I’m not sure if this belongs here in GQ or in MPSIMS. I figured I’d put it here since I’m pretty sure it has a definite answer.
I was wondering about the pronunciation of Ralph Fiennes first name. It seems like everytime I see one of his movies being promoted on TV, it’s pronounced “Rafe” instead of “Ralph”. What am I missing here? Is it some sort of regional pronunciation from wherever he’s from? His brother’s name is Joseph, but I never hear it pronounced “Jofes”…
Someone in the know please rid me of my ignorance. This little niggling question has been bugging me for a while now.
Yes it’s pronounced “Rafe”. It’s the Anglo-Saxon pronunciation. The English composer Ralph Vaughan-Williams is another whose name was pronounced the same way.
And to think… I even checked IMDB, and I missed that little tidbit about his name. I wasn’t aware that individual actors had trivia. I thought only movies had trivia attached.
That pretentious git drives me mad. In America, “Ralph” is pronounced “Ralph,” and “Fiennes” is pronounced “Fiennes,” not “Fines.” But rather than take any regional differences into account and listen to this explanation, he gets all huffy and holier-than-thou about it. I just hope I meet him someday and he asks me how I am, so I can say, “Fienne, thanks—how are you?”
—Eve (but it’s pronounced “Coo-Coo- the Bird Girl”)
Oh, come on. It’s not as if he picked his own name… it was given to him, aberrant pronunciation and all, by his parents. He’s entitled to have it pronounced the right way, that’s only common courtesy… if people went round calling me “Step Hen W’rriguhutuh”, the way my name’s actually spelled, I’d feel free to correct them.
(Ralph Fiennes may, of course, be a pretentious git for other reasons.)
The two different pronunciations of “Ralph” reflects early variations in pronunciations in certain words which dates back to Elizabethan times. There was a lot more variety in spelling back then, reflecting the different regional variations in dialect and pronunciation. There were several words that were sometimes pronunced with an “l” by some speakers, without an “l” by others. Although in most cases that variation gradually disapeared and one pronunciation became standard, the two pronunciations of “Ralph” has survived, probably because of family traditions.
For example, in Shakespeare’s plays, the French Dauphin was consistently referred to as the “Dolphin,” but it seems likely that whether the “l” was pronounced would depend on the individual speaker.
Here’s a little comment on the issue from the the Arden Shakespeare’s text of Henry VI, Part I:
I’m sure you’re right, Steve. Wouldn’t be surprised if it were a family name (including pronunciation). Perhaps unfortunate for him it fits with the stereotype of (some) actors as pretentious prats – or not. He does come across as just a little up his own arse.
IIRC, Cecil wrote a column responding to someone wanting to change their name and the legal hassles invovled (can’t find it in the archives though). He said a less hassling tactic would be to keep the original spelling and pronounce it however you want (which you’re allowed to do). He gave a rather ridiculous example, like if your name was John Smith, you could pronounce it “Santa Claus” if you wanted to. Just expect to get a lot of aggravated looks when filling out forms.