# pronunciation of 'Denise' and 'Dennis'



## jokaec

Are the pronunciation of 'Denise' (woman) and 'Dennis' (man) exactly same? Thank you!


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## entangledbank

No, Dennis is stressed on the first syllable, but Denise on the second, and 'nise' has a long vowel [ni:s]. And some Denises might end in [z], I'm not sure.


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## BLUEGLAZE

Denise rhymes with 'the lease'. Dennis rhymes with 'tennis'.


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## JulianStuart

BLUEGLAZE said:


> Denise rhymes with 'the lease'. Dennis rhymes with 'tennis'.


Denise can also rhyme with please.


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## Wordsmyth

JulianStuart said:


> Denise can also rhyme with please.


... and logically should, since it's originally a French name and has kept the French pronunciation of the "i". But there's no logic in names!

Ws


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## JulianStuart

Wordsmyth said:


> ... and logically should, since it's originally a French name and has kept the French pronunciation of the "i". But there's no logic in names!
> 
> Ws


Indeed, I would normally assume Denise is voiced, but I learnt that this is not true for everyone (well, at least Blueglaze).


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## RedwoodGrove

I have always heard "Denise" pronounced to rhyme with "the lease" (e.g. the _leess_) but I live in a different part of the world from where the name originated. "Dennis" always rhymes with "tennis".


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## BLUEGLAZE

The preference of pronunciation for the name Denise, whether the 's' is pronounced like a 'z' or an 's', remains with the name holder.


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## JulianStuart

BLUEGLAZE said:


> The preference of pronunciation for the name Denise, whether the 's' is pronounced like a 'z' or an 's', remains with the name holder.


Indeed - a principle I rigorously adhere to.  I just had never come across a Denise who didn't voice the s


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## Wordsmyth

BLUEGLAZE said:


> The preference of pronunciation for the name Denise, whether the 's' is pronounced like a 'z' or an 's', remains with the name holder.


Yes, absolutely! And that applies to any name. It's a principle that's particularly pertinent to anyone named Denise Featheringstonehaugh, Denise Cholmondeley or Denise Mainwaring (or to Dionne Warwick ... with two _"w"_s!)

Ws


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## RedwoodGrove

So some of you are saying that DenEEZ is a normal pronunciation where you live? I mean, I can spell my name Smith and tell you it's pronounced Jones.


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## JulianStuart

RedwoodGrove said:


> So some of you are saying that DenEEZ is a normal pronunciation where you live?


InDEED (For Denise - as opposed to DenEECE)
(Not particularly for where I live but for people I have met)


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## RedwoodGrove

JulianStuart said:


> InDEED (For Denise - as opposed to DenEECE)
> (Not particularly for where I live but for people I have met)



I'll take your word for it!


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## Wordsmyth

RedwoodGrove said:


> So some of you are saying that DenEEZ is a normal pronunciation where you live?


Yes, it is. And also, like JS, for people I've met elsewhere. I think I've probably heard the [s] pronunciation occasionally in the US.

I'm trying to think of another word ending in _-ise_ where the <s> isn't pronounced [z] (regardless of how the <i> is pronounced). I can't find any except AmE "vise" (but then we spell that "vice").

Ws


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## Myridon

Wordsmyth said:


> I'm trying to think of another word ending in _-ise_ where the <s> isn't pronounced [z] (regardless of how the <i> is pronounced).


anise, premise, promise, paradise, precise, treatise


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## Wordsmyth

Thanks, Myridon. I obviously didn't think hard enough.

It's interesting that the only one of those with the same 'i' sound as in Denise is "anise", which derives from the equivalent French word (that has no 'e', so the 's' is pronounced [s], and that pronunciation has been retained in English). Whereas Denise has the 'e' in the original French, and since the rest of it has retained the French pronunciation, one might expect a [z] sound.

But I'm not trying to make a case. Pronunciation often (in fact usually) changes when words cross language frontiers, and not necessarily consistently. And names are names, so they are what they are, which clearly isn't the same for everybody.

Ws


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## Miss Julie

In my experience, "Denise" is always pronounced with an 's' sound.


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## Glenfarclas

JulianStuart said:


> I just had never come across a Denise who didn't voice the s



I've never come across one who did.  Must be (gasp!) an AmE/BrE thing.  Not for nothing that the 1963 doo-wop hit Denise was American; after all, who could take the song seriously if it were "Deneez"?


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## JulianStuart

Miss Julie said:


> In my experience, "Denise" is always pronounced with an 's' sound.


