Stupid question

[Djmac1031]

Stupid question: apostrophes & accents

I have a new female character I'm writing. Her name is Chloé.

I've been offered two variations on how to spell it: Chloe or Chloé.

The accent looks more proper, but is it more confusing?

Also, would I write-

"I could hear Chloés voice"

or "I could hear Chloé's voice."

The first one seems to be right to me, but I can't find a definitive answer for this.

The name is important or I'd just change it lol

 

[SimonDoom]

It's not a stupid question at all.

The answer is there is no right answer. It's a proper name, and some people use the accent in their name and some do not. You would not be wrong to do without the accent, especially if the character is American.

The American actress Chloe Sevigny uses an umlaut (two dots) over the "e." That's correct, too, but not exclusively so.

If it were me, I'd do without any accent or symbol, and just write it as "Chloe," because I'm lazy and I like to keep things simple when I can.

 

[Djmac1031]

It's not a stupid question at all.

The answer is there is no right answer. It's a proper name, and some people use the accent in their name and some do not. You would not be wrong to do without the accent, especially if the character is American.

The American actress Chloe Sevigny uses an umlaut (two dots) over the "e." That's correct, too, but not exclusively so.

If it were me, I'd do without any accent or symbol, and just write it as "Chloe," because I'm lazy and I like to keep things simple when I can.

I've already started using the accent.

My confusion is more whether it's "Chloés voice" or "Chloé's voice." Is there supposed to be an apostrophe in there?

 

[HectorBidon]

Chloe without the accent is common. With the accent is the way the name is spelled in French.

If you go with the accent, you still need the apostrophe to form the possessive.

 

[Djmac1031]

Chloe without the accent is common. With the accent is the way the name is spelled in French.

If you go with the accent, you still need the apostrophe to form the possessive.

Shit. I gotta do some editing then lol.

That always confuses me, frankly. Even with any name.

Thanks.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I've already started using the accent.

My confusion is more whether it's "Chloés voice" or "Chloé's voice." Is there supposed to be an apostrophe in there?

If probably should have the apostrophe. It gets confusing with a name like James. Is it "James' voice" or "James's voice?" I usually go with the latter.

Renee or Renée is another one. Accent marks, umlauts, and so forth are not found in English, so foreign names often loose those when rendered in that language.

 

[SimonDoom]

Shit. I gotta do some editing then lol.

That always confuses me, frankly. Even with any name.

Thanks.

I take it you are American because of the way you spell "color."

The American general rule is: Always use apostrophe + s after a singular noun. Always.

Pat's ring.

Charles's hat.

Chloe's adventure.

An accent doesn't change anything.

When the noun is plural, add just an apostrophe after the "s."

The elephants' graveyard.

The mistresses' home.

In any case, you always need an apostrophe to indicate the possessive.

 

[Djmac1031]

If probably should have the apostrophe. It gets confusing with a name like James. Is it "James' voice" or "James's voice?" I usually go with the latter.

Renee or Renée is another one. Accent marks, umlauts, and so forth are not found in English, so foreign names often loose those when rendered in that language.

Yeah the more I look, the more I see that the apostrophe is supposed to be there.

The rule appears to be before the S except with words that end in S.

"Cloe's voice" / "James' voice"

Although there's apparently some flexibility there and "James's voice" is also considered acceptable.

Writing is hard lol.

 

[Djmac1031]

I take it you are American because of the way you spell "color."

The American general rule is: Always use apostrophe + s after a singular noun. Always.

Pat's ring.

Charles's hat.

Chloe's adventure.

An accent doesn't change anything.

When the noun is plural, add just an apostrophe after the "s."

The elephants' graveyard.

The mistresses' home.

In any case, you always need an apostrophe to indicate the possessive.

Thank you.

Yeah the accent is what threw me. The combo of the accent with the apostrophe confused the hell out of me lol

 

[Bodington]

For my two cents, I believe it is incorrect to use the accent as the “e” in Chloe is not pronounced like an acute “e” at least in English. For example compare how the “e” is pronounced in the word fiancé.

