# How to pronounce Anais **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 28, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-anais/247549 "2004-05-28T18:06:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-anais/247549/21 "2004-05-30T04:58:34Z")
It’s rough to give anyone a name that needs the diaeresis to be pronounced correctly. 95% of the time it will be dropped (like even in the OP!). ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-anais/247549/22 "2004-05-30T05:11:52Z")
The writer/director of [_Henry & June_](http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?userid=mHu16BjzyO&ean=25192051821&FRM=0) knew Anais and Henry personally, so if you want to know how _she_ pronounced it, I’d say that was your best source for the sound. (Assuming, of course, you can’t find an interview with her on video someplace where she says her name.) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-anais/247549/23 "2004-05-30T10:51:57Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > It’s rough to give anyone a name that needs the diaeresis to be pronounced correctly. 95% of the time it will be dropped (like even in the OP!). Once the name (or any other word) is Anglicised, there’s no ‘need’ for the diaeresis to aid correct pronunciation, or indeed for any other marks - we get along perfectly with “naive” and “cafe”, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-anais/247549/24 "2004-06-01T10:12:08Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > It’s rough to give anyone a name that needs the diaeresis to be pronounced correctly. 95% of the time it will be dropped (like even in the OP!). I beg to differ. Just because there are idiots around we all have to dumb down for them? I think not. I don’t know what other names made the list, but personally I think this is a great choice. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-anais/247549/25 "2004-06-01T10:41:30Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > 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. I’ve travelled and lived all over this country and I know exactly one person that _doesn’t_ speak in whatever dialect this is. My sister-in-law writes with a p **EH** n, has t **EH** n fingers, and goes to the zoo to see the p **EH** guins. See also has a sister named W **EH** ndy. To everybody else, even within her family, you write with a pin, have tin fingers, visit the peengwins, and her sister is Windy. ---
**Author:** ![Amethyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@Amethyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amethyst)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-anais/247549/26 "2004-06-01T13:47:08Z")
Thanks for the replies. I have thought about the nickname ‘Anus’ as a possible drawback but there is always something kids can do to make a name funny for teasing purposes … kids are really ingenious that way. I, too, have a name most people can’t pronounce at first and it is very very uncommon, even in its country of origin. I really like my name and wouldn’t want anything more common. (I will admit that in grade school I wanted to be called Mary Jane since everyone else had normal names). BTW … the other name choices I am looking at are: (Anais) Catriona (or possibly the Russian Katrina / Katja) Ceilidh (Cayleigh/Cayley) Danica Maya Siobhan (For the most part we (my husband and I) are torn between Irish names and Slavic names. I’m finding it very difficult to choose a name - I’m hoping she comes out with a tag on that says ‘Hello, my name is …’. ) ---
**Author:** ![Magret](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@Magret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magret)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-anais/247549/27 "2004-06-01T16:01:13Z")
Those are all lovely, and congratulations on your impending new arrival, but can I just say, please please PLEASE don’t spell it Ceilidh. Please? That’s a dance, a kneesup, a hootenanny - there are better ways to spell it for use as a name. I like Catriona, even though I was in my twenties before I saw it written down that way, and I didn’t know you don’t pronounce the ‘o’. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Roboto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr.Roboto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Roboto)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-anais/247549/28 "2004-06-02T04:40:29Z")
The first time I heard this beautiful name was from a Motion Picture. The Movie, “FOOLS” 1968 or 69. Starring Katherine Ross as Anais and Jason Robards The Soundtrack featured a minor hit by Kenny Rogers and The First Edition. “Someone Who Cares” in which the lyrics mention Anais. Funny, I had a crush on Miss Ross for several years because of this Movie… ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Meister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Der\_Meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Meister)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-anais/247549/29 "2004-06-02T05:11:48Z")
A friend of mine is named Anais. She pronounces it Ah-Nah-Ees. We never joked that it was anus, but people were known to call her “on her knees.” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-anais/247549/30 "2004-06-02T06:42:31Z")
[Waving hand] Ask me! Ask me! My grandfather had a sister Annais (with a double “n”). And it is a pretty name, schoolyard teasing be damned. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-anais/247549.md?page=1)