of the most popular boys names a few years ago, but overall it's a pretty name.

As for your question, I would give my kid a name that could be pronounced differently. I mean, I'm Norwegian, and even if I give my kids names that are international, they're most likely going to be pronounced differently anyway. My top girls name is Amanda, and I know if I ever have a daughter I'll name her that (couldn't imagine having a daughter and NOT naming her Amanda), and the pronounciation that I prefer is a little different to the normal English one. The Norwegian way is Ah-mahn-dah or something like that (I suck writing pronounciations) and even if I end up staying in Australia and having her here, then I'd still be using that pronounciation.

[solitudete.livejournal.com]

I've always heard it pronounced math-eye-us.

[skudge.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was ma-TIE-us.

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

I always heard it as MATH-ee-us. Kind of like Matthew, but with "us" instead of the w.