Calling all of you from the UK!
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| Tue, 03-14-2006 - 9:31pm |
I have a pronunciation question for you. I'm *pretty* sure that Imogen is pronounced "imma-jen" with the short "i" and the soft "g." Please correct me if I'm wrong! Every time I post a list of my favorite names, I get a bunch of people saying, "Imogen is great, but there might be pronunciation problems with it in the US," or "The US might not be ready for that one yet."
Now, I listen to my college radio station, and lately they've been playing a song by Imogen Heap. Every time the DJs say her name, they pronounce it something like "eye-m-again" with long "i" and hard "g." I'm pretty sure that this is probably the American butchering of the name that you all warned me about, but it's still making me second-guess my own "logical" pronunciation.
So, long story short (and please forgive my rambling!), I guess what I'm asking is... How is Imogen *really* pronounced?
TIA!
~Erin

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Hi,
I'm from the UK and all the Imogens I know (4 to be exact) pronounce it like you thought it was - IMMA-JEN (similar to the word imagine) and I'm pretty sure that is the 'proper' pronunciation. I've never heard it pronounced EYE-MA-GEN but there are always people who pronounce names wrong (no matter where they come from) especially if they are unfamiliar with them. I'm sure names that are common in America and not here would be pronounced wrong over here at first until we heard them a few times. Once you tell someone the proper pronunciation they will soon get it.
BTW, Imogen is a beautiful name and ages well (I know a little girl of 6, two ladies in their late 30s and a lady in her early 60s with this name).
Imogen- Im-a-jen is standard pronouciation here, and there is some Josh Harnet movie with an Im-a-jen as the female lead- made in the last 5 years i would guess.
BUt you also must consider that sometimes the "mispronouciations" could actually be how it was intended to be pronounced. Very frequently on here people say something like,
"I'm naming my kid 'Lisa' but I am going to pronounce it 'Lisssssssss-a' Do you think that's a problem?"
Consider the additional possibilty that her parents named her Imogen but wanted it pronounced the weird way. LOL
Peronally, I want to know why people overlook Imogene. (Imm-oh-Gene) I like that name.
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