poll: Megan

[pne]

Poll #5465 Megan

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18

View Respondents

How would you typically pronounce the name "Megan"?

View Answers

ˈmeɡən (MEGG-an)
13 (72.2%)

ˈmeɪɡən (MAY-gun)
5 (27.8%)

ˈmiːɡən (MEE-gun)
0 (0.0%)

some other way which I'll talk about in comments
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[pseudomonas]

/ˈmɛgən/, really.

[pne]

Ah, I didn't pay attention but simply copy-pasted from the blog entry.

It's a difference of dictionary conventions: some use /e/ for the English DRESS vowel while others use /ɛ/.

The second convention is arguably more precise but the first follows the rule "use a simple letter rather than a modified one as long as this causes no confusion" (or whatever), the same one responsible for the common use of /r/ for English "r" even though that symbol prototypically refers to a trill in the IPA.

[pseudomonas]

ah, good point; I think I'd been using /e/ for the AIR vowel but the OED disagrees with me on that (/ɛə/, it says, and thinking about it, it has a point :) ), so I didn't see the two letters as unambiguous substitutes.

[mummimamma]

Depends which language I speak, and whom I am talking to. I usually try to pronounce it however the Megan in question would want me. I'd probably go for the first one if I was speaking English (or with an /ɛ/ . If I was speaking Norwegian (where the Megans are few and far between; 43 in fact<7a>) I'd pronounce the e and a closer to the Norwegian vowels ie. /'megɐn/ or thereabouts.

[mummimamma]

Oh, bother, where is the edit button?

[pne]

That needs a paid account, I think - it does on LiveJournal, at least.

this is probably more detail than you really wanted

[cheyinka]

(found via my network)

Assuming I didn't know how the person in question pronounced it, I think I'd say "Megan" most like "MAY-gun", except closer to MAYG-un than MAY-gun - like bacon with an m instead of a b and a g instead of a c?

I'm having a really hard time differentiating the first two choices, though. I blame my confusion on growing up in the northwest US and hearing some people - but not everybody - say "egg" with the same vowel as "may". (Well, that, and not knowing how to read IPA.)

[rainbow]

(here via network)

i don't know how to do the different language bits, but my pronunciation based on the megan i knew many years ago is close to meh'-gehn ("eh" like the e in edward, with the 2nd "eh" half swallowed up), fi that makes any sense at all.

[pne]

That makes sense, I think.

For the purposes of the poll, it's the first option ("MEGG-an") - would you like to change your vote?

[rainbow]

You mean the poll is only about the vowel sound? If so, I'll change. (but sticking the g on the first syllable sounds very different to me than having it swallowed into the 2nd, you see...)

[pne]

You mean the poll is only about the vowel sound?

Essentially, yes.

(but sticking the g on the first syllable sounds very different to me than having it swallowed into the 2nd, you see...)

Yes, makes sense. Writing it in the first syllable (to make it a closed syllable) seemed the easiest way to show that the "e" is short, though. I suppose "meh" might have worked, too.

[rainbow]

Okey-dokey, I've changed my vote :)

Hee, I thought of writing "eh" like "meh" or "feh" but then wondered if there mightn't be variation in how they're said. Could be true of "Edward" as well, but of all the Ed's I've known they all seemed to pronounce it the same way. *g

[pne]

Thanks!

Yeah, "like the e in Edward" was definitely clearer.