Leonidas pronunciation

**cherrytree** · May 04, 2009, 03:17 PM

Hi! I'm new here and was reading a post from 2 years ago about the correct pronunciation of Leonidas. It is my son's name and he will turn 1 in a few days, and I want to make sure we are saying his name correctly. We say "Lay oh NEED us", but should it be "Lay oh NEED thus" instead? We call him Leo for short but it's not "LEE oh" it's more like "LAY oh". So is it "us" or "thus" at the end? We are American, and live in America, and I am mostly Greek in my heritage, my husband is German. So I guess we are okay with an Anglicized version of the name, but we also travel a lot, and I don't want to be in Greece someday and people looking at us all funny because we say his name weirdly. Thanks for your help!

**Lord Tomyris** · May 04, 2009, 03:26 PM

Well here's one possible way of pronouncing it:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Leonidas

I personally always say 'Lee-oh-ny-dus', I could be getting that from '300', not sure!

**Stavroforos** · May 04, 2009, 03:31 PM

Depends on if you want to have it accurate according to English pronounciation or Greek pronounciation.

**Akrotatos** · May 04, 2009, 04:23 PM

In Greek it's Le(t)-o(pen)-nee-th(e)-as

**Poach** · May 04, 2009, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by Akrotatos

In Greek it's Le(t)-o(pen)-nee-th(e)-as

The man's a Greek, I'd take this one.

Lee-oh-ny-dus in English. I'd reckon it being a Greek name makes the Greek way correct though.

**SigniferOne** · May 04, 2009, 06:46 PM

It's Leh oh NEED us.

**Rapax** · May 04, 2009, 07:08 PM

Well in the non-english speaking world it's pretty much like SigOne said. Nice name btw. but so much pressure on the child.

**Stavroforos** · May 04, 2009, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by Rapax

Well in the non-english speaking world it's pretty much like SigOne said. Nice name btw. but so much pressure on the child.

Out of all the Leonides I know, I don't think any one of them live up to their namesake. Although one of them is gay, so that's getting there.

**CtrlAltDe1337** · May 04, 2009, 10:33 PM

Based on the Greek spelling of Λεωνίδας, it appears to me that its supposed to be pronounced something like Le(t)-o(mega)-nee-da(lpha)s

**neoptolemos** · May 05, 2009, 03:41 AM

Λεωνίδας
Doric name meaning Λεων-Ιδας =Lion-son =the son of the lion
Attic :Λεωνίδης
(the ending -ίδης is even today common in Greek surnames)

Ancient pronunciation:
Leoonethas
moden Greek
Leonethas

**cherrytree** · May 05, 2009, 05:20 AM

Thank you all so much! We're happy to know we're correct! And the "d" sound in the end of it is more like a "dth" if that makes sense, it's a soft d with a "th" after ... "Leh oh NEE dthus" ... I'm not really prounouncing the d hardly at all, it just makes it easier for me to say it that way. People always say his name wrong, so we're used to it.

I hope he lives up to his name in whatever way he sees fit! We only call him Leo (LEH oh) most of the time now ... he's such a little guy, he doesn't seem ready for a big name yet!