Could this be a BE/AE thing, perhaps?
Cross-posted


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## Dale Texas

Miss Julie said:


> In my experience, "Denise" is always pronounced with an 's' sound.


 

In mine, too.


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## JamesM

Wordsmyth said:


> Yes, it is. And also, like JS, for people I've met elsewhere. I think I've probably heard the [s] pronunciation occasionally in the US.
> 
> I'm trying to think of another word ending in _-ise_ where the <s> isn't pronounced [z] (regardless of how the <i> is pronounced). I can't find any except AmE "vise" (but then we spell that "vice").
> 
> Ws



I'm trying to think of a word that ends in a stressed -ise where the vowel isn't pronounced [aI].


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## JulianStuart

JamesM said:


> I'm trying to think of a word that ends in a stressed -ise where the vowel isn't pronounced [aI].


I put some stress on the ise of expertise - rhymes with please and Denise


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## JamesM

Good one!


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## Wordsmyth

JamesM said:


> I'm trying to think of a word that ends in a stressed -ise where the vowel isn't pronounced [aI].


Well, there's Myridon's _anise_ ... but JS's _expertise_ is indeed a good one, because it has the [z].

Ws


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## RedwoodGrove

However, I pronounce it "expertEECE". Sorry. I do also say "anEECE".


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## JulianStuart

But not  - ICE  I've never heard expert-EECE but have never really paid much attention - I will from now on and report baclk if I remember


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## RedwoodGrove

Definitely not expert-ICE. I notice that Southerners say greaze instead of greace. I'll have to start paying closer attention as well.


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## RM1(SS)

RedwoodGrove said:


> So some of you are saying that DenEEZ is a normal pronunciation where you live?


I've certainly never heard it before.


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## natkretep

What a surprise! I'd always assumed that everyone said Denise with /z/. Howjsay certainly gives the /z/ version. This must be one of those names like Teresa where BrE speakers generally go for /z/ and AmE speakers for /s/.


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## RM1(SS)

I've never heard Teresa with a /z/, either.


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## Glenfarclas

You don't remember John Kerry's wife?


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## Barque

I associate Denise with a joke I read a long time ago, an American one.

A man who's out of town when his wife gives birth to twins returns a day or so later.

He enters the house and meets his father, who tells him the children had to be named within a few hours of birth and that as his wife had been recovering from the delivery, the man's brother had chosen the names.

The man: _But Dad, you know he's an idiot. What did he name them?_
The father: _He named the girl Denise._
The man (relieved): _Ok, that's a nice name. And the boy?_
The father: _Denephew.
_
I think that gives a clue to the pronunciation.


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## Wordsmyth

natkretep said:


> What a surprise! I'd always assumed that everyone said Denise with /z/. Howjsay certainly gives the /z/ version.



Interesting site, Nat. I'd never come across it before. Delightful RP accent (even for the American variants, where given: the stress is changed appropriately, but the vowels are still RP!).

And Denise, as you say, is given only with the [z], even though this thread seems to show that the [s] is pretty much the norm in AmE.

Ws


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## ewie

I've routinely heard _Denise_ pronounced both ways up my end.

Unlike _Denis_, which is always pronounced *duh-NEE*.  (Not really.)


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## JulianStuart

ewie said:


> I've routinely heard _Denise_ pronounced both ways up my end.
> 
> Unlike _Denis_, which is always pronounced *duh-NEE*.  (Not really.)


While we are on the topic, do AE speakers use a short i or a schwa for the i in Dennis (or tennis for that matter) - unstressed i often goes to a schwa in AE, but I don't think I've heard an AE speaker say Dennis and have not watched much tennis recently to recall how the commentators say the word.


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## JamesM

I think it drifts towards a schwa sound.   It's certainly not the same sound as the "i" in "this" or "miss".


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## JulianStuart

JamesM said:


> I think it drifts towards a schwa sound.   It's certainly not the same sound as the "i" in "this" or "miss".


Thanks - so "normal" AE trends, with some going all the way to a schwa and some stopping short (some hate the use of the term schwi)


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## RM1(SS)

RM1(SS) said:


> I've never heard Teresa with a /z/, either.





Glenfarclas said:


> You don't remember John Kerry's wife?


I probably did see her name at some point, but I would have assumed that it was pronounced with a /s/.


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## Glenfarclas

No, it's got a fancy-schmancy lah-di-dah pronunciation:  _Te-RAY-zah_.


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## Wordsmyth

ewie said:


> Unlike _Denis_, which is always pronounced *duh-NEE*. (Not really.)


