I’ve pronounced Anais Nin (I can’t get an umlaut over the i) as A-na-ees and I have heard An-eye-ees. Last night a friend of mine said she had always heard and called the perfume more like Anise.
So what is the correct pronouncation of the name (as it has made the cut to be in the final 6 girls names that I like for the impending arrival of my baby).
It’s ah-nah-eees. The “ees” sounds like the end of “police.” Definitely not pronounced “anise.” The perfume is “ah-na-ees, ah-na-ees.”
Just a quick question; not trying to be snide (really). Why do you want to name your child something that people will be mispronouncing her entire life? And that middle-school boys will surely mis-pronounce as “anus” as they chase her around the playground.
And emphasis on the last syllable, I believe: ah-nah-EES.
Hmm. I always thought it was ah-NAY-iss, but I’m willing to concede on this one. No horse in the race. 
Funny that we all chose different pronunciations.
Ah, finally, a question where my French background comes into play!!
The two "a"s should be very short, like the a’s in CAT. Not so much like the a’s in BALL. Should sound like a Finnish short a (if you’ve ever heard correctly spoken Finnish…).
As for the ending, it is true you’d stress the EES at the end. That is where the vocal accent should be. Saying it sounds like the “ice” in police is a good comparason, but it should be even shorter than that. More like HISS, but without pronouncing the H at the beginning. Like the "a"s, the “i” is also very short.
The whole name is pronounced using the very front of your mouth. Short vowels, short consonants, the stress on the last syllable. And I agree that the name is too close to “anus” . Being French with a French name myself and being raised in an English environment, I know how easy it is to have people (teenage boys, most definately) twist your name around. Anyway, something to consider for your child. I get sick of always having to repeat my name and spelling it out for people. And then the smart alecs always have some hairbrianed idea of what my name means and stuff and it’s pretty annoying. I am definately going to give my kids some more user-friendly names.
LBP
Oh yeah, I was going to say…
The way that English people have of pronouncing French A’s is wrong most of the time. It’s very rare that the A sound in French is long (like in BALL). Unless the word is a loan-word from an Anglo-saxon language, that is.
Remember when that French movie, Amelie, came out a few years ago? People everywhere would say “Oh, have you seen this Ahhhhhh-may-LEE movie?” and I would just lose it on them. The A is super short, like the A in CAT. Anyway, I got tired of correcting people and I’ve been known, for simplicity’s sake, to step on my origins and go ahead and say “Ahhhhh-may-LEE” instead. Heck, it beats repeating and explaining to people that they are wrong all the time.
Good luck with the name search!
LBP
Just a nitpick, it’s not an umlaut. An umlaut is used in German to indicate a change in the vowel sound. It’s actually a diaeresis (which just happens to look the same as an umlaut), which is used in English and French to indicate that the vowel so marked is supposed to be prounounced as a separate syllable. That, in fact, should give you a major clue as to its pronunciation: A-na-is. You pronounce each syllable separately, so the “a” is not influenced by the “i” next to it.
And as far as choosing a name that people might mispronounce – I myself have a name that is difficult for most Americans to pronounce, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything. Americans need to become more used to “strange” names.
The problem here is that the sound you’re describing doesn’t exist in most dialects of English, so native English speakers are going to have trouble reproducing it (you might get a Bostonian to say it right, but few others). But from my point of view, the “a” is “cat” is completely wrong. The “ahh” sound might not be right, but it’s at least a bit closer.
My wife uses that perfume and she’s always called it Uh-nay
Well if you go to France, Quebec or French-speaking African countries pronouncing a short A with an “Ahhhh” sound, they might understand but they will also correct you. It is actually much closer to the A in CAT, not the “ahhhh” sound. It’s two totally different sounds. The A is never pronounced “ahhh” in French. The only word I can think of in French that would use that sound if AMEN, and that’s a loan word… Ask any French-speaking person (like me!), they’ll have the same story.
Maybe because I think it’s a beautiful name?
In regards to the mispronounciation, my name is Wendy. Should be a pretty obviously easy name to pronounce, right? No. I get Windy all the damn time.
As for boys calling her anus, boys will always find something to tease you about. Maybe it’s your name or maybe its a physical trait, who knows?
here is a link where you can actually hear the name:
http://french.about.com/library/media/wavs/Anais.wav
The perfume also is pronounced the same way.
We’re talking about at least three distinct vowel sounds here and only one of them can be “heard” as well as pronounced easily by both native English native French speakers. As an English speaker, I can tell you that when I hear most French-speaking people say a word like “cat,” they get the vowel completely wrong. So, it’s not just that English speakers are pronouncing “Anais” wrong; French speakers are also pronouncing (and hearing) “cat” wrong. Indeed, there is more than one “ahh” sound in English, depending on the dialect. So the one that you’re hearing from one speaker is going to be more “wrong” than another. It’s all rather tricky, because such phonemes have to be ingrained into one’s mignd at a young age or they just plain don’t exist. And it’s all difficult to describe in writing, but if I could sound it out for you I might be able to show you that the “cat” vowel is completely different from what you imagine it to be.
One more thing.
Here’s how to make the ï.
on a Mac:
hold down “alt option” and “u” at the same time, then type i.
For a pc:
Hold down “alt”, type 0239 on your numeric keypad, and release the “alt” key.
You must talk to a lot of Southern Californians. There are some dialects in which the “e” in “pen” merges with the “i” in “pin.” Those who speak those dialects honestly can’t hear any difference between “Wendy” and “Windy,” so go easy on them.
Exactly. Don’t let that scare you off.
Actually…
When I lived in California, my name was said correctly!
It’s now that I am D/FW that noboby can say Wendy.
When I lived in El Paso, it wasn’t a problem, typically, because spanish speakers do not pronounce e as i.
That’s another reason I picked Anaïs for my daughter: it is said the same way in Spanish as in the French. I didn’t want to pick a name like, say, Jennifer. It would be pronounced way off from the correct English.
I have since discovered that there is a Hispanic soap opera star with the name Anais (she doesn’t use the diaeresis).
Amethyst,
if you name your daughter Anaïs, let me know if you ever are interested in personalized items! I had some stationary made up and already have the plates made with just her first name.
As our daughters get older (mine is 5 months), we can have them become pen-pals. They can commiserate on their name! 
You must have been as annoyed as I was at “Moo-Lawn Rouge.”
I remember a college newspaper that quoted a visiting performing artist as saying that his favourite theatrical work was Lame Is Rob.
Haha!! YES! Don’t get me started on that one! Oh, and lets not forget LON JERRAY (Lingerie). I never really understood that one.
But then again I’ve butchered a few foreign names myself… It is hard to describe foreign language pronounciation using examples from our own languages though. I am trying to teach my husband French right now (so he and the in-laws can communicate better) and it is exasperating sometimes. There is a lot of “No, no, say it like this!” going on in our house at the moment.
This thread would be *so much better * if we could just talk to each other instead of having to describe sounds and stuff!!
LBP
I have heard it pronounced in all the ways that you suggest. I dunno which is right, but it is one of my favorite scents on a woman
And to make saying her name even harder, her last name is pronounced “neen.”