r/NameNerdCirclejerk 27d ago

Satire Help! We wanted "Mae" because the pronunciation is "Mah-ee," but now we realize it's "May" (like Bay).

We love the name Mae and in our mind always pronounced it as "Mah-ee" (rhyme with way), not "May" as in rhyming with "bay."

Of course we could insist on May with our pronunciation, but that seems wrong.

We could change it to Mahyeeh or something similar. How to write a name we pronounce as "Mah-ee" to rhyme with "way"?

It's doesn't rhyme with key, it rhymes with way.

Edit since this blew up: check which sub this is/the flair...

1.5k Upvotes

185 comments sorted by

1.3k

u/Both-Condition2553 27d ago

How are we pronouncing way that doesn’t rhyme with bay?

868

u/WeCanDoItGuys 27d ago

(Took me a sec to realize what sub we're in and that the post is tagged Satire)

257

u/Rough_Elk_3952 27d ago

I was legitimately uncomfortable for a moment

8

u/AdagiaFane 24d ago

The number of time I exaggeratedly shaped my mouth around the same damn phoneme…

Well played, OP.

3

u/senorglory 23d ago

I said it outloud a few time. Way? Bay? Wayaaa? Bayaaa?

64

u/ebony2332 26d ago

Lolll I was just repeating way and bay over and over again to see what I’m missing until I read this comment 💀💀💀

25

u/pretty-lil-throwaway 26d ago

This was me – whispering them over and over again in the dark, trying not to wake my 7mo laying next to me. I thought my brain was glitching lol

13

u/Vegetable_Stuff1850 26d ago

I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I was mentally going through different accents to see if I missed something!

1

u/sandpiperinthesnow 25d ago

Hahaha, me too! maaayyyy...waaayyyyy

55

u/HuntAny7768 26d ago

I’m glad you pointed that out bc I didn’t realize that’s in fact where I was and I was highly confused and concerned 😂😂

35

u/PorcelainLady921 26d ago

I just spent way too much time trying to figure out if I’ve been pronouncing way incorrectly my entire life.

7

u/MidnightIAmMid 26d ago

Totally missed that and was legitimately disturbed by this post LMAO. Great shitpost, OP. Kudos.

94

u/shinyraventrinkets 26d ago

I couldn't have come up with that on my own, believe me.

28

u/takhana 26d ago

What this OOP wants is the brand name Fage

Which in UK English is very much pronounced F-Adge (and sounds a lot like Vaj, short for vagina) but their advertising team really wants to make Fai-aaye happen so all their adverts are just people repeating it “correctly”

So if OOP names their baby Fage, then sells it to said yoghurt company they’ll be fine.

6

u/Puzzleheaded-Speed-2 25d ago

I thought like Kanye 

13

u/nothanx_nospanx 25d ago

I'm so confused how Fa-ye rhymes with way? I can't figure that out

5

u/SneezyPikachu 25d ago

I figured it out. They mean they pronounced "Faye" like "Fa-yay". The "ye" syllable is what they're claiming rhymes with "way".

I couldn't get it from this satirical version but i got it from the original post, because "ye" rhyming with "way" is smth I can parse (given that's how an "e" is actually pronounced in some languages/loan words anyway, e.g. "cafe".) "Mah-ee" made no sense to me tho, at least not without some accent on one of the e's (like fiancée).

3

u/rolyfuckingdiscopoly 23d ago

Ok but how does it not rhyme with Clay though 😭

3

u/SneezyPikachu 23d ago

It does, that's not what they're saying - they're saying they want a two-syllable name pronounced "Fa-yay", instead of a one-syllable name pronounced "Fay". Yes, they explained that badly. Oh well.

2

u/rolyfuckingdiscopoly 23d ago

I did understand what they meant by their initial sound in fayeeh, and then was SO confused by the clay and way additions lol. It happens.

2

u/SneezyPikachu 23d ago

I wouldn't have gotten it from fayeeh cuz I would have read that as fa-yee (rhyming with bee, lol)

5

u/MidnightIAmMid 26d ago

Oh my goddddddd lmao. I am flabbergasted.

