Hi, my name is Jennifer Vandenberg, née Ice.
The word I mispronounced in the above sentence was née. My hubby and I were doing a crossword puzzle (it takes two of us to figure out the answers), and one of the clues was a three-letter word that meant born. We never guessed the answer but figured it out by answering other clues.
The moment I saw née, I knew what it meant. However, I pronounced it like “knee.” I doubt I’ve ever heard it said, although I have seen it written. Well, I got it wrong.
Née, which means born and is usually used to show a woman’s maiden name after her married name (see the first line of this post.) is pronounced “nay.” It rhymes with “hay.”
Oh well, this is hardly the first time I’ve mispronounced a word, and it won’t be the last. At least I won’t mispronounce née ever again. Plus, I am definitely adding this word to my vocabulary. It sounds very formal and high brow, which is just what we all need to be occasionally.