# Kaylee and Camden from English to Greek



## BrendaP

I need help writing my grandchildren's names in 
greek, phonetically. Kaylee = Καίλη? The relatives in Greece call her Kelly or Kylie and really struggle to say KAYlee. I seem to recall hearing long ago that two little dots above the iota would produce the AY sound? And Camden...Κάμδεν is close, but there's no th sound in his name. Κάμντεν? It feels strange to have a μντ combination to make md. Any help would really be appreciated.


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## Acestor

*Κέιλι* and *Κάμντεν*.

Lots of Google hits for both names because, of course, you have Kaley Cuoco and Camden Town that are transcribed into Greek.


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## uress

You have to decide wether you want "unstrange" combinations or a "correct" pronounciation. Just a different vowel and consonant system. (There is no _a _sound as such in Greek. Greeks usually say instead η or ε.)
Camden is total easy as you can see, _d _is just ντ. 
But _ay _is actually easy, too: if the _a _is stressed no need of the points, you need them only if the _y_ is stressed (which I think never happens in English) or none of them: e.g.: αυλή, άυλη, *αϋλή, *αΰλη.


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## BrendaP

Κέιλι and Κάμντεν it is. Thanks so much to both of you for the quick response. I can get this Christmas letter into the mail!


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## Timothy1987

I don't see why people have an issue with using δ for d, they do it in English. Κάμδεν looks far more attractive as well, wouldn't you agree?


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## BrendaP

I agree, it "looks" better but, because it didn't "feel" right, I had to ask. My sister-in-law's name is Διαμάντο. Here in Canada, they pronounce it Diamado...even shortening it to Dee.  But the relatives in Greece, who speak no English, pronounce it THiamado. We would not want them to call our boy KamTHen.


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## ireney

I don't see how it looks better myself. After we got over our habit of turning Descartes into Καρτέσιος and Beethoven into Βετχόβεν, we decided that the Greek transcription of names that have not already been established in Greek should be done in such a way as to portray as accurately as possible within the confines of the Greek writing system and pronunciation, the pronunciation of the original.
Names like "Sean" are still a bit of a headscratcher but in the case of Camden and since the sound of "ντ" _is_ part of the Greek language, there's no issue whatsoever.


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## BrendaP

Thanks, Ireney!


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## Timothy1987

I'm just saying that ντ is quite unaesthetic in comparison to δ, and also presents translation and pronunciation issues that δ easily rectifies.
If you have -ντ in a word, is it -nt, -nd, or -d? Aside from the looks, d -> δ solves the issue every time, is consistent with other languages, and I don't see why the slight difference in sound should be cause for hysteria.


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## uress

But, THINodi1987! I think your name is more aesthetic this way, would you like it? Yes, it would sound totally different but never mind, it' not unaesthitic anymore  
Well, I really don't understand what's your problem with a PROPER transcription. ? It's not a question of aethetic I think, d=ντ and th(e)=δ and his name is still not Camthen...


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## Timothy1987

Hi,

You keep writing th as equal to δ, but th has two sounds, not simply that of δ. So your example of using my name unfortunately doesn't hold water. And as BrendaP and I mentioned, we both think it looks better using the traditional δ for d.


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## BrendaP

What I said was it "looks" better but it doesn't "feel" right. I would never advocate changing the language for the sake of aesthetics. And I think this topic has been beaten to death.


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## Timothy1987

It has and I didn't mean for it to erupt into what it has. As an aside, I'd like to point out that -ντ should only represent -d at the beginning of a word, and -nd in the middle.


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## uress

Timothy1987 said:


> -ντ should only represent -d at the beginning of a word, and -nd in the middle



And then it wouldn't be correct again...


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