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I can't recall where exactly, but I read that the title character, Alif, is named after the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. In that case, the name should be pronounced a-leef, similar to the English word "aloof", but with "ee" where the "oo" should be.

I haven't started reading yet, so I may be stating he obvious, but I heard Veronica and Tom talking about it on the podcast.

Barak wrote: "In that case, the name should be pronounced a-leef, similar to the English word "aloof", but with "ee" where the "oo" should be."

Or like "a leaf". :) I sometimes think they mispronounce on purpose.

But "a leaf" can be pronounced with either a long or short "a".

That's true.

Pronoucning it like "a leaf" (أليف)with a [ iː ](IPA for the long I sound like in leaf/sea would mean tamed/familiar in modern arabic. Written as ا and spelled as ألف like the character in the book would require a shorter I closer to the I in lift.

It'd be a long A like in "father", L like in "leap", an I as in "lift" and an F like in "fun" so closer to "ahlif" than "a-leaf"

Yeah, it's the same sort of "if" sound at the enf like in if/serif/caliph.

I kinda feel like there maybe should have been a pronunciation guide in the book to make sure everyone was on the same page, so to speak

Yey, that means I was pronouncing it right the whole time. I assumed, since no one else seemed to say it the way I did, that I were doing it wrong. But I just went with the way that sounded most natural to me.