# Jane Eyre--Pronunciation
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 22, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608 "2006-07-22T17:29:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/1 "2006-07-22T17:29:49Z")
Need some help resolving a family argument here, occasioned by Little R reading **The Eyre Affair**.
Is “Eyre” pronounced “ire” or “air”?
I’m already good on how to pronounce “Jane”. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/2 "2006-07-22T17:39:47Z")
I have mostly heard (and prefer to say myself) “air.”
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### Author:  [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/3 "2006-07-22T17:41:56Z")
I’ve always said “air,” since it never occured to me that it wouldn’t rhyme with “affair.”
[Dictionary.com’s definitions of the word “eyre”](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/eyre) supports my conclusion. Note especially the first one, which is actually the name.
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/4 "2006-07-22T17:42:51Z")
In all the film/TV versions I’ve seen (and I have three at hand), it’s pronounced “Air.”
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### Author:  [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/5 "2006-07-22T17:51:13Z")
I don’t have a very large cirlce of friends, and most people around here think that reading is, at best, kind of lame, and at worst, a cry for help. The only discussions I’d ever had about the book were online-- I’d never heard anyone pronounce the name aloud.
Thus, I was a bit embarassed when I discovered it wasn’t pronounced “Eye-ree.”
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/6 "2006-07-22T17:58:13Z")
I’ve always thought there should be some type of specialized dictionary that provides pronunciation guides for famous people and other words in literature, print media, etc. Wikipedia should be an ideal vehicle for this, but it isn’t a designated feature.
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### Author:  [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/7 "2006-07-22T18:01:43Z")
Jane is Eyre as in Air;
St. John (pronounced “sinjin,” btw) is Rivers as in Water;
The school is Lowood, as in Wood…
Can anybody come up with the other two Chinese elements?
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/8 "2006-07-22T18:15:36Z")
> [@Sattua](#):
>
> Jane is Eyre as in Air;
> St. John (pronounced “sinjin,” btw) is Rivers as in Water;
> The school is Lowood, as in Wood…
>
> Can anybody come up with the other two Chinese elements?
Well, there’s definitely a fire at Thornfield Hall…
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### Author:  [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/9 "2006-07-22T19:13:35Z")
I used to pronounce it ‘ire’. My teachers and university professors–and fellow classmates–all pronounced it ‘air’.
:o
Reminds me of Adele’s line: “And Mademoiselle – what is your name? [Jane: “Eyre – Jane Eyre.”] Aire? Bah! I cannot say it.”
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/10 "2006-07-22T19:19:17Z")
I’ve never heard it pronounced any other way than “air”.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/11 "2006-07-22T20:08:18Z")
> [@Lissa](#):
>
> I don’t have a very large cirlce of friends, and most people around here think that reading is, at best, kind of lame, and at worst, a cry for help.
You need new friends, dear.
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### Author:  [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/12 "2006-07-22T21:22:49Z")
> [@Skald the Rhymer](#):
>
> You need new friends, dear.
Yeah, but I’m anti-social, so it’s hard for me to get up the gumption to go find any. Friends want to talk on the phone and do stuff, cutting into my reading time.
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### Author:  [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/13 "2006-07-22T22:53:33Z")
> [@Lissa](#):
>
> Thus, I was a bit embarassed when I discovered it wasn’t pronounced “Eye-ree.”
You must have been thinking of India’s sister.
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### Author:  [@jemmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jemmy)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2006, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jane-eyre-pronunciation/365608/14 "2006-07-23T05:46:54Z")
> [@Sattua](#):
>
> Jane is Eyre as in Air;
> St. John (pronounced “sinjin,” btw) is Rivers as in Water;
> The school is Lowood, as in Wood…
>
> Can anybody come up with the other two Chinese elements?
I noticed how St. John is pronounced “sinjin” in the movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” and I wondered why it was pronounced in such a way. (The scene with the second couple that is officiated by the guy who played “Bean.”) So, why is it pronounced “sinjin” instead of “Saint John?”
Thanks in advance.