The Mispronunciation of Angeline

My Middle name is Angeline.

It's been handed down by generations.  I'm the fifth.  It's a tradition that the eldest daughter in this maternal line is given the middle name Angeline.

And we pronounce it AngeLINE, as in eye, time, line, fine, etc.  In the same way you end Madeline, Caroline, Adaline, etc.

It's such a special name to me that I got my middle name on my class ring instead of my first.

And I collect items, particularly antiques and collectibles, that bear the name Angeline.  I don't have that many, but some special pieces, like this antique book: Angeline of the Hill Country, printed in 1925.

And this old bottle of Dr. J Kauffman's Angeline internal rheumatism cure, from Hamilton Ohio.  In the bottle are shells I collected while visiting Moonstone Beach, Cambria, back when I was growing up.

I was excited when I bought the new Lifehouse album "Out of the Wasteland."  I got the CD at Target with 4 bonus tracks.  Tract #15 is titled ANGELINE.  When I got home and noticed the name of this tract I was hoping the pronunciation matched that of how my family pronounces the name.

typically the line in Angeline seems to be pronounced as lean, not line.

In both my High School and College graduation the speaker announced me as Sarah AngeLEAN Stufflebeam, which rhymes -_-;;, instead of Sarah AngeLINE.  It's happened on a few occasions.

So a couple nights ago I'm listening to the song and start think they might go with my pronunciation, because the words Time and Mine are found in the chorus.  My mind sings AngeLINE at the end of the verse.  But it wasn't until I got the lyric book and saw that Angeline was being rhymed by Everything.

So close!!

The website Behind the Name says Angeline is of French origin and pronounced "awn-zhə-LEEN" with no other pronunciation offerings.

So maybe we have been saying it wrong this whole time.  As in for the last 142 years.

But regardless, I like the tradition my family has.  And our pronunciation is beautiful.  It feels like a name lost in time.  Angeline.

My second great-grandmother, (Wilma) Angeline Dee, born March 27, 1873 in Poweshiek County, Iowa.  The first in my family to bear the name.

And her Mother, my third great-grandma:

Emeline Scott, born December 23, 1838 in Saint-John, New Brunswick, Canada.  I have to think she said her name EmeLINE.  Maybe that's how the tradition got started?  She transferred how she ends her name to that of Angeline?

When I was working on my genealogy I was hoping to find a pattern of Angeline going further back, but my line dead-ends with Emeline's father Thomas Scott (1813 in New Brunswick) who married Anna Floyd (October 28, 1814 in Nova Scotia, Canada).  My line with Anna Floyd dead-ends with her.  I don't know if the lines go back directly to the British Isles, or detours back into America.  (It was common for Loyalists of the British Empire during the American Revolution to flee into Canada, particularly New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  Since my line dead-ends in the early 1800's I just don't know, but there's that possibility now.  Goodness, I don't want loyalist blood!!!!!  Ancestors, I forgive you if that's the case.  But dang!!  Thankfully I have a few ancestors who fought on the American side of the Revolution.  And all the ancestors I've found who fought in the Civil War were on the Union side.)  Heh, sorry for this last tangent.  I'm quite passionate over this topic.

With that all said.  I love my name.  And if I'm fortunate enough to get married and have a daughter I hope to name her Sophia Angeline.

(As a note, Emeline spells her name the French way, and not the English way, Emmeline.  I've hoped for the longest time that I have French ancestry.  I wonder if this is a clue that I might.  Emeline and Angeline both being French spellings.)  

(Second note: I'm totally obsessing over the new Lifehouse album Out of the Wasteland.  It's fantastic.)

(Third note: Not to worry all of you, but I'm dead.  I found my gravestone.)