How would you pronounce Matthias?

kelly321 · August 2012

DH is German, we live in Germany, and Matthias is a pretty common German name (as you can probably guess, it's the German version of Matthew). We're considering it if this LO is a boy.

What I'm wondering, though, is whether it's a name that most Americans would intuitively pronounce the same way as we're intending (the German way) or whether we would have to include a pronunciation guide with a birth announcement. ;-) So how would you pronounce it if you saw a friend had named their baby boy Matthias?

I'll give the German pronunciation in a bit. First I'd just like to see how you would naturally pronounce it.

jamiedsgirl · August 2012

I always say "Mah -tee -us" in my head but I have no idea if that is correct or not.

asibilrud · August 2012

Ma-thigh-us

Candyshel13 · August 2012

Muh Tay Us

almostjennifer · August 2012

Muh - thigh - us

Eaky77 · August 2012

asibilrud:
Ma-thigh-us

That's how my cousin pronounces his name, but his is only spelled with one t.

mben1119 · August 2012

Ma-tie-us.

kelly321 · August 2012

Ok, that's kind of what I was expecting.

The German pronunciation (and what we would be going for) would be ma-TEE-us

I wondered if a lot of Americans would tend to pronounce it ma-THIGH-us, though. Good to know that that would be the case. We'll take it into consideration when deciding whether to go with that name or not. Since we will most likely live in Germany permanently it wouldn't be a huge issue, but on visits to my family in the States he (if it's even a he) might have to deal with incorrect pronunciation. nbd, hopefully.

kaitlin925 · August 2012

Matteeus

BLPL101 · August 2012

I've never heard this name, but I'd guess Mah-thay-us

aimee1899 · August 2012

I like to pronounce it as Ma-tee-us.

NewlyWeds13 · August 2012

I speak German and work with many Germans... so I am not a fair comparrison, but I know several people with this name and you will get a mixed bag in the US... about half will say it correctly, the others will say ma the us or Ma thigh us depending on the region of the US you are talking.

NicoleN82 · August 2012

Ma-TEE-us

Cute name

austenreader85 · August 2012

I would say Ma-thigh-us. It's a fairly common last name around here and there's a town not too far away with the name. On BTN it seems that is a legit English pronunciation. However, if I knew that you were German and lived in Germany I would be more inclined to find out if there was a different pronunciation for it. At the same time, I think a lot of people are going to intuitively think there would be no difference. I have no clue about the rules for pronuncation on birth announcements but I'd also mention that in general, correcting family and friends is a lot easier (and spreads by word of mouth usually) than it is the world at large. So if you ever come back to the US it could be an issue.

Edited: thigh is a much better way to spell the sound I was going for!

kelly321 · August 2012

austenreader85:
I would say Ma-thigh-us. It's a fairly common last name around here and there's a town not too far away with the name. On BTN it seems that is a legit English pronunciation. However, if I knew that you were German and lived in Germany I would be more inclined to find out if there was a different pronunciation for it. At the same time, I think a lot of people are going to intuitively think there would be no difference. I have no clue about the rules for pronuncation on birth announcements but I'd also mention that in general, correcting family and friends is a lot easier (and spreads by word of mouth usually) than it is the world at large. So if you ever come back to the US it could be an issue.

Edited: thigh is a much better way to spell the sound I was going for!

I think ma-THIGH-us probably is a legit English pronunciation (along the lines of Tobias), so I was trying to avoid saying "correct" pronunciation, although I probably slipped up"

As for pronunciation on birth announcements, that was a joke. I would just make sure the word spread as to how we were pronouncing it.