ศาลาชุมนุม

[Jeep]

On my recent trip to Thailand, I met a girl who said her name was Nui. I wish she had of written it in Thai instead of English so I would know the correct pronunciation. How is this name pronounced? Is it "New-ee" or "Nwee"? What does the name mean in Thai? How is it spelled in Thai. Thanks for the help.

[Richard Wordingham]

After a quick look on the Internet, I would say the name was either นุ้ย /nuy H/ 'chubby' or หนุ่ย /nuy L/ 'swelling'. The first is appropriate for a healthy baby; the second sounds like a name bestowed on mummy's bump. They seem to be equally common. At least, this is my inexpert opinion.

As to 'new-ee' (presumably = 'noo-ee') or 'nwee', I think the answer is 'yes'! I've known a couple of Thais whose names sounded like 'noo-ee' (and a dog called ปุ๋ย 'bpoo-ee'), but the sound clip for ทุย sometimes sounds like 'thooee' and sometimes like 'thwee' - presumably it's close to the English perceptual boundary between the two.

A similar phenomenon occurs with หิว. It tends to sound like 'hew' to me rather than like an Estuarine 'hill'.

Richard.

Richard.

[pp401]

I think the girl's name is นุ้ย /nuy H/, and not หนุ่ย. Why? หนุ่ย is a common name for guys. As far as my native intuition goes, a person called หนุ่ย can't be a girl, though it's not entirely possible for a girl to be called หนุ่ย.

[Jeep]

So it seems that nobody is familiar with the way she spelled her name, Nui?
Thanks for the replies.

[Hi]

Nui can be นุ้ย or หนุ่ย . Both can be girl's name. นุ้ยmeans fatty, it is short from ตุ้ยนุ้ย but I am not sure what does หนุ่ย mean.

[Jeep]

Thanks for everyone's help. I wanted to write her and call her and I didn't want to sound stupid. But then again, sweetheart works just fine too.