Name pronuciations

[gwynhefar]

Speaking of older names, I was wondering. How would y'all pronounce the name Ephraim?

I was pronouncing it with a short 'e' and a schwa in the second syllable, and my co-worker was pronouncing it with a long 'e' and a long 'a' in the second syllable. Any ideas as to the correct one?

Comments

[vulpine137.livejournal.com]

I'd say f-ram or f-rem.

[zarhooie.livejournal.com]

The founder of Williams College was Ephraim Williams. The college mascot is a purple cow and Williams College students are called Ephs, pronounced "Ee-fs". I've always heard the founder's name pronounced Ee-frum.

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

So Alice and I were both half right -- she had the first syllable correct and I had the second syllable correct. Interesting.

[corivax.livejournal.com]

Merriam-Webster pronounces it "ee-free-yum". http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?ggephr01.wav=Ephraim

I would pronounce it eff-ray-im, I think, but I appear to be wrong. :)

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I would expect it to be spelled "Ephriam" based on that pronunciation. Sounds like there's not much of a consensus.

[grizzlydan.livejournal.com]

I pronounce it Ee-frum or Ee-fray-um if I am being elegant. But with an understated "y". Ee-frum is kind of a hillbilly shorthand, I think.

[faekitty.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the pronunciation.

[sage-and-sea.livejournal.com]

I say eff-rye-am with a slight emphasis on the eff....now to see what others say!

[solledrache.livejournal.com]

I would say Eh-Fram. :-)

[maida-mac.livejournal.com]

This is the pronunciation for the one person I knew with that name.

[6-bleen-7.livejournal.com]

Eff-rem, but I could go along with several other pronunciations given above.

[carocrow.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I've pronounced it as if there is no "a". Effram.