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How did you pronounce Hermione before Harry Potter (more)?
Do you remember? I think up until the movies no one really knew how but I am too young to remember.Do you like her-MY-o-nee (which is how it is pronounced in the books/movies)?I was wondering about this because I listened to an older Harry Potter audiobook and the speaker said HER-mee-o-nee. At first it bothered me. Then I actually started to like it and now I am wondering if I like it better...HER-mee-o-nee just seems easier and more fun to say and rolls off the tongue better.I also think that in Greek it would be her-mee-o-nee (and not MY) but I don't know where the emphasis would be, does anyone know?What do you think of Hermione?Please rate my list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/6232

This message was edited 9/17/2021, 6:38 AM

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I think I said “her-moyn”. I actually remember when I was in 4th grade, we had a substitute teacher who asked us how we pronounced her name because every classroom she’s been in they have been saying something different.
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Our teacher used to read Harry Potter aloud to us when it first came out, and she said it Hermy-own :) That's how I thought it was pronounced, until she spelled out the pronunciation for Viktor Krum in the fourth book.Um I think I prefer the Correct pronunciation? I think it's a cool name, I like its antique adventurous androgynous quality.
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Well, in my case, I pronounced it differently. I used to pronounce it Her - mee - ohn, until I realized that it was not so. Also, in my ignorance I thought completely convinced that in English the name was said like that (I am Spanish) so when I found out what the correct pronunciation I felt quite ashamed hahaha.But I must admit that I like the pronunciation of Her-mee-ohn better than that of Her-my-oh-nee. Sorry. Maybe it's out of habit but I feel like Her-my-oh-nee sounds unnecessarily long. Her-mee-ohn doesn't sound so bad, does it?
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As it was pronounced in a live production of A Winter's Tale at an outdoor theatre in a park when I was a schoolgirl. Same as Miss Granger, though it was pre-Potter! I like it on a fictional character, but it's too posh to use IRL.Fast forward to a book club meeting shortly after the first Harry Potter book came out, or perhaps the second. Someone was reading it to her children, and told us about it. Unfortunately she pronounced the leading female character 'Her Moyn' with equal stress on both syllables. I was the only other person who knew the story and the character, so I did what I had to, and she said that of course she'd have to explain to the boys why the name had changed!
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I'd never heard it said before HP, but I wasn't really a fan before the 3rd movie came out, which is when I first read the books. I was like 12 or 13 when the first one came out and I remember reading about it and reading her name HER-mee-own and thinking 'how ugly!'. I much prefer her-MY-o-nee, it's much prettier!
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hər-MYOH-neh. I like her-my-o-nee. It makes me think of Helen's daughter in Greek mythology.
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Ooh I like that!
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I am slightly embarrassed to admit that for the first two books, I misread her name as Hermoine, so I'd been saying hir-MOYN and thinking, "Wow, that is one weird name!"Then I realized the I came before the O, and said HIR-mee-ohn until the movies came out. Still thought it was a weird name.Hermione has never really been used in the United States, even after the popularity of the Harry Potter series. It's very, very British. And even there, I get the impression it has a slightly old fashioned "posh" aspect to it.
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As I recall, it wasn't even mentioned in the books how to pronounce her name till the Goblet of Fire, when Hermione had to explain to one of the foreign visitors how to say it. For that matter, I don't know that it was entirely clear by the phonetics whether the mi was pronounced mee or my.
I know I pronounced it HER-mee-ohn. I don't like the name at all, any pronunciation. Definitely not Her-mee-OH-nee, which sounds like some weird kind of pasta.
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Just for reference, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the book) came out when I was 3. I didn't see the movies until the third one was already out (2004) when I was 10. I had pronounced it "her-money" but this is the pronunciation of a child somewhere under ten and above three so take that for what you will lmao
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