• root_beer
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    9 months ago

    Not necessarily. Think Leigh and its relatives (e.g., Ashleigh, Kayleigh, Charleigh*)

    *made that one up but still,

    • wellee@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Um, I had someone in my class named Kayleigh, and it was indeed pronounced Kay-lay. I pronounce all these like “lay”, I don’t understand the example.

      • root_beer
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        9 months ago

        Hm. In my experience, -eigh has always been pronounced -ee. In most cases, Leigh is a homophone of Lee, as it comes from an English word meaning “meadow”, and you’ll find many pronunciation guides that confirm this. Not that I find it all that intuitive, I would have assumed it to be pronounced -lay myself, like sleigh or eight. English is dumb like that, and if you or anyone else wants to pronounce it -lay, nothing should stop you.