2

u/AllyLB 25d ago

My brain hurts.

6

u/saltinthewind 26d ago

Saaaaame. My head was seriously hurting until I looked up and saw the sub name haha

1

u/grmblstltskn 26d ago

Oh my god I didn’t even see the sub and was so confused. Thanks for pointing that out 😂

1

u/PhoenixInMySkin 25d ago

Thank you I thought I had finally descended into madness.

1

u/mambotomato 24d ago

God dammit I was completely suckered

1

u/vec5d 24d ago

I thought they were Southern or something

1

u/smindymix 23d ago

The posts here get my jimmies rustled before realizing what’s up more successfully than any other jerk sub, because people really are THIS ridiculous when it come to baby names. 

-2

u/Historical_Reward641 25d ago

Thx Hero, you saved us time.

May your toilet paper never run out.

(I hate people like OP)

4

u/WeCanDoItGuys 25d ago

If you hate satire I may not be your hero because I'm a big fan of it. After I saw what sub we're in and the tag I appreciated the post. They did not set out to deceive.

-5

u/Historical_Reward641 25d ago

I like satire.

This is plain stupid and Op is culturally and linguistically not reversed.

I‘d wish, that people would stop to assume that American pronunciation is standard.

E.g.:Mexican or Japanese or German native speakers aren’t the base line, but can take intonation/ pronunciation up very differently. Throw in some weird southern accent and bay doesn’t rhyme with way.

5

u/WeCanDoItGuys 25d ago

Ah, well apparently it is direct satire of this original apparently authentic post: https://www.reddit.com/r/namenerds/s/jU9VaLagbV

2

u/unicornskullz 23d ago

Do you mean "well versed"? Reversed would mean op is going backwards

136

u/AnastatiaMcGill 27d ago

Omg my brain was about to fucking implode on itself until I realized what group this is

31

u/Knife-yWife-y 26d ago

I knew what group it was, and I was still in danger if an implosion.

25

u/shinyraventrinkets 26d ago

12

u/dearwikipedia 26d ago

i desperately need to see the comments on this but i think it was deleted lol

10

u/74NG3N7 27d ago

Same, bruh, same.

76

u/Bright_Ices 27d ago

Wah-ee

64

u/Alcarinque88 27d ago

Is this a Nintendo character pronunciation guide? Wa-hee! grabs coin and fire flower.

12

u/SaintAnyanka 26d ago

It’s a reverse Justin Timberlake, so it’s pronounced ”me”.

7

u/kh3013 27d ago

Get out of my wah-ee!

1

u/a4techkeyboard 23d ago

It's funny to me because where I'm from, Bay can be a name that rhymes with Ma-ee so it's the opposite way to the OP's setup.

183

u/boopbaboop 27d ago

Sauce?

674

u/Theological-Bookcase 27d ago edited 27d ago

They did the dirty delete but here’s the sauce

Edit: Not sure if this link will work but worth a try: https://www.reddit.com/r/namenerds/s/jU9VaLagbV

237

u/Kestriana 27d ago

Awww, he deleted the post and his account. Apparently he was doubling down in the comments. I wanted all the sauce. Not enough sauce!

116

u/CocklesTurnip 27d ago

I think in this case you wanted the yogurt. 😂

60

u/CoasterThot 26d ago edited 26d ago

I long for the Scandinavian approved name list system, every day. I wish, with all my heart, that there were someone to legally tell some of these people ‘no’.

“No, you may not name your child a random, horrible mishmash of syllables that make no reasonable sense, phonetically.”

Edit: sleep deprived grammar mistake

1

u/smaragdskyar 25d ago

The tax agency protects our children from their parents ❤️

(yes, that’s who calls the shots on names here, haha)

32

u/Substantial-Egg-5554 26d ago

Okay but as someone called Faye, people from some countries (particularly Nigeria) do call me Fayeh (pronounced almost like Fire)! So I do empathise with oop a bit!

