How do you pronounce "Xavier?"?

I've always heard it as "Zavier". There's a school nearby mine and it's pronounced "Zavier". But I recently watched X-Men First Class and everyone there seems to pronounce Charles' name as "X-avier"...

Comments

  • Ex aye vee er

  • In Spanish, it's Hah- vee- AIR. (It's a Spanish, or more properly Basque, name.)

    The "X" is pronounced like a slightly palatized "H."

    The same name can be spelled "Javier," with the same pronunciation.

    But English speakers often pronounce it "Eks- ZAY- vee- err" or "ZAY- vee- err."

    When Javier Perez de Cuellar was Secretary General of the the United Nations, PBS newscaster Robert McNeil always pronounced the Secretary General's first name as "Yah- vee- AY." I've never heard anyone else pronounce it that way, though, and I don't know where Mr. McNeil got that pronunciation. McNeil grew up in Canada, so maybe Canadians pronounce the name that way.

  • my friend has a son called xavier, she pronounces it Zavier too, it varies on how you pronounce it

  • Ex zave yur

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