Tuesday, August 09, 2005

How do you pronounce the name Dagny?

I'm trying to decide on a name for my daughter (any day now), and I'm reading Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand named her protagonist Dagny. Dagny means, "day, brightness, new day, Dane's joy." I love the character and I appreciate the name's uniqueness. Any idea how to pronounce it?

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

i'd pronounce it similar to daphne, but with a hard g instead of the ph sound.

4:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In danish it would be something like "downy", in norwegian something like "dogny".

1:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hehe, I'm actually called Dagny (i'm norwegian), and the way I pronounce it is: dogni, but with a bit of an a sound to the o. It all depends on the dialect, so some of my friends say dangny. Hope you name your girl that, it's a special name. I got it after my great grand mother (I'm 18 years old now...).

5:15 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My husband and I read "Atlas Shrugged" while we were dating so we named our daughter Dagny 10 years ago. She is definitely living up to her name! We pronounce it with a short "a", as in "dagger", and the "ny" we pronounce "knee" like the joint on your leg! She learned to spell her name out loud for people before she was four, since they could never figure out what she was saying, so be prepared!

10:33 AM  
Blogger MattKarp said...

My wife and I just had our daughter on 03/04/2008 and her name is Dagny, after Dagny Taggart. While not the strict Scandinavian pronunciation (as noted above), I think most Americans would find themselves pronouncing it "DAG-knee". That is how I pronounced Dagny's name in my head as I read the book and how I pronounce my daughter's name. Hope that helps.

3:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In an audio version of "Atlas Shrugged" narrator Kate Reading pronounces it "Dag" (as in dagger) "knee".

9:57 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Just to be out of the box. Call her Dany but spell is DAGNY. Make the G silent

7:36 PM  
Blogger whetstone said...

I have a friend with this name. The way she pronounces it, I thought it would be French and spelled "Danier"... it sounds almost like "dawn yay."

1:37 PM  

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