Naomi (was: how is it pronounced)

[Arnold Zwicky]

i'm puzzled by this thread, with its presupposition that there's one
correct pronunciation for this name.  i've encountered women named
Naomi who pronounced it with [e] in the first syllable and others who
pronounced it with [a] in the first syllable.  both pronunciations are
phonologically well-formed for me, so i try to use the one used by the
bearers of the name.  the [e] version, which is (i'm pretty sure) the
more frequent variant, is the default for me, the one i use  when i
know someone's name only through print.  but i don't think that makes
it the *correct* pronunciation.

there are many parallels -- Lehman with [e] or [i], for instance.

arnold

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