Remember how I mentioned Ralph a few weeks ago? In the same post Mark Kermode got a mention and now he’s back because I was listening to one of their old podcasts when they suddenly got onto the subject of the pronunciation of Ralph, here’s the excerpt:
Not a particularly in depth discussion, I’ll give you that. What it does prove however is that the RALF pronunciation of the name appears to be the most popular one these days here in the UK, despite it traditionally being pronounced RAYF.
I don’t suppose any readers still maintain the RAYF pronunciation? There’s an upcoming Disney film called Wreck-It Ralph, which will likely be using the RALF pronunciation.
Here’s another fascinating tidbit about the film: one of the lead females is called Vanellope. Penelope, eat your heart out.
The name Ralph ranked at #258 in England&Wales in 2010. He is of Old Norse origins, and means wolf counsel.
Clearly, this is a topic that I remain enthralled by. I do feel a Pronunciations Video Part Deux coming on. Stay tuned.
The only RAYF I know of is Mr Fiennes.
But they are quite right – people can pronounce their names however they want. I know (amongst my network of in-laws) a Cheryl said CHER-il, rather than SHER-il, and people named Megan who say their name MEE-gun, MAY-gun and MEG-un. Fun when they all turn up at once.
Oh and also a Briony said BREE-uh-nee, who honestly doesn’t know there is another way to say this name/word! When it comes to word namess, I’m a bit like with spellings – you have to stick to the standard pronunciation!
haha I spelled names wrong in a post about correct spelling …