Monday, March 12, 2007

Sounds Like...

So many of you have been asking me, how do you pronounce Carys? And the honest answer is that, Laura and I have not yet decided.

The Americanized pronunciations sound like “Care-us” or “Care-iss”. This sometimes elicits a really lame joke about how much we must love working for KRS (Kwajalein Range Services); so much in fact that we are naming our daughter after the company we work for. Making that joke will get you the not so friendly-you had better be kidding look from Laura or myself, sometimes followed by the infamous pseudo laugh.

I believe the original Welsh pronunciation is “Ka-Riss”, sounds like a shortened version of Carissa. But this would probably destine her to a life of having her name mispronounced by every school teacher, prospective employer, telemarketer…hey that might not be so bad…sorry sir no one by that name here…Would that really be so bad?

Laura and I are considering waiting until we meet Carys and spend some more time with her before we decide. We are not really in any rush to make a final decision as it will be spelled the same no matter how we decide to pronounce it.

So which pronunciation/pronunciations do you like the best? Which do you not like? Why? I look forward to all your comments!

7 comments:

Lei Lei said...

Hi! With a name like Leilani, trust me. Your daughter will hate her name as a kid growing up, because no one will ever say it right,but later, she'll love it because it's original. I still hate the name Selem that my ex gave my poor son, just because it's a family name. Everyone calls him 'Salem', he doesn't even correct people anymore. love ya!

Deb Hardman said...

I think she'll be called Carrie no matter how you pronounce it.

Michelle Auer said...

I figured it was Ka-riss like in Carissa.
You know, Darian was originally supposed to be more Ahhh in the 1st "a" (Like Dah-rian) and I even correted people at first, but eventually I decided that since we are Americans and most of our familly are from the midwest, it would never stick.

To me it looks like Ka-Riss, like carrissa. I think if you try to get people to say Care-us it will be get frustrating.

Grakker said...

I gave my son a name that is a little confusing to pronounce. It was hard for awhile, but now he (9 years old), just corrects people as second nature. Don't stress about it. It'll be fine.

Anonymous said...

Stick with the original Welsh and you can't go wrong. No one can say you made it up as it has historical origin and not one of some americanized meaning.

TOM/EOD/Kuwait

Anonymous said...

I agree with Grakkar. Try having people mispronounce Eisele.

TOM/EOD/Kuwait

Papoosue said...

There is a Welsh singer Cerys Matthews - it's pronounced Keh-riss (like the Ke in Ketchup). Hope this helps.