 

[Djmac1031]

For my two cents, I believe it is incorrect to use the accent as the “e” in Chloe is not pronounced like an acute “e” at least in English. For example compare how the “e” is pronounced in the word fiancé.

Good point. I didn't think of that.

Sigh. It's okay. I've had to make several editing passes at this story already, why not one more lol.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

If probably should have the apostrophe. It gets confusing with a name like James. Is it "James' voice" or "James's voice?" I usually go with the latter.

Renee or Renée is another one. Accent marks, umlauts, and so forth are not found in English, so foreign names often loose those when rendered in that language.

It's "James' voice," or "James' cell phone." Of course people will say James's, speaking. The second is right in how people generally speak, used to adding an "s" in reference to speaking of a person by names property or attribute. Renee can be written either or, as well, and accent marks can indeed be found in the english language, such as a Cul-De-Sac, or one of my family members name; Lavonté.

 

[Bramblethorn]

For my two cents, I believe it is incorrect to use the accent as the “e” in Chloe is not pronounced like an acute “e” at least in English. For example compare how the “e” is pronounced in the word fiancé.

I'm more used to "Chloë", but "Chloé" is a recognised version at least in French:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloé_(given_name)

 

[MetaBob]

I have a new female character I'm writing. Her name is Chloé.

I've been offered two variations on how to spell it: Chloe or Chloé.

The accent looks more proper, but is it more confusing?

Also, would I write-

"I could hear Chloés voice"

or "I could hear Chloé's voice."

The first one seems to be right to me, but I can't find a definitive answer for this.

The name is important or I'd just change it lol

Leaving aside the issue with the apostrophe, which others have addressed, two questions remain. The answer to the first depends on how you want to pronounce it.

"Chloe" is usually pronounced Clo-ee, in my American experience
"Chloé" would be pronounced Clo-aay, from French

As for the second,
"Chlöe" is a bit redundant, as least from German, as the umlaut over the o means the "ö" is pronounced in a way I don't know how to represent in English, you kinda have to make an exaggerated kissing motion with your lips when you say it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr-mCMtISfA

"Ö" can also rendered as "Oe", meaning that "Chlöe" could be represented as "Chloee," which might not be what you're after.

You could also just do the lot with "Chlöé", even if it might be a bit precious. It's kind of fun to pronounce, though; I challenge anyone to watch themselves in a mirror and not end up smiling

 

[Djmac1031]

Leaving aside the issue with the apostrophe, which others have addressed, two questions remain. The answer to the first depends on how you want to pronounce it.

"Chloe" is usually pronounced Clo-ee, in my American experience
"Chloé" would be pronounced Clo-aay, from French

As for the second,
"Chlöe" is a bit redundant, as least from German, as the umlaut over the o means the "ö" is pronounced in a way I don't know how to represent in English, you kind have to make an exaggerated kissing motion with your lips when you say it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr-mCMtISfA

"Ö" can also rendered as "Oe", meaning that "Chlöe" could be represented as "Chloee," which might not what you're after.

You could also just do the lot with "Chlöé", even if it might be a bit precious. It's kind of fun to pronounce, though; I challenge anyone to watch themselves in a mirror when trying and not end up smiling

Yeah I think I'm gonna just stick to the American-ized "Chloe."

I picked the name because it's meaning fits in with the plot, although most readers won't pick up on that unless they actually Google it anyway lol.

I considered making her French just to use the sexy accent but I'd be fucking horrible at trying to write how a French woman speaks lol.

 

[Agiel]

I picked the name because it's meaning fits in with the plot, although most readers won't pick up on that unless they actually Google it anyway lol.

She’s a farmer in the mid-west who likes to make love in a cornfield at harvest time because that’s when she’s most likely to become pregnant? I look forward to reading it.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

Yeah I think I'm gonna just stick to the American-ized "Chloe."

I picked the name because it's meaning fits in with the plot, although most readers won't pick up on that unless they actually Google it anyway lol.

