# Italian name pronunciation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2002, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-name-pronunciation/140838 "2002-12-06T02:27:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-name-pronunciation/140838/1 "2002-12-06T02:27:50Z")
What is the proper pronunciation of the Italian name Beccaria (as in Cesare Beccaria, who published _Essays on Crime and Punishment_)? As long as we’re at it, let’s make it a twofer. Am I correct in pronouncing vaguely Republican liberal author Camille Paglia’s name as PAH-lee-uh? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-name-pronunciation/140838/2 "2002-12-06T02:34:21Z")
I’ve heard Italians from different part of Italy pronounce the same name differently, but my versions would be: beh© CAR ya (Whether the C was doubled was one regional discrepancy I discovered) PAHL ya (based on a classmate name Camiglia that said ca MEEL ya) ---
**Author:** ![Regina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@Regina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regina)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-name-pronunciation/140838/3 "2002-12-06T02:47:08Z")
In some dialects, the double “c” is a sort of drawn-out “c…” sound, not a double “c-c” sound. Also some rules for most Italian words are that all the vowels are pronounced and the accent goes on the second to last vowel, I think it is. So it would be becca Ree-a (“i” is usually pronounced like our “e”, like with Paglia) The “gl” sound is a sort of throaty “gluh” sound, so Paglia would be pah GLEE-a or pag-LEAH However, many names of people and places are not pronounced according to the general rules, so you never know! How Italian!😉