How would you pronounce "Joachim"?

[trof]

It's the name of a major thoroughfare in Mobile.

A local TV newsperson just said "JO-a-kim".
I guess that's how Mobilians say it?

I thought it should be 'wah-KEEM".
An online search says 'zwah-KIM'.

OK linguists.
What's your opinion?

[uppityperson]

1. wah-keem is how I would.

I had a classmate long ago introduced as John Joe-AH-kim. Years later it struck me his name was Juan Joachim and it made me feel really bad at how his name was butchered.

wah-KEEM is what I'd say.

[Blue Owl]

2. Yo Aw Kim

n/t

[trackfan]

10. +1 n/t

[Still In Wisconsin]

3. Wah-keem.

[Still In Wisconsin]

4. Although my in-laws, I'm sure, would say "Joe-ah-chimm"

[Art_from_Ark]

5. Here's a YouTube guide to pronouncing "Joachim"

[Enrique]

6. do you have to say it 3 times?

[pinboy3niner]

7. I'm not sure that's such a good idea

We know what happens when you have to say a name three times.

[Enrique]

8. ha good point

youtube guy look out!

[DFW]

9. I offer no opinion, just fact

It's a German name, a common one in fact, and I live in Germany, even if I happen to be some 8000 miles from there just now.

The closest English transliteration would be "yo-AH-khim."

How they would pronounce it in Mobile is anyone's guess. "RAY-gun," maybe? It seems to be the Republicans' solution to every other problem they can't solve (and that's all of them).

[treestar]

13. lol!

[ailsagirl]

16. Ray-gun

LOL

[Xipe Totec]

19. It's the name of one of the pillars at the entrance to the Temple of Solomon

Boaz and Jachin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boaz_and_Jachin

Hardly an originally German name.

[First Speaker]

11. Throat Warbler Mangrove

[treestar]

14. lol

[malthaussen]

12. Well, In Arcanum it's pronounced "Wah-keem."

If pronounced in more-or-less standard German, it would be "Yoh-a-kim," as in the YT bit upthread. I've always had a simple rule about pronouncing names: ask the person whose name it is how they prefer it. That is, after all, all that matters.

It can get complicated. I've known personally two women named Deirdre, one of whom hated it when it was pronounced "Dee-dra," and one of whom preferred it that way. Certainly if I were a Deirdre, I'd prefer it pronounced "Dear-dra."

Since, however, it is a street name, you ought to adopt whatever the locals use. After all, "L'enfant Street" in London was called "Elephant Street." When dealing with geography, you need to be wary that if you pronounce something correctly, the locals may not know what you're talking about.

-- Mal

[lunatica]

15. I would pronounce it with the Mexican "J" sound

The "J" in Spanish is pronounced like an "H" in English. The "H" in Spanish is silent.

Hwa-Kim.

[underahedgerow]

25. That's the correct pronunciation. Breathy Hwah keem. Short keem, not drawn out.

I heard someone say Ho Kwim once, for Joaquim Phoenix.

Murrikins aren't so good with them there non anglo names, now are they?

Of course Europe is on fire with the correct pronunciation of Quinoa. No one can agree on that one anywhere.

[magical thyme]

28. that's how I pronounce the 1st syllable too. The "chim" is more of a "keem"

the way I learned it. Kind of half way between "kim" and "keem."

[Xyzse]

17. Howa-kim

I think.

[clarice]

18. Just say Joe. nt

[mackerel]

20. Growing up mostly in the San Joaquin Valley

I would pronounce it Whakeen.

[pinboy3niner]

24. Gag me with a spoon!

Oh wait...wrong valley.

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley well before the Valley Girl thing but I still joke that I'm a 'Valley Boy.'

The funny thing in CA is that we are so careful to use the correct Spanish pronunciation of place names in many cases, while in other cases we butcher them. Like Playa del Rey with a long A and Tijuana pronounced like a Mexican aunt.

California is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

[kwassa]

21. Detroit area has streets pronounced this way ...

the major thoroughfare Gratiot Ave is pronounced Grass Shit Ave.

Lahser Road is Lasher Road.

towns in Ohio: my grandfather grew up in mar-SALES, Ohio, (Marseilles)

Milan, Ohio is pronounced MY-lan,

Lima, Ohio is pronounced like the beans, not the capital of Peru.

[redwitch]

34. In the northeast we have some good ones too:

Calais, ME pronounced callous

Berlin, NY is BER-lin.

[CTyankee]

37. WE have a BER-lin in CT too...

[Cal Carpenter]

36. Never thought of Gratiot that way

but you are right, and now it is all I will ever hear. Thanks a lot

Also the Lima / Lime-a thing - I got laughed outta my Ohio dorm room freshman year when I asked a kid about his hometown of Leee-ma.

[Tom Kitten]

22. a youtube primer

[pinboy3niner]

23. "Dude"

It tends to be better received than "Joe-ay-chime."

[PoliticAverse]

26. How do you pronounce Houston?

Texans tell me it's you-ston, but us native New Yorkers have a street named Houston in Manhattan that
we call how-ston.

[pinboy3niner]

27. Named after different people with different pronunciations of the name

In the case of the Manhattan street, the name it honors appears to be misspelled.

The street's name is pronounced "HOW-stən", unlike that of the city of Houston in Texas, which is pronounced "HYOO-stən". This is because the street was named for William Houstoun, whereas the city was named for Sam Houston.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Street

.... Houston Street, originally part of his father-in-law's estate in the New York City borough of Manhattan was named for Houstoun,[4] using an alternate spelling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Houstoun_(lawyer)#Later_life

[CTyankee]

38. I lived for a few years on Houston street in the Village in NYC.

Loved it.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

29. Yuck'-eem

(opinion)

[mainer]

30. It's regional. When in Rome, you know. Here in Maine...

The town of "Calais" is pronounced "Callous."
Mt. Desert is pronounced "Dessert"

[CTyankee]

39. Don't the British pronounce the French city "Callous"?

Brits fracture French all the time...

[dr.strangelove]

31. We have a Joachim in the office

He told me his name was Yo-ah-Kim and I have pronounced it this way since I was introduced to him.

[eppur_se_muova]

32. Yokum.

Not really, but that's where the name Yokum comes from.



Joachim is a contraction and Germanized spelling of the Hebrew "Jehoiakim".

[MosheFeingold]

33. Easy

I'd pronounce it:

יְהוֹיָקִי

[pinboy3niner]

35. Thankyou. Always nice to hear from the Klingons.

[Special Prosciuto]

40. Joachim up before you go-go / Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo

WHAM!, 1984