Prince Louis: How to pronounce the royal baby name

Is the 's' silent?

Olivia Petter
Tuesday 01 May 2018 11:00 BST
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Everything you need to know about Prince Louis

After three days of waiting in anticipation, Kensington Palace has announced that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have named their new baby boy Prince Louis Arthur Charles.

With excitement amongst royal fans at an all-time high, queries surrounding pronunciation have emerged, with people debating whether Louis should be pronounced as loo-wee or loo-iss.

While the popular name can infer both pronunciations, Kensington Palace has confirmed that in the case of the new royal baby it is the former that is correct as the “s” is silent.

“The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles,” a statement released by the Palace reads.

"The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge."

However, debates have been circulating on Twitter as to what the correct pronunciation of the new Prince's name is.

“Aaaaaannnnddddddd cue the world forever getting confused over the pronunciation of ‘louis’ ... #RoyalBaby #RoyalBabyName,” wrote one person in response to the announcement.

“Pronunciation question. Is it #Louis of ‘Louis the fly’ fame or Louis as in Wally? Basically, Lou-ee or Lou-is? #royalbaby,” added another.

The general consensus seems to be that Americans sometimes pronounce "Louis" as "Lewis", whereas Brits are more inclined to use the loo-wee pronunciation given this is how the name has typically been pronounced for other royals named Louis, of which there have been many.

For my American friends Louis is pronounced Lew-ee not Lewis - silent s! #royalbabyname,” clarified CNN’s royal commentator, Victoria Arbiter.

“So predictable that Louis would cause pronunciation snafus,” added another Twitter user.

“Can you imagine Trump getting this right on his July UK visit?”

It's a valid question... watch this space.

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