I get that question all the time. The Bohemian ( and illogical!) pronunciation in the book is Ann-toe-NEE-ya. My name is pronounced Ann-TOE-nee-ya, which is the one true pronunciation!
Thanks for all the positive reinforcement guys, but I'm not used to it and it feels weird!
Is it spelled phonetically at some point?
I'm not sure. I think the teacher made a point of explaining the proper pronounciation for a Czech (Bohemian?) girl of that time. Also I guess it's spelled with an accent: My Ántonia.
Book-Antonia is with an accent on the "i".
edit: or maybe I'm misremembering where the accent is. But there is one, I swears it!
I went to school with a girl named Bobette. Guess what her dad's name was. I dare ya.
My eldest aunt is Paulette. Same reason. (Grandpa named Bob.) (No, I kid. His name was Paul, although we called him Boomer.)
edit: or maybe I'm misremembering where the accent is. But there is one, I swears it!
I'm cutting and pasting from Wikipedia so I hope somebody's vetted the accent.
Vet the accents, dammit!
Paulette is one of the few "ette" names I like. Probably because I think of Paulette Goddard.
I had an Emmett for a college roommate
Fred, is this the same Emmett I knew who fell through an uncovered manhole? (No porn intended. There was an open manhole in the street and this guy in college named Emmett fell through it one night.)
I could have been named "Hulda" after one grandmother. I could have been named "Eda" (not bad, but rife with teasing potential for a fat kid like me) after the other grandmother. Dad's mom was quite unhappy that they didn't name me "Henrika" after her mother. Thankfully, my parents named me "Heather Rae," just before the great in-Heather-ation of the US girl children.