I considered making her French just to use the sexy accent but I'd be fucking horrible at trying to write how a French woman speaks lol.

with accents...

perhaps, if you ever do use a character with an accent, establish the fact by another means. in the narrative or perhaps a character could comment in dialogue.

it's a bastard trying to make dialogue match the accent phonetically. Plus it might lead to confusion for the reader. some realism can come in via the speech pattern of the character: typical traits by a French-speaker into English where their grammar isn't perfect for example.

all part of the fun!

 

[jaF0]

I gotta do some editing then

I've had to make several editing passes at this story already, why not one more

For mass edits, most programs have a find and replace function.

Find 'Abc' and replace with 'Abe' usually catches them all in one pass.

 

[Handley_Page]

It's not a stupid question at all.

The answer is there is no right answer. It's a proper name, and some people use the accent in their name and some do not. You would not be wrong to do without the accent, especially if the character is American.

The American actress Chloe Sevigny uses an umlaut (two dots) over the "e." That's correct, too, but not exclusively so.

If it were me, I'd do without any accent or symbol, and just write it as "Chloe," because I'm lazy and I like to keep things simple when I can.

I quite agree.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

For my two cents, I believe it is incorrect to use the accent as the “e” in Chloe is not pronounced like an acute “e” at least in English. For example compare how the “e” is pronounced in the word fiancé.

But Fiancé is a French word with no equivalent English version and means the man of the two to be betrothed. Where Fiancée is the woman.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yeah I think I'm gonna just stick to the American-ized "Chloe."

I picked the name because it's meaning fits in with the plot, although most readers won't pick up on that unless they actually Google it anyway lol.

I considered making her French just to use the sexy accent but I'd be fucking horrible at trying to write how a French woman speaks lol.

If she's a French woman speaking English, and she's reasonably fluent, don't even try to render her accent. Just have her dialogue in English as you would anyone else. Your readers will get that she likely will have an accent.

If it fits, you could have another character comment, either to her directly or to someone else, that he likes her accent. That would depend on the plot and the relationship between that character and the woman. If he's her lover, for example, it's possible that he could compliment how she sounds without being rude about it.

 

[Djmac1031]

If she's a French woman speaking English, and she's reasonably fluent, don't even try to render her accent. Just have her dialogue in English as you would anyone else. Your readers will get that she likely will have an accent.

If it fits, you could have another character comment, either to her directly or to someone else, that he likes her accent. That would depend on the plot and the relationship between that character and the woman. If he's her lover, for example, it's possible that he could compliment how she sounds without being rude about it.

Oh for sure. I've read some stories where people have attempted to write accents and they're almost always cringe worthy.

After reading feedback here, I decided to keep it simple, go with the basic "Chloe" spelling so the accented é doesn't confuse readers on how it's pronounced, and keep her an American since my male character is as well. Making her French would do nothing to change the story anyway.

Really it's just about me trying to be clever connecting a name to a plot point. Probably not as clever as I think I am lol.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

The two dots on Chloë aren't an umlaut (which adds an e to the vowel), they're a diaresis which makes a separate syllable (so you know it doesn't rhyme with shoe or sloe).

In England I've known a number of Chloës and Zoës who sometimes include the dots,but never met a Chloé. Probably easiest to leave off the accent in case of formatting problems.

 

[Athalia]

It's "James' voice," or "James' cell phone." Of course people will say James's, speaking.

I beg to differ. In American usage, it's more common now to write "James's voice." It's not universal, despite Professor Strunk's evangelizing, but it is more logical to spell things as they are spoken.

Just about the only exceptions (and these are becoming rarer) are when referring to such classical figures as Socrates, Jesus, or Moses. For some reason, the final S's omission is still considered standard usage. But I expect that this exception will go away after a few more years.

 

[TadOverdon]

I beg to differ. In American usage, it's more common now to write "James's voice." It's not universal, despite Professor Strunk's evangelizing, but it is more logical to spell things as they are spoken.

Just about the only exceptions (and these are becoming rarer) are when referring to such classical figures as Socrates, Jesus, or Moses. For some reason, the final S's omission is still considered standard usage. But I expect that this exception will go away after a few more years.

The single universal spelling rule in American English is that there are no universal spelling rules in American English.