Anais Pronunciation

macska3

How do you pronounce the name Anais? I've heard a couple different ones and want to know the general pronunciation. TIA!

blu-eyedwife

Uh-Nye-Us  (I think that Eh-Nye-Es is the same pronunciation, just depending on regional dialect)

kaylynne

Anais Nin, I say Uh-nye-iss

however, the Spanish speaking students I have taught pronounce it ah-nye-EE or ah-nye-EES

macska3

I'm sort of surprised at the answers. I say uh NYE ees

Bwhitten

English Uh-nye-is spanish ah-nah-ees

emmy236

The "ais" in French makes an "é" sound so I read that as "an-ay"

Dr.Loretta

Ah na EES

 

Looks like behindthename agrees with me

https://www.behindthename.com/name/anai12s

 

mh89

I've heard the Aden and Anais blankets pronounced "Uh-Nye" at Babies R Us… though it looks like anus to me. 

Irishcurls

My coworker pronounces it Anne-eye-ees. 

bwralc

Dr.Loretta said:

Ah na EES

 

Looks like behindthename agrees with me

https://www.behindthename.com/name/anai12s

 

this way

Meery82

bwralc said:

Ah na EES

 

Looks like behindthename agrees with me

https://www.behindthename.com/name/anai12s

 

this way

This

Portland1916

I read it as "Annie"

emmy236

jenniferb123006 said:

emmy236 said:

The "ais" in French makes an "é" sound so I read that as "an-ay"

Except in French there is actually a tréma over the I which makes it pronounced (Anaïs). It is pronounced ah-nah-ee or ah-nah-ees in French. (Or at least that's how I've always heard it pronounced and I'm a HS French teacher.)

So you say "Je parle francais (fra na cee)"?

ClaireHuxtable

Ah-nah-ees.  Spelled correctly:  Anaïs

The trema accent is used when two vowels are next to each other, but are pronounced separately - this gives you the ability to hear both "a" and the "i" sound. 

EDIT: A pp poster mentioned the trema - helps to read all posts prior to posting).

macska3

I'm aware that there's an accent on the I, but I was unable to type Anais with it.

emmy236

jenniferb123006 said:

emmy236 said:

jenniferb123006 said:

emmy236 said:

The "ais" in French makes an "é" sound so I read that as "an-ay"

Except in French there is actually a tréma over the I which makes it pronounced (Anaïs). It is pronounced ah-nah-ee or ah-nah-ees in French. (Or at least that's how I've always heard it pronounced and I'm a HS French teacher.)

So you say "Je parle francais (fra na cee)"?

No but there's no tréma in the word français. Just because you are choosing to ignore an accent mark that dictates that a vowel is pronounced doesn't mean that is correct.

Either way Anaïs has a tréma (that would be the two dots over the I if you were wondering), français does not. It is similar to why the French word for Christmas is pronounced No-el not Nole. There is a tréma over the e in Noël dictating that the E is pronounced.

Accents are usually in a word for a reason (the circonflexe is an exception not the rule); in this case it requires the I to be pronounced.

Definitely understand the accent marks, however the OP did not use it, that's why just reading it as is, I didn't assume they were using one. If I just looked a like a class list and saw "Anais" on there I would pronounce it that way (and because I have met someone with that name pronounced Ahn-é).