5 syllables: Al, ex, an, dre Du, mas. Stress on an.
al-ig-zan-dur-doo-MAHZ
/ˌæl.ɪˈɡzæn.dɚ duːˈmɑːz/
Alexandre Dumas is pronounced al-ig-zan-dur-doo-MAHZ (/ˌæl.ɪˈɡzæn.dɚ duːˈmɑːz/). It has five syllables (Al-ex-an-dre Du-mas), with the stress on "an". Alexandre Dumas was a renowned French writer of the 19th century, best known for adventure novels such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. His works, often serialized, helped popularize historical fiction and celebrated swashbuckling heroism. This entry covers the name itself, including pronunciation nuances in major English-speaking contexts.
proper nounAlexandre Dumas was a renowned French writer of the 19th century, best known for adventure novels such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. His works, often serialized, helped popularize historical fiction and celebrated swashbuckling heroism. This entry covers the name itself, including pronunciation nuances in major English-speaking contexts.
How to Pronounce Alexandre Dumas
"I’m studying 19th-century literature and I keep coming across Alexandre Dumas in the syllabus."
"We listened to an audiobook of The Count of Monte Cristo and noted how the narrator pronounces Alexandre Dumas."
"The biographer compared translations of Alexandre Dumas’s name across English editions."
Pronounce Alexandre roughly as A-lek-SAHN-dr (the final 'd' is pronounced and the stress sits on the third syllable 'SAHN'). Dumas is commonly pronounced as DOO-mah in Anglophone contexts, but in French it’s dyu-MAH with the nasal vowel in the second syllable and the final 's' silent. A practical hybrid for mixed audiences is 'Alex-AN-dr doors' (with a soft French 'r' and silent final 's' on Dumas, or the anglicized 'DOO-mass' if you’re anglicizing fully). IPA references: Alexandre /a.lɛk.zɑ̃.dʁ/ (French), Dumas /dy.mas/ (French). In everyday English, many say /ˌæl.ɪgˈzɑːndər ˈduːˌmæs/ or /ˌæləˈzɑːndər ˈduːməs/. For clarity in a bilingual setting, offer both: French: a-lɛk-zɑ̃-dʁ; English: al-eks-AN-dər DOO-məs.
Common mistakes: 1) Flattening the nasal vowel in 'Alexandre' so it sounds like 'Alex-and-der' rather than 'a-lek-zahn-druh' with the nasal /ɑ̃/. Correction: keep the nasal vowel mid-close, with the tip of the tongue close to the alveolar ridge and a nasal resonance. 2) Anglicizing Dumas to 'Doo-mass' with a full 's' or 'z' sound; correction: in French, final 's' is silent; pronounce /dy.ma/. 3) Stress misplacement; correction: place primary stress on the syllable 'SAHN' of Alexandre and lightly on the first syllable of Dumas, with the 'du' as a quick, light syllable.
US: more anglicized vowels; Alexandre often roughly /ˌæl.ɪɡˈzɑːndər/ or /ˌæ.lɪɡˈzɑːn.dɚ/ with Dumas /ˈduː.məs/ or /ˈduːˌmæs/. UK: closer to French on Alexandre in careful speech, but many still /ˌæ.lɒkˈzɒ̃.dər/; Dumas tends to /ˈduː.məs/ or /ˈduːˌmɑː/; Australian: similar to US but with broader vowels; Dumas can be /ˈduː.mæs/ or /ˈduː.mə/. The French nasal /ɑ̃/ in 'Alexandre' is often simplified to [æ] or [a] in casual English; the final 'r' in the French /dʁ/ is often silent or barely touched in English borrowings.
Two main challenges: the nasalized French vowel /ɑ̃/ in 'Alexandre' and the French final consonant cluster /dʁ/ in 'drû'—including the rhotic, which isn’t a syllable-ending r in English. The name also includes a silent final 's' in Dumas and a stress pattern that can shift if you’re thinking in English vs. French. The difference between French and English phonology in this pair makes it a lip/tongue-position challenge, especially for non-native speakers who aren’t used to nasal vowels, uvular or rolled r-like sounds, or silent consonants.
Yes: the nasal vowel in 'Alexandre' (/ɑ̃/ in French) and the French /dʁ/ sound at the end of the name, which requires curling the tongue and producing a voiced uvular fricative that’s often approximated in English. Focus on maintaining nasal resonance without letting the vowel become a plain open vowel, and practice the /dʁ/ by lightly touching the tip of the tongue to the alveolar ridge while letting air escape around the sides of the tongue, not with a hard English 'r' sound.
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Alexandre is the French form of Alexander, from the Greek Alexandros, meaning 'defender of men' or 'protector of people.' Dumas is a French surname derived from a place name or a nickname related to ‘dume’ (steady, firm) or ‘dumas’ possibly linked to a medieval given name. The compound name Alexandre Dumas thus originated as a patronymic-style reference to a person named Alexandre in a French-speaking context. The surname Dumas appears in French genealogies and place-name traditions, with early attestations in medieval transcribed records. The modern usage as an author’s name became fixed in the 19th century due to Alexandre Dumas père (the elder) and his prolific output; ajoutant to this is the common distinction between père and fils (the father and son), who also achieved literary fame. The first widely recognized Latinized or Anglicized references to Alexandre Dumas entered European libraries and periodicals in the 1800s as translations or adaptations of French titles and biographical sketches, influencing how English-speaking readers encountered the name in translations and critical literature.
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