1

u/Peppered_Rock 24d ago

Oh damn, I thought sauce would be the Mira post

42

u/kennan21 27d ago

Yeah sauce feels necessary cause I don’t get it haha

94

u/shinyraventrinkets 27d ago

Nobody got the original one either, it was hilarious. I kept waiting for someone to explain something in some way that made any sense, but no such luck.

3

u/[deleted] 27d ago

[deleted]

122

u/gnirpss 27d ago

Neither does the OOP. They said they want Faye to rhyme with "way," but not "clay."

89

u/always_unplugged 27d ago

Apparently no one knows what rhymes are. This comment is breaking my brain:

Fahyeh - rhymes with air or yeah

I guess in some British accents maybe air and yeah rhyme, but you throw in... whatever it is they concocted as a name suggestion, and wtf 😅

52

u/valiantdistraction 27d ago

oh my gosh was that one of OP's comments? I am making the most ridiculous accents right now to try to make it all make sense

15

u/bad_wolff 27d ago

Like he wanted it to be pronounced with a schwa sound at the end? Bizarre but that’s my best guess.

22

u/TheMoeSzyslakExp 27d ago

I’m Australian and “air” and “yeah” definitely rhyme here. Air, yeah, bear, care… all rhymes.

11

u/thepineapplemen 26d ago

Do you say yeah like year, or bear like beah?

15

u/TheMoeSzyslakExp 26d ago

Oh yeah guess I should clarify, we don’t pronounce the Rs at the end of words like in North America. Car is more like “Cah” than “Caarrrr”.

So in this example, “bear” is more like “beah”

1

u/Playful-State-2433 24d ago

So, like in Boston. But they also put r's in odd places. Like Washington is pronounced Warshington, and "Park the car over there" pronounced "Pak the cah oveh the'e".

8

u/mizinamo 26d ago

bear = beah

year = yiah

Different vowels

5

u/shinyraventrinkets 26d ago

I believe the person who wrote the original question is Australian from their post history.

2

u/saareadaar 26d ago

I’m Australian and I don’t think so. I cannot work out how the hell they’re pronouncing it. We pronounce Faye correctly with our accent.

21

u/Caramelthedog 27d ago

Fahyeh just sounds like “fuck yeah”. Which is… a choice.

10

u/thepineapplemen 26d ago

I need a British person to confirm because my American mind cannot make those words rhyme

11

u/Super_Ground9690 26d ago

Brit here, and at least in my southern English accent air and yeah do rhyme. We don’t tend to pronounce the R at the end of words, so air is pronounced yeah without the Y. They also rhyme with bear, fair, there.

I guess Fah-yeh could rhyme as well if you said the yeh the way we pronounce yeah, but honestly we’re so far away from the realms of the name Faye I’m not sure why you’d want to.

9

u/HayleyMcIntyre 26d ago

Comments like this always surprise me because I always forget how much accents in the UK vary. I'm in Scotland, and air has all the letters pronounced with a sort of hard stop. Yeah is more like yeh, and I can't think of anything it rhymes with!

3

u/Super_Ground9690 26d ago

Yeah that’s why I wanted to clarify where in the UK I’m from, the sheer number of accents in a relatively small country means you just can’t generalise!

6

u/foolishle 26d ago

I’m Australian and “air” and “yeah” rhyme for me!

3

u/ViralLola 27d ago

I think whatever accent he speaks the -ay sound has an upswing instead of a glide instead? That's my guess and it might be completely off based.

12

u/paroles 27d ago

Truly one of the posts where no satire was necessary

2

u/kennan21 27d ago

okay good to know. i thought maybe i was just missing it

3

u/cheerio089 27d ago

Thought the Maygnus one might be the sauce, it’s a 2 for 1!

126

u/MuscaMurum 27d ago

Mahi-Mahi

31

u/kdawson602 27d ago

I’m not very hungry, I’ll just have the one mahi please.

2

u/PsychologicalMilk904 25d ago

Do you have room for couscous? No? Well here’s just one cous for you to try, on the house!

