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

[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.