We find out what we're having tomorrow ( hopefully the baby cooperates). I love Xavier for a boy, but my husband has some reservations. He's afraid that since we live in a very Hispanic (85% Hispanic) area that 1). the name will be pronounced Javier or Zavier or 2). people will look at our son and wonder why he isn't Hispanic.
WDYT? how do you pronounce Xavier?
The other two boy names we like are Holden and Zander. Thoughts?
Re: Xavier?
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I don't like the Ex-zavier pronunciation. (Why do you pronouce the name of the first letter? We don't say "Kay-Kate" for Kate or "Bee-Ben" for Ben.)
Holden is nms. Zander is okay. I prefer it as a nn for Alexander.
that's actually one of the things keeping me from being sure about using Zander. I like names that aren't overly popular and I'm afraid that since Alexander is in the top 10 that Zander is going to be growing in popularity. I don't want to use a name that's going to be uber popular.
I would pronounce it zave-yer. Do people actually say "ex-ave-yer"?? Granted, the letter x doesn't often start words, but it's not that foreign a concept--would anyone say "ex-eye-la-phone" instead of "zye-la-phone" (xylaphone)??
I'm not Hispanic, so I can't comment on the likeliehood of a Javier pronunciation... FWIW I like Holden too. Maybe you'll find out you're having a girl and this will be a moot point! (Assuming you can agree on a girl's name, of course (-= )
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i would pronounce it x-A-vee-er
i like it. i also like Zander. i'm not a huge holden fan, but it's not bad.
Most commonly I heave heard it pronounced ex-AY-vee-er. Less commonly ZAY-vee-er.
To confuse things even further, I knew a boy with this name and he pronounced it SAH-vee-ay. I believe his mother was French, though.
Personally, I kind of like it, no matter how it is pronounced. I wouldn't name my child that, but I think it's an interesting name.
this has actually been at the top of our boys list too!
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I love it- I have always known it to be prounounced with the prominent 'X', as the ladies above have phonetically spelled out, but I am a fan of the Zay-vier pronounciation. ?(btw- not hispanic either so that has no bearing for me.,.. ?and I live in a very Hispanic neighborhood and city!)
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I've always said it like ek-Zavier. The beginning X is sort of a... gutteral stop or something
The only Xander I know is short for Alexander.
I would pronounce it zay-vi-er. And for some reason, I strongly dislike names that start with "z"...including Zander and Xavier.
I actually really like Holden though. I think it's strong, classic and very nice.
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