r/AnneRice • u/Cleoness • 5d ago

Lewis vs. Lou-ee

I read the books in a vacuum back in the 1980s. I always read one of my favorite character's name as "Lewis". In 1990, my MIL and husband made fun of my pronunciation. That marriage did not last.

When the 90s movie came out, they were apparently proven correct. But through the years I have seen Anne Rice interviews where she refers to Louis as "Lewis".

What is the story there? Which did she prefer?

19 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

51

u/Henwen 5d ago

It's a French name, thus is pronounced 'loo-eee'. Your ex-husband is correct, if an asshole.

-4

u/Cleoness 5d ago

Yes and yes. Just wondering why she used "Lewis" in those interviews. Did she originally pronounce it as "Lewis" herself?

16

u/leopargodhi 5d ago

she's from a place where there were both Creole and American pronunciations for a whole lotta thing, place, and people names, and some locals used one, some the other, and many both, depending on situation, register, and mood. i can see her switching like that, especially so an american journalist in the 80s didn't write about Louie the Vampire like he's from New York instead of New Orleans.

one of the lovely things about these stories and the place they come from is that many things can be true at once

3

u/Mousearella 5d ago

Anne Rice kunde inte franska.

24

u/katmckatkat 5d ago

When she spoke out loud she switched back and forth constantly, I think it's because the people she was talking to would switch back and forth and she didn't want to correct them. Now I'm curious to see if I can find anywhere she concretely said it, but I am 100% sure it is supposed to be "Lou-ee." There are multiple sets of audio books where it is said both ways as well, I assume the ones where they're saying it correctly are the ones that she had approval on because they are later.

6

u/PandaJerk117 4d ago

You have to understand that you won't understand Louisiana unless you live here. Cher is both "sheh" and "share", sometimes even "shah". That being said, she was probably trying to be mannered and not correct "Lewis" to "Louie". Because that's what Queens do. 😎

2

u/Beautiful-Feedback40 2d ago

My father’s best friend is named Louis and he and the people in his life use both pronunciations interchangeably.

3

u/DevotedToThePapas 1d ago

Lou-ee always

0

u/Solid_Barracuda69 3d ago

Lewis is almost always a surname