Comments (Pronunciation Only)

Hello! My name actually is Delphia, so was my grandmother's, and her grandmother's... there are many records of Delphia being a given name in southern US, especially in Georgia (which is where my grandmother was from). I pronounce it DEL-fee-yuh, but I know of a singer who pronounces it Del-FEE-uh. Regarding how it "correctly" should be pronounced: that is up to the bearer of the name, and up to them to correct people when it is not pronounced how the bearer says the name. I *hate* being called Del, Delly, Delphi, etc. As a child, I hated it because I was teased mercilessly over it, and I felt it unfair for my mother to have given me such a "weird" name; I actually went by a version of my middle name until 7th grade because of the teasing. As I got older, however, I learned to love and appreciate having such an unusual name with a great history. :)
Even if dell-fye-uh is the more correct pronunciation Dell-fee-uh is prettier.
Considering how the city of Delphi was / is pronounced in English as DEL-fie ("ie" being pronounced like "eye"), and not del-FEE, it's entirely reasonable to pronounce the name Delphia as del-FIE-uh.This wouldn't be without precedent. Even at the beginning of the 19th century in England, the names Maria and Sophia were pronounced muh-RIE-uh and soh-FIE-uh.

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