Reply to Xavier as a first name

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wait so it’s a butchered Javier? Or is it legit spelling. I don’t understand [/quote]

The original name is a place name in the Basque region of Spain, a town spelled Xabier in Basque and Javier in Spanish. In Basque, the pronunciation is "sha-byehr". In Spanish, it's "ha-byehr". It means "new house." The name came to prominence via one of the 16th century founders of the Jesuits, Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta, who was born in Xabier. He was later canonized and referred to as San Francisco de Xabier (or de Javier). In English, that translated to Saint Francis of Xavier, pronounced "ZAY-vee-er" or "ZAY-vyer". Note that in English, some people say "eg-ZAY-vyer" but that's incorrect.

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Typically the X in Xavier would be silent (as in xylophone), but language changes over time and a name can develop more than one pronunciation. Ex-zay-vee-er is just another pronunciation that has popped up in the United States. In France/French, they say zah-vee-ay. In other places, they say sha-vee-air or sha-vee-ay. I've also heard zah-veer in the United States. Are all of those pronunciations also incorrect?

I see it as more of an anne-dree-ah, on-dray-ah, anne-dray-ah, on-dree-ah situation that we see with the name Andrea. Pick which pronunciation works best for you and your family.[/quote]

But there's been no change in the way the letter X is pronounced in English when it is the first letter in a word. The names Xenia and Xerxes, the musical instrument the xylophone are all pronounced in English as if they start with the letter Z. As is Xavier. Eg-zavier is a mispronunciation, just like eg-zylephone would be. Sure, you can call your kid that if you want to, just like you could name your son Philip and call him "Pillup" because you think a name that starts with a P should sound like a P. It would still be a mispronunciation.[/quote]

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