Pronunciation of "Quay" and "quay.io"

quay.io is a service that provides a managed repository for Docker-format containers. Customers are advised that they might find the word "quay" pronounced in a number of different ways, and that not all pronunciations are understood in all regions.

The word "quay" denotes a dock or landing-stage for boats; it is a place where dockers may be found. However, the word "quay" is not widely used outside the UK, so its pronunciation is ambiguous. "quay" is a common word in the UK, and is a synonym for "dock". So much so, in fact, that the Surrey Docks region of London is served by a railway station called "Surrey Quays". In the UK, "quay" is a widely-recognized word, and it is always pronounced like "key".

This is a non-phonetic pronunciation, of course -- not unusual in modern English. The English pronunciation seems to have been influenced by the French word quai (for example, the Quai d'Orsay in Paris), which is also pronounced rather like the English word "key".

In most parts of the USA the word "quay" is not widely used. When it is used, the most common pronunciation is also "key", according the Cambridge Dictionary [1] and Meriam-Webster [2]. However, other pronunciations do exist, including "cay" and "kway".

The "cay" pronunciation may derive from the old Spanish word cayo, or it may just be a variant of the English "key" pronunciation of "quay". cayo itself may be a variant of the French quai, but this is unclear. A cayo is more usually a natural formation, not a construction. Similarly, the "Keys" of Florida may be derived from the English "quays", the Spanish cayos, or something else.

So far as quay.io and Red Hat Quay are concerned, the pronunciation the original founders and developers used was "kway" and Red Hat is using that in official product presentation collateral.

Customers are advised, however, that this is a relatively uncommon pronunciation, regardless of region.
Red Hat is a multinational corporation and our staff are used to dealing with these ambiguities in pronunciation.

[1] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/quay
[2] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quay