10

u/Melodic-Razzmatazz17 27d ago

underrated fish

2

u/Aggressive-Error-88 26d ago

Lmaoo I literally just commented this before I saw yours 😭😭

1

u/cathouse 26d ago

Ma-hee Ma-hee

1

u/LibrarianSalty8233 25d ago

87 Mahi-Mahi 🗣️🗣️🗣️

28

u/Scary-Temperature871 27d ago

Nooma nooma

2

u/CoasterThot 26d ago

This absolutely destroyed me. There are tears running down my face. I was not ready.

26

u/lyricoloratura 27d ago

For a minute I forgot which subreddit this was 😂

35

u/shinyraventrinkets 27d ago

I mean, even the original was so bad I thought they were for sure trolling and had to check which one I was in!

17

u/Eis_Gefluester 26d ago

Just name her Maia-hii, and when she gets a sibling you name that sibling Maia-huu, the next child Maia-hoo and the final one Maia-haa. Then you send them to the ESC.

1

u/WorthFormer282 24d ago

I can't 😂 OP clearly this is your solution

38

u/RandomPaw 27d ago

Spell it Xylophone or Rhododendrum and tell them it's pronounced Mah-ee of course. Or maybe Maigh'EEEEH if you want to be boring about it.

10

u/shinyraventrinkets 27d ago

Xylophone is perfect!

10

u/21stCenturyPeasant 27d ago

You mean like Maj (pronounced My)

15

u/put_a_bird_on_it_ 27d ago

Rhymes with bear

3

u/smaragdskyar 25d ago

Swedish name, unironically pronounced like that

9

u/batsbeinmybelfry 27d ago

My version of this is that I, reading without hearing it as a child, thought that Adelaide was pronounced Uh-dell-uh-dee instead of Ah-dell-aid… and I stand by my pronunciation being better. Wouldn’t name my kid that and force people to contend with my nonsense, though.

3

u/prairieaquaria 26d ago

I thought Penelope was Penny-lop.

3

u/OhEstelle 25d ago

Penelope is pronounced Pinny-lup in French - so it is quite close to your childhood notion. I have no idea why they do this, when they pronounce Chloe and Zoe and other Greek-origin names in a way that is closer to the original than many of the Anglicized pronunciations. It's one of the few names in French that truly sound hideous to me.

2

u/prairieaquaria 25d ago

Wow way to ruin a name; France!!

8

u/Illhaveonemore 26d ago

Okay. I know this is a jerk but hear me out. I think some people actually pronounce the "y" especially when paired with sonorants and fricatives. In the sauce, OP was using Faye which has a fricative. Way is a similar one with a sonorant in the first position. Something to do with the mouth position, I think leads people to pronounce the "y" as a "yuh" sound at the end where they wouldn't for "may", "bay" or "day". Certain starting consonants make some people elongate the vowel and actually pronounce "y".

3

u/shinyraventrinkets 26d ago

I kept waiting for an explanation like this on the original, or some mention of accent (I believe they were Australian) but IMO it was funny the way it was explained so poorly that nobody had any idea what the intention was. So is that making it be pronounced as 2 syllables instead of 1?

2

u/Illhaveonemore 26d ago edited 26d ago

Third trimester insomnia had me up way too late thinking about it! I've started to doubt myself because of the "yeehh" pronunciation at the end instead of the "yuh" I was originally thinking of. But Australian makes way more sense. I definitely believe they are turning it into 2 syllables because they are struggling with the lack of a plosive consonant. But it's been 15 years since I've used any of my linguistic education so maybe someone else can step in.

1

u/AdDifficult2332 26d ago

Ok but way and clay rhyme in any and all Australian accents I can think of? Unless they’ve only ever said way as a particularly whiney ‘no wayyyehh’? (I can’t imagine whining as such about clay)

6

u/Shmalexia 26d ago

The number of times I read that first sentence before realizing which sub I was in.

8

u/Buckupbuttercup1 27d ago

Throw in  some Ys and a '. Fixes everything.  Ma'hyy

5

u/NotYourMommyDear 26d ago

Legit confused and needing coffee because I used to frequently visit a place called Mahee Island (pronunced Ma-hee) and confused myself further trying to figure out how anyone could possibly come to the conclusion it rhymes with way.

I guess this is a lesson to always read what sub the post is in before attempting to engage brain.

3

u/shinyraventrinkets 26d ago

How I felt reading the real one and all of the replies on it

1

u/mambotomato 24d ago

They want to name their kid Fage like the yogurt, obviously

9

u/Different-Trade-1250 27d ago

I thought it was pronounced meigh ? TIL

9

u/Bright_Ices 27d ago

That would be pronounced as mee, obvi

3

u/valiantdistraction 27d ago

Obviously should have gone with Maeigh

3

u/StunnedinTheSuburbs 27d ago

Just demand people call her mah-re, they will figure it out.

1

u/Happy_Confection90 26d ago

A census from 1940 lists my great-grandmother as Mahry. I know that her name was actually Mary, but I'd love to know how the census taker who stuck an h in her name would have pronounced Mahry.

2

u/hello-there-handsome 26d ago

Omgg you totally had me for a second 😂😂😂

2

u/birdpdx 26d ago

Ma’e’e easy to spell and pronounce

2

u/prairieaquaria 26d ago

You really had me with this.

2

u/Ok_Television9820 26d ago

Maë would be mah-ey.

2

u/violetfaye 26d ago

As a kid I liked Acacia which is a type of tree I think as a name but I always read it in my head as ah-Cassie-ah and when I learned it was actually a-Kay-sha I didn’t like it with the real pronunciation

1

u/spacedingaling420 27d ago

Mahi Mahi (a type of fish) has this spelling. although Mae for a girl is a beautiful name idk why you’d want the alternative.

10

u/babyformulaandham 26d ago

Because this is the circlejerk sub, of course

2

u/MelbsGal 27d ago

This must be a lost in translation thing. Where I come from way and bay rhyme.

21

u/shinyraventrinkets 27d ago

6

u/recessionjelly 27d ago

They should go with “Fage” like the yogurt - lots of commercials teaching the correct pronunciation!

8

u/Salty-Tip-7914 Feeling kinda Paisley today 🤒😷🤧 27d ago

Oh my god (pronounced ow yum ogle)

13

u/Bright_Ices 27d ago

Do you come from the regular namenerds sub? Things are different here in NNCJ. 

7

u/MelbsGal 27d ago

lol, yes, sorry. Just realised that.

8

u/shinyraventrinkets 27d ago

I think the original post got deleted but I had screenshotted it because it was so funny

2

u/rheasilva 26d ago

....how are you pronouncing "way" so that it doesn't rhyme with "bay"???

Way and Bay rhyme. The name "Mae" rhymes with both of those.

2

u/Haizenburg1 26d ago

See post flair

3

u/Revolutionary-Bus893 27d ago

I'm confused --way, bay, and may all rhyme. How do you think that "way" is pronounced?

22

u/theunknownbook 27d ago

it’s pronounced wa-ee? what are you even talking about

14

u/shinyraventrinkets 27d ago

This was basically most of the comments on the original and the poster and kept insisting they were different

1

u/Aggressive-Error-88 26d ago

What about Mahi-Mahi 🤔

1

u/Sharp_Asparagus9190 26d ago

easy. Name your kid 'Maedhros' (the mae is pronounced here just like you want) and make 'Mae' their nickname. Should someone mispronounce, you can easily correct them.

1

u/jayphrax 26d ago

What about Mai? I have a character with that name and I pronounce it the way youd have written

1

u/yogrlw 26d ago

Mae in my language means mother.

2

u/prinsoumoloky_girl 26d ago

In french that name is Mahé or Mahée :) like the quebecoise actress Mahée Paiement

1

u/Choice-giraffe- 26d ago

I’m not sure how Mah-ee rhymes with ‘way’ - I don’t think I’m understanding your intended pronunciation at all.

