Lucrezia

[gemmagic.livejournal.com]

I have been watching a couple of mildly historical television dramas, The Borgias and Da Vinci's Demons. Both have characters named Lucrezia. In The Borgias it's pronounced Lew-cret-zee-ah and in Da Vinci's Demons it's Lew-Kree-zee-ah. Are they both correct? Is this name still used in Italy or anywhere else in the world? I wouldn't use it if I had a daughter, but I like it!

Comments

[redfield79.livejournal.com]

My grandma is named Lucretia...it's pronounced lou-creesha so that's how I'd pronounce it

[lipsty.livejournal.com]

I'd pronounce it Loo-cree-sha. I'm not sure which is correct.

[awanderingbard.livejournal.com]

According to Behind The Name, which is usually pretty accurate, the pronunciation is 'loo-KRE-tsyah'. I think, so long as the emphasis is on the 'Cret', both pronunciations are valid. For what it's worth, the Italian voice on Google Translate says 'loo-CRET-tzia'. :p

[emily-elphaba.livejournal.com]

Z's in Italian are pronounced as "ts" and the "cre" should be like "kray" rather than "kree", so Loo-KREHT-zee-ah is the correct pronunciation.

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I think that the Borgias pronunciation of it is closer to how it's actually pronounced. That's how my history profs pronounced it anyway. And then the Roman version, Lucretia, would be pronounced like loo-cree-sha.