Pronunciation of Clementine

[Chamallo]

We’re having a girl and my front runner at the moment is Clémentine (I know the accent won’t be on passport).

Would you pronounce this Cle-mon-teen or Clem-un-tine (long i / eye sound)? Or something else?

And if this was your name, would it bother you if people (including different family members) pronounced it differently?

If I met a Clementine I wouldn't know how to pronounce it - tyne or teen - I'd have to ask.
If it had an accent, as in Clémentine, I'd know to pronounce it the French way. Cleh-mon-teen.

I would pronounce it the way I was asked to - it’s a beautiful name, either way. If I was naming a baby I’d probably pronounce it to rhyme with “time”.

Yep, with an accent I’d be saying Clay-mon-teen.

I'd say Clem-in-tyne (as in the river)

Haha I wasn’t expecting this to be so controversial. So general consensus is that British English speakers are slightly more likely to go with -tyne but won’t have an issue with -teen if corrected.

To answer some questions…
Spelling would be Clé- as DH is French and French side of the family will pronounce as “Clay-…”.
I would pronounce that phoneme as Cleh, and don’t think it’s an issue because the French “Clay-“ sound doesn’t really exist in English (in my accent at least) and I don’t plan to affect a French accent when speaking English.

Eldest DD is Melody which French side always pronounce May-loh-dee. Not an issue.

The -teen v -tyne bit was my doubt since both sounds do exist in English and there’s an obvious difference to English ears.

I do like nicknames Clem and Clemmie, and the song doesn’t bother me. We sing a lot of silly songs at home, so thank you to @HoppityBun for full lyrics!

Thanks for all the opinions! I still really love the name and the pronunciation issue doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.

I was a nanny for a Clementine.. and she loved me singing 'Darling Clementine' to her. Clemmie for short.. beautiful name..

But it won’t be you that has to deal with pronunciation issue after a few years, it will be the child for the rest of her life.

I say and prefer Clemen - teen.

The other pronunciation is fine.
I prefer Clemency/Clemence.

It's what you think that matters.

Honestly there really is nothing to “deal with”. You just …say your name. If someone says it the other way as they say your name before you have introduced yourself you smile and say the way you pronounce it.

You say that but this thread has shown that there are quite a few different ways that people say it.
OP's family will say it in more than one way.

I mentioned a Stéphanie who hates being called Stephanie. She corrects people to 'Sté phan ee'. (Her name, her choice) but it's hardly ever going to be her preferred pronunciation because unless they can get the French é right and the syllable stress right then it sounds odd.
It comes out as 'Stay-far-nee' or 'Stephany'. Shame really because it's her name and a lot prettier than that.

Time. Like the river and the song. You will have to be happy with both pronunciations (and so will your child) as I don't think either is wrong

I have a little one with this name. I am half french so pronounce it 'teen' but I don't mind either (and she's not quite big enough to care). I have a french name that is almost always mispronounced (and I grew up in England, so I've had all sorts of variations) and I never minded it. I was quite grateful for an ice-breaker name, to be honest, so that I could reduce the 'isn't the weather xxxx' style conversations when first meeting people!

Regarding nicknames, she doesn't go by Clem or Clemmie, but she's still little so I know that she still might. She goes by a different nickname (related to her name) almost 100% of the time, so I won't be surprised if this one sticks instead. But again, I don't really mind, it's her name to do what she wants with.

Overall, I still feel really happy with my choice :)

Good luck!

Never heard of her.
I do know the song and the fruit though and both are 'tine'.

Thank you for the insight. It’s still our front runner and both sides of the family like it. Given how similar French and English are, I’ve been really surprised how difficult it is to find a name that works in both. Along with the pronunciation issues, the popularity cycles seem totally out of sync, so a name that sounds modern in one culture, sounds middle-aged to the other.

On nicknames, our DD1 started correcting anyone who used her family nickname to use her preferred nickname at aged 2.5, so nursery teachers and kids all call her differently to us haha. Can’t control that and I wouldn’t want to.

I’ve never heard the fruit pronounced anything other than teen. Cambridge dictionary says teen is the British pronunciation and tine is American. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/clementine

Strangely though, the phonetic spelling shown in that link is the same for both, so something is not entirely correct!

My OED shows both as possible pronunciations in British English.

I love the name. My name seems simple but people have said it in various different ways all my life and really it doesn't bother me, so unless she is particularly argumentative it won't be an issue. I had it on our list for DD and would have used it if I had had another girl.

I think the American version is sung with a twang and the long "iiiiine" but everyone I know says 'teen' too.

I’ve never heard the fruit pronounced anything but tine, though it doesn’t come up much admittedly. I usually say mandarin instead, which is a more general term that includes clementines, satsumas and tangerines.

I’m in Ireland, not America.

Yes, 'tine' to rhyme with 'fine' is my impression of what's normal in England and Ireland for the fruit.

well it did say British pronunciation so I wouldn’t expect that to include Ireland! I’m in SE England. I’ve seen cocktails on menus here before called clementini (ie clementine martini) which wouldn’t work without the teen pronunciation for example.

To rhyme with tyne

ones I’ve known have always ended up being Clem or Clemmie

Sorry, it’s just people on MN often say that things are ‘American’ when they’re widely used in Ireland, eg words like gotten didn’t die out here, the celebration of Halloween is Irish /Scottish not American etc 😅

Also NI is part of the UK so there’s a bit of an overlap there.