(no subject)

[gidget1012.livejournal.com]

How do you feel your accent or speech affects your name choices? I am from Alabama. And though I would rather be stuck with a hot poker, I will admit that I have a Southern accent. Not a redneck or hick accent, but its there for all the world to hear when I talk. Some of the names that I have seen posted are wonderful names with beautiful meanings but when I pronounce the name it sounds awful and therefor I would never pick it. For example, in my area the name Lorelei is pronounce with only two syllables, LOR-LIE. I know its wrong and so do a lot of others, but it comes out that way anyway. Personally, because I hated correcting people about my maiden name, its important to me that others be able to pronounce a name without correction. I was just wondering how everyone else felt...

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/____tonightt/]

I cant think of an example right now, but I am from New England, and I have a Boston accent. The letter R gives me trouble sometimes lol

Droppin' tha Ah (Dropping the R)

[crossingthesea.livejournal.com]

That's funny. I'm from Boston, although I'm not there now, and I was reading one of the last posts in the community about how people liked the name Marley. All I could think of was how in Boston it would get turned into a drawn out version of Molly (something along the lines of Maah-lee). Not quite the same feel. Lol.

To the OP: I'm in Israel, so I have to eliminate nice names that will get mutilated by an American accent in general as Hebrew has really nice short "a" sounds while in the US, they are more drawn out (consider the difference between "ah" and "aaah").

Re: Droppin' tha Ah (Dropping the R)

[http://users.livejournal.com/____tonightt/]

lol, yeah It totally would, I dont have a strong accent but it comes out sometimes and my boyfriend makes fun of me

[schexyschteve.livejournal.com]

I'm from the Midwest. I can't think of any words or names that would give me trouble. I can see where you're coming from though.

[luxury-bus.livejournal.com]

Go Midwest! I don't seem to have issues pronouncing names, either.

[sweatydog.livejournal.com]

I guess I'd choose a name that the majority of people in my area would pronounce in a way I like?

I grew up in California and currently live in Oregon so I haven't really noticed any problems. Although people in the NW do pronounce certain things differently than the beach town I grew up in california.

[aballard23.livejournal.com]

Try being from NY and moving to Oregon. :P

THAT really sets you back.

Every once in a while I slip back to OrEEEEGONE instead of Or-eh-gun.. lol.

[dustkitty.livejournal.com]

Ooh, and I'll bet you hear about it every time.

I grew up in Oregon, and live in BC now. The difference in accent is very slight, but the people here sound like my mom, who grew up in Wisconsin but moved to Oregon when she was 16 (and therefore doesn't have much of an accent left). My parents tell me I have an accent now, when I phone, but I very much doubt whether Mom would even hear it, so I think they're just trying to tease me.

[aballard23.livejournal.com]

I moved from NY when I had just turned 13, but it was very upstate so I got more of a Canadian accent. I say 'eh' a lot, and I pronounce things like I should be speaking French a lot of the time.

But I also pick up accents fairly fast (which they say isn't a good thing, but I just have skill or something..), so my accent is like.. French-Canadian/Hick NY-er/Oregonian. .. It's weird.

I say 'button' weird, that's the one most people laugh at me for. :O

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

I'm from Ontario, and words that have "an" in them come out sounding really ugly if I'm not thinking carefully before I speak. I have no idea how to describe it phonetically or anything, but it can really ruin names like Annie and even saying the word Canada!

I guess if you slow it down, it sounds kind of like there's an "ee" sound before the "an".

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

I actually think my name (Karlie) sounds a lot better when people with Southern accents say it.

[babykalina.livejournal.com]

Well.. not effecting my choices, but there are names that sound different the way we say them here from other places.

For example - Carrie and Keri. Completely different sounding names, but for most people they sound alike. *shrug*

[aballard23.livejournal.com]

I don't worry about it too much, honestly. The names for our future children are already set in stone, and they're not too hard to pronounce I wouldn't think (Sirius Arthur and Remi Christine, or Remi Grace)..

I guess I'm kind-of on the fence. My name gets mispronounced A LOT, and while it's annoying it's something that you really just get used to.

Not everyone pronounces things the same way, some people just have thick accents and some honestly have speech impediments. So it's really not a big deal to me.

Btw: My name is Alicia. (Uh-LEE-shuh)

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

I'm from the south too. I've noticed that southerners do drop a lot of short vowels in the middle. My own name is often said as "Jessca" instead of Jessica. Doesn't really bother me in the long run.

The only name I can think of right now that I wouldn't use is Erin, because I know it is supposed to be different from Aaron, but I cannot make it differently when I said it. I don't really like the name all that much anyway, so no great loss!

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

I grew up in Georgia. My extreme hatred of the name Peyton stems from knowing all too well how half the US would say it. This awful, "pee"-reminiscent PAYYY sound, followed by a "t'n" