Comments for the name Danaë

Alternate spelling: Denae.

Do you remember Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush from "Little House on the Praire" (the twins played Carrie)? Their full names are Rachel Lindsay Rene and Sidney Robin Danae. They went by Rachel and Robin (later changed to Robyn). Rachel ("Lindsay") now has a daughter named Katlynn Danae (born in 1995).

Kelsey Lewis´s (child actress, Pink video clip "Family Portrait") full name is Kelsey Danae Lewis.

Danae was the daughter of Eurydice and Acrisius and was imprisoned by her father in a bronze chamber.

Danae was locked up underground by her father Acrisius, king of Argos, because the oracle at Delphi predicted that he would be killed by his grandson. Danae became pregnant by Zeus (or by Acrisius' twin Proteus?) and gave birth to Perseus. Acrisius put Danae and her baby in a chest and cast them out to sea where they drifted to the island of Serifos. Years later, at some games, the wind blew a discus out of Perseus' hands and it hit Acrisius on the head killing him. The prophecy came true although it was an accident!

Here in Greece Danae celebrates her nameday on the Sunday of the holy forefathers which was yesterday - 11 December, 2005. My daughter, Danae, had a little party yesterday and has gone off to school today with sweets for her classmates!

The name is pronounced DAH-nai-ay according to my Latin teacher who has her doctorate in the Classics. She becomes irate when she hears it pronounced any other way.

According to my Latin teacher (who, honestly, is probably a great deal less reliable than yodelleaheywho's), this name is pronounced DAWN-a-ee with the accent mark. Without the accent mark, it should be (at least in Classical pronunciation) DAWN-ie or DAN-ie.

The name of the precocious little girl from the comic strip "Non Sequitur".

The pronunciation of the name is actually just DAH-nai. I would know, it is my name after all. in Greek, it is something like THA-nai.

There is a famous Portuguese actress called Danae Magalhães.

I think this is one of the most beautiful names there is. I just love it! If I ever have a daughter, I will name her Danae. I think both the name and the nickname Naná are so cute!

I love this name! It sounds very graceful and glamorous to me. And it's not so common, at least I haven't met anyone named Danaë.

I have heard that this name rhymes with Renee.

I have heard DAN-ay-ee (by the BtN pronunciation guide).

I pronounce "Danae" the way the Merriam-Webster dictionary folks say to do it: DAN-uh-ee. Someone earlier mentioned on this board that it should be pronounced DAN-ee or dan-EE, since it's a classical name; however, I think the poster was referring to Latin and not to Greek. The Latin pronunciation would indeed be DAN-ee or dan-EE (and not to put too fine a point on it, the second syllable is clasically pronounced among Latin scholars as a long "I" as in "island", but nobody ever pronounces it that way in general modern usage -- but if people did, it would be DAN-eye or dan-EYE). All this Latin discussion is, however, irrelevant, since "Danae" is a Greek name and not subject to the same rules. Furthermore, take a look at the name. I'm not able to insert a diaeresis (those little double dots above a given vowel) with this keyboard, but the webmaster of this site was able to. You'll notice at the top of the page a diaeresis above the "e" of "Danae," which means it's supposed to be pronounced as its own vowel and not as part of a diphthong, or to be ignored as a silent letter. Perhaps the most famous example of a diaeresis is that of the literary sisters, the Brontes. (Again, I'm unable to add that special marking above the "e".) In conclusion, that is why Merriam-Webster correctly states the pronunciation as DAN-uh-ee, since the "e" with its diaeresis means it is neither silent nor part of a diphthong. I hope this settles the matter, but since the people who visit this site like a good spirited discussion, I doubt it will! :-)

Danaé´s pet forms are Dana, Danka, Danaika, Danila. Pronounced as "Dah-nah-aa".

This is my middle name but my name is spelled a lot cooler! D'Nae.

Danaé is a beautiful name. :-))
Pronounced as "DAH-na-ai".

This is a very pretty name, but the moron James Dobson has ruined the name by choosing it for his daughter.

In Greece Danae pronounced da-NAE (d- is like th- in that).

Nice name, I've always liked it. I had a friend who spelled it with an E instead though. Denae. And she pronounced it DEH-nay.

The Classical Greek pronunciation is 'DAN-ay-ee' and the Modern Greek is 'dah-NAH-ee'.
I like both but I lean towards the Modern Greek, personally.

This name is just weird in all the ways of pronouncing it.

I first came across this name when I saw the painting "Danaë" by Gustav Klimt, and I loved it right away. The only problem is there are so many ways of pronouncing Danaë, I'm not sure which one I'd use. From that spelling, I get da-NA-ee, which I think sounds very graceful and pretty. And I really like Dana as a nickname for Danaë.

Well, this looks to be the Latinized version of Danaoi, which may either have been DAHN-ee or DAHN-ah-ee. However, in Latin "ae" was pronounced like "eye," although there is an accent above the "e." My best guess as to the pronunciation is DAH-nie-ay.

I love the name Danae. It is very pretty. But I hate how people change lovely names into utter trash: D'Nae. That's just wrong. It's like me (Sierra) being named C'Erra. Eww. Let pretty names stay pretty.

On British (BBC) television there's a major quiz show called "Mastermind" - one of this evening's questions concerned the mythological Danae - the question master pronounced it Dan-eye (and the contestant knew exactly who he meant, giving the correct answer about her). The BBC prides itself on pronouncing names correctly, so I presume the question master got it right.
It's a lovely name.