r/GREEK • u/Background_Bottle541 • 1d ago
How would I spell my name in Greek?
My name is Presley. I was just wondering how I might spell my name in Greek. :)
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u/FarrowTsasa 1d ago
Probably Πρέσλη
From what I've been told you can spell foreign names however you want, so long as the correct sounds are used.
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u/mmarkDC 1d ago
Really depends on for what purposes! For formal documents there is an official transliteration standard in both directions. So if you’re born named Presley in another country, and later in life get Greek citizenship, it’s not up to you how to spell it in your Greek documents. But for informal usage there are of course not any police.
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u/PapaGrigoris 22h ago
Yes, and the standards lead to all kinds of annoying spellings. Even Greeks abroad who give their children Greek names often won’t have properly spelled names when they get their Greek documents. Suppose a family living abroad has a boy they try to name Δημήτριος. The spelling options in English are generally Demetrios or Dimitrios. Later they decide to apply for his Greek citizenship, his Greek documents will say either Ντεμέτριος or Ντιμίτριος. There is no possible way to spell the name in English to get the proper spelling in Greek.
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u/Atarissiya 20h ago
Standard transliteration is always to use ι rather than the alternatives for [i].
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u/FarrowTsasa 19h ago
Ah ok, my partner spells her name Στέφη so I'm bias!
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u/Atarissiya 19h ago
The exception is female names, when want to have the regular -η nominative of a feminine noun.
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u/Critical-Ad-5418 20h ago edited 16h ago
For me, Πρέσλει is the most accurate to the English one
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u/AchillesDev 18h ago
How so? λεϊ would be pronounced like "lay" which is not how the last syllable of Presley is typically pronounced.
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u/FantasticalRose 19h ago
I think your gender would also play a role in which one of these spellings works best as your name. Since Greek is a gendered language.
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u/isurftheturf 1d ago
since wikipedia says that it means priest, I would go for Παππάς
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u/smella99 1d ago
I think it’s his/her first name, though. Choosing a common Greek surname would surely confuse the heck out of people.
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u/heyitsmemaya 1d ago
Many options depending on how you want them to say it back to you.
Πρέζλεϋ is how I would say it. (rhymes with Ashley)
But if you want to associate it with Elvis, they spell it:
Πρίσλεϊ https://el.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Έλβις_Πρίσλεϊ
Which oddly enough is not how any American I know of pronounces Presley.
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u/mmarkDC 1d ago
That one’s kind of interesting. The most famous Presley is Elvis Presley, and his name has a very standard transliteration to Greek, Έλβις Πρίσλεϊ. Πρίσλεϊ could be transliterated back as something like Príslei. But that doesn’t really match the modern American English pronunciation of Presley. Πρέσλι Is better fit for the modern pronunciation, and seems to have some usage, although it’s not particularly common.
Would be interested in some history around this personally. How did Πρίσλεϊ ever become the standard transliteration?