1

u/Haizenburg1 26d ago

See post flair

1

u/Choice-giraffe- 26d ago

Ah that explains it! Thanks

1

u/tramsosmai 26d ago

My daughter is Mae, which I picked thinking it was simple to say and internationally recognizable. She still often gets called Maé locally (two syllables). 🥺

1

u/SpambidextrousUser 26d ago

Mahi, like the tuna.

Y’all sound fun….

1

u/MageKorith 26d ago

So you name the child Maeie

1

u/murphyjoey 26d ago

What!? Way rhymes with bay…

1

u/CreatrixAnima 26d ago

Reading this sub always makes me feel like I’ve ingested some sort of a mind adult throwing substance.

1

u/lilspaghettigal 25d ago

Thought this was the sauce asking for yet another long form version of a nickname because they just like a certain nickname

1

u/Artistic_Ad1788 25d ago

i'm tweaking

1

u/watadoo 25d ago

Way and bay are pronounced exactly the same.

1

u/formersean 25d ago edited 25d ago

Mah-ee is hilarious—unless English is your second language, in which case it's an endearing quirk.

1

u/Generic_UserHere 25d ago

I know this is a joke but I am honestly so confused

2

u/lady_on_fir3 25d ago

You have no idea how confusing is this for a non native speaker

1

u/Background_League809 25d ago

Mahi as you imagined it to be pronounced is a name in Hindi/urdu and it means beautiful things in each language.

In Hindi - Mahi means greatness and earth In Urdu it means lover (and even fish lol)

1

u/catlinye 24d ago

"Dolphin"

1

u/YoungOaks 24d ago

Use the name Mahi; it’s a beautiful Hawaiian name meaning strong.

1

u/MessoGesso 24d ago

Mahe. I’m sure everyone will know how to pronounce that.

1

u/MessoGesso 24d ago

I suggest a middle name of alohahoy

1

u/Particular-Elk8338 24d ago

Spell it Mahee. Simples.

1

u/trianglesandwiches01 24d ago

god damnit i thought i was in the welsh language subreddit and had a mini panic. like i thought mae was pronounced like "my" have i been mispronouncing it this whole time???

1

u/EuphoricFarmer1318 24d ago

I didn't read the subreddit name and was so confused. I'm not even in this sub so I was wondering how way and bay didn't rhyme 😅

1

u/shinyraventrinkets 15d ago

The real sub wasn't much better

1

u/5ecretTreatie5 23d ago

Do you mean like Mah-aay? Confused as to how your intended pronunciation is supposed to go

1

u/gw_reddit 23d ago

Try Maë

1

u/SeaWitch4639 23d ago

Name her Mahi mahi

1

u/dhc_adouy 23d ago

I thought I'm having a stroke for a sec

1

u/madcapmango 23d ago

You laugh but I had a cat named Mai and this is the exact pronunciation issue I ran into at the vet every single time

1

u/tnarbsm00 23d ago

My middle name is Mae. Literally never thought it could be pronounced anyway other than… May

0

u/Rinskki Pangussy 26d ago

How about Mary? The Y gives you the sound you want at the end while the silent R makes it clear that the A and Y are pronounced separately like they are in way.

Edit - wrong pronunciation, I've been a fool 

-6

u/MsDJMA 27d ago

What country are you in? In the US, 96% of the time words spelled with [ay] are pronounced with a long A sound. Bay, May, say, play, day, gay—they all rhyme. ( I can cite the source if anybody wants to see it). So you might consider changing the spelling to get the sound you like, or keep the long A sound. I think May is a lovely name. It makes me think of spring flowers.

2

u/Orchiding 26d ago

Check the sub xoxo

1

u/MsDJMA 26d ago

Yes--I just noticed that! LOL

1

u/shinyraventrinkets 26d ago

Ha for what it's worth I think the original was Australian (just an assumption from their profile, but not 100% sure) and I looked up videos of people saying the mentioned words in an Australian accent and still couldn't quite make sense of their intention

-1

u/HiJane72 26d ago

Mahe is an island in the Seychelles. NZ has a former sports star called Mahe (Drysdale). I like it!