It certainly was by Blondie.


Glenfarclas said:


> No, it's got a fancy-schmancy lah-di-dah pronunciation: _Te-RAY-zah_.


Not so fancy-schmancy lah-di-dah when you put it before her paternal maiden name: Simões-Ferreira. As she was born in Mozambique, of Portuguese parents, she'd probably have found any other pronunciation distinctly bizarre.

Ws


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## natkretep

Ahem. Sorry I started talking about Teresa. We have a separate thread for that:

Teresa - pronunciation

Let's keep this thread about Denis(e).


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## spilorrific

Y'all are waaaay too funny.
I'd say that "Denise" is originally a French name, the feminine form of "Denis."  "Denise" rhymes w/ "chemise" and has a "z" sound to it... and that may be why British speakers use the "z" sound while many AmE speakers of English pronounce this names "duh-neece." 

I have heard "expertise" as "experteece" and "experteez" but usually pronounce it as "experteece," which may be against some code for a French teacher.


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## natkretep

spilorrific said:


> I have heard "expertise" as "experteece" and "experteez" but usually pronounce it as "experteece," which may be against some code for a French teacher.


Oh? Our dictionaries give only the /z/ pronunciation - both AmE and BrE.


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## spilorrific

Dear moderator,
It's interesting. When I clicked on the little loudspeaker icon to hear "expertise" pronounced on the WR link you kindly provided, the voice pronounced it with a "s" sound... ex-per-teece (rhymes w/ "fleece"). I would think that a "/z/ pronunciation" would be one that rhymes w/ "Please."
This whole thread is too funny.


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## Wordsmyth

spilorrific said:


> I'd say that "Denise" is originally a French name, the feminine form of "Denis." "Denise" rhymes w/ "chemise" and has a "z" sound to it...


I'd say that, too. (In fact I already did, in posts #5 and #16.)

Ws


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## spilorrific

Wordsmyth said:


> I'd say that, too. (In fact I already did, in posts #5 and #16.)
> 
> Ws


So you did. I must have gotten lost in the loop of 40+ posts. Je regrette.


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## Moolric

Just to put a spanner in it, in Australian English I have only ever heard deneece and expeteez. Which shows you how we speak a hybrid here.


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## velisarius

Moolric said:


> Just to put a spanner in it, in Australian English I have only ever heard deneece and expeteez. Which shows you how we speak a hybrid here.


I'm not sure about those vowel sounds, but as far as the "ise" part is concerned, I think I speak the same hybrid as you do. 

There may well be changing fashions in how a name is pronounced. People name their kids after actors and singers, and the pronunciation may not be the traditional one. A lot of people use strange pronunciations of their name because they want to sound "different". 

"Denise" is not  a very common name - I don't think I've ever met more than one, so I pronounce it the way she did - it may not be typical. "The version with "_z_" sounds frenchified to me.


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## JulianStuart

velisarius said:


> "The version with "_z_" sounds frenchified to me.


Perhaps that closes the loop on the thread.  By "Frenchified" I suspect you might mean the same as "not yet Anglicized", rather than French->English->French?


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## velisarius

You're right, that was an incorrect use of "frenchified". I didn't mean "gallicised", just "French-sounding". _Desolee_.


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## You little ripper!

Moolric said:


> Just to put a spanner in it, in Australian English I have only ever heard deneece and expeteez. Which shows you how we speak a hybrid here.


That's interesting, Moolric. I've spent most of my life in both Sydney and Perth and I pronounce them _Der neece_ and _ex per teeze. _Ah, well, it's a big country!


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## london calling

RedwoodGrove said:


> So some of you are saying that DenEEZ is a normal pronunciation where you live? I mean, I can spell my name Smith and tell you it's pronounced Jones.


My best friend at school (Denise) pronounced it Deneez (we were both Londoners). I have heard the Denees pronunciation, however.


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## pickarooney

Denise with an S where I'm from. That Denephew joke is Irish, I think.


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## AmaryllisBunny

JamesM said:


> I'm trying to think of a word that ends in a stressed -ise where the vowel isn't pronounced [aI].



"bêtise" pronounced in AmE has a stressed -ise  according to M-W. The other accepted pronunciation is of course closer to the French's pronunciation.
Definition of BÊTISE
"cerise" is the same case where AmE accepts both a very American pronuncation or the closer French pronunciation.
Definition of CERISE
"valise" is another case.
Definition of VALISE

All seem to be of romance-language origin (mostly French).


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