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[Opinions] Madeleine (One day I will get on with my life and stop posting. One day...)
I'm going to say it like Mad-e-line. I think that's just fine, or am I crazy? Does it have to be pron. Mad-e-len?Which sounds better:Chloe Mad-e-line Christine
or
Chloe Mad-e-len Christine
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It's pronounced mud-LEN and mud-eh-LEN in French and as it is a French name that would be the correct pronunciation. I am French and it doesn't bother me when you pronounce it MAD-eh-line at all, though. I think it would be fine. After all Jacqueline is pronounced JACK-lyn in English even though the correct pronunciation is zhuk-LEEN and it works alright. I would just say that MAD-eh-line is the English pronunciation of a French name.I do however prefer Madeline. I just think that it looks very sweet. Madeline would also not be pronounced the way you want it pronounced in French but again you could go with the English pronunciation.I don't know, I just think it's a name that can be pronounced many ways in many countries and you should pronounce it the way you like it.They both sound nice.
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I'd pronounce Madeleine as MAD-ə-lien. If you click on it, you'll see that on this site that's listed as a correct pronunciation. It doesn't much matter anyway since it's a middle name. You won't often have to correct peoples' pronunciation of it. Although I do think that in the combo Chloe Madeleine Christine, MAD-ə-lin rolls off the tongue easier.

This message was edited 3/31/2009, 4:51 PM

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I answered on the other post, but Madeleine is -len, not -line, choose whatever you want for a middle name, it's just a middle name, but if you want it to be correct, -line is not correct.I think Chloe Mad-e-len Christine sounds better, but I prefer Madeline vastly over Madeleine, and Madeline will lend you the -line ending, and it's just prettier than Madeleine.
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I think it's fine to say Mad-e-line, especially since it's a mn and not a first name. Imo, Mad-e-line and Mad-e-len are equally pretty in the combo.Mad-e-line is a legit pronunciation of Madeleine, as far as I know. It's just not the most common. I usually pronounce Madeleine as mad-e-LEN, Madeline as either MAD-e-line or MAD-e-lin, and Madelyn always as MAD-e-lin.
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Well, pronouncing Madeleine or Madeline with LIEN at the end always seems a bit strange to me, because I've never met one single person that did it like that, probably. I also tend to dislike -line endings pronounced LIEN because they seem like weird diminutives to me. Since the pronunciation is listed on BtN as an English one, I guess it's fine. I still prefer MAD-e-len Christine, though.
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Chloe Mad-uh-len Christine would be my choice.Convention (at least my understanding) is Madeleine "MAD-uh-len", Madeline "MAD-uh-line".
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Chloe Madeleine (Mad-e-len) Christine flows better, IMO.
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