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I know a Mara who pronounces her name like a female horse--"mare-uh." I know a Maura who pronounces it like the a in car. But she complains when people say more-uh.
You can't really blame people because English pronunciation rules can be so random.
There is, however, standard and non-standard. But names like Laura/Lara are not subject to such a judgment, unlike, say, "athlete" or "nuclear," so in this context I agree with you.
And sometimes by people who are. I have an MA in linguistics, and I will sometimes use the word "accent" instead of "dialect" because it is readily comprehensible to my audience. It's not advantageous to use technical terminology at all times, or to patronize people who are not as learned in a particular subject as you are.
In all fairness, Dewdropinn's tone was in direct response to that poster's insistence that he was the final arbiter of correct pronunciation.
I warn you, that is a fine name but it is not nice to have a name that can be pronounced in different ways...My name ends in 'mara' and people say it all different ways.
I got used to answering to anything but I hate the way my name sounds when it is mispronounced. At some point, you stop correcting and educating everybody over and over...
People feel confused because they aren't sure how to say it, or they might hear it mispronounced and think that is the correct pronounciation...At work, my nickname was the mispronounced way, because someone thought it was funny, so the new people would not know it was a joke. That is when I gave up completely and let people say it however they wanted. I didn't mind the joke nickname, as long as they knew my real name.
It made them uncomfortable to hear it different ways and not know if they were saying it wrong or right. Some people were told many times and they never could 'get it'....
The point is, that having a name that is not easy to know how to pronounce is very annoying. I like my name but I don't like the other names that are spelled the same way. It is also frustrating for other people.
I don't like Andrea...I like the name but I know 3 different Andrea's with different pronounciations, and keeping track of who likes what is hard. They get mad if you call them the wrong thing. My name is like that.
I used to know a Tara...Like Taira....That is how I think it should be said...Then I met a girl named Tara who pronounced it Tara, like Tar that rhymes with jar. I didn't like that way, but she insisted on being called by her correct name.
Can you make the spelling easier to know how to pronounce?
I would go with the way that it is usually pronounced which is Mar - uh (Mar as in Car). Or she will spend a lifetime correcting people.
Personally, I wouldn't pick it for that reason alone. Why saddle a child with the responsibility of a hard-to-pronounce name? It's bad enough when it's a family surname that wasn't chosen (an annoyance I've lived with all my life). Also, because there are several popular actresses with that name, many people will assume you chose it for that reason. Are you prepared for that?
I mean I don't think it is hard to pronounce name. there are just multiple ways to say it apparently. But it seems most names have that issue as well. My friend is named Kara and goes by kaahra but people also go by car-a. Once you correct someone they usually get it the first time and shouldn't be an issue. I don't think people will assume I chose the name because of an actress and don't really care if they do. My name is Carly and I always get asked if I'm named after Carly Simon. Doesn't bother me and my parents did say they found the name because of her.
My youngest is 8. When we were picking her name I LOVED Madison, Madelyn, Emily and Emma. Unfortunately so did everyone else! There is literally 2-3 of each in her class every year! We decided against all of them because they were so popular. I think that craze has calmed down because I haven't come across any newborns lately with any of those names so you might be Ok with Madelyn/Maddie.
I do agree with some of the others, you don't want your child to spend her life correcting people when they say her name. Just my opinion.
BTW, we ended up naming our daughter Emmie Elizabeth. My mom suggested it as it is not very popular and the few that I am aware of (like actress Emmy Rossum) spells it with a "Y". People do sometimes ask if her real name is Emily, but nope, it's just Emmie! And my other daughters name is Carlie
Yes, actually I do know what diminutive means. I wasn't calling Steven/Stephen diminutives... reread the post. I clearly was talking about different spellings of names that were pronounced the same. I edited to add that there are cultural/ differences in origin between the Laura and Lara and also included the names they each were diminutives of. The pronunciation could certainly be regional.
I don't get what the big deal is - who made you the name police? The "au" sound can be pronounced a variety of ways in the English language. English is terribly inconsistent so to nitpick over this particular issue seems very petty. Add to that regional variances and I fail to see how it's a "my way or the highway" situation.
I apologize about the diminuative thing. I actually edited my post and deleted it almost right away. After I reread it I saw how snarky it sounded and I didn't mean for it to come off that way. Sometimes it can be easy to get carried away on the internet and forget I am communicating with real people. There is already too much negativity in the world. I swear I'm not a bad person! So again, I'm sorry about that.
In the grand scheme of things I don't think it is a big deal. I'm just trying to point out that Lara and Laura are two separate names, and if her parents wanted her name to be Lara that's what they should have named her.
One attempt to make my argument; if I named my son Stephen but told people it is people it is pronounced Stefan, would I be right? A separate name already exists that matches my pronunciation, and 99% of people pronounce Stephen a certain way.
Last edited by clawsondude; 12-09-2016 at 09:52 PM..
My youngest is 8. When we were picking her name I LOVED Madison, Madelyn, Emily and Emma. Unfortunately so did everyone else! There is literally 2-3 of each in her class every year! We decided against all of them because they were so popular. I think that craze has calmed down because I haven't come across any newborns lately with any of those names so you might be Ok with Madelyn/Maddie.
I do agree with some of the others, you don't want your child to spend her life correcting people when they say her name. Just my opinion.
BTW, we ended up naming our daughter Emmie Elizabeth. My mom suggested it as it is not very popular and the few that I am aware of (like actress Emmy Rossum) spells it with a "Y". People do sometimes ask if her real name is Emily, but nope, it's just Emmie! And my other daughters name is Carlie
Emma is actually #1 right now! We had a daughter this year but passed on that name even though we like it.
My first name is "Vara," which always has stumped people for some reason! With all the -ara names--for example, Sara, Cara, and Mara, you would think it wouldn't be a problem, but it has been! Most people think I mean "VEra." Uhhh, no, I know how to pronounce and spell my own name! On top of that, I go by a diminutive of my middle name-arrgh! BTW, Vara was my grandmother's name (I was born on her birthday) and was an old-fashioned one when she was named.
I made sure to have my child's first name the one she actually goes by and has very little variation in spelling or pronunciation.
If you choose a name with ambiguous pronunciation options you and she need to get comfortable with a lifetime of being called any and all of those.
I have a son named Ewan. The correct pronunciation is U-an. From the start, teachers called him E-wan. He changed his name to Ewen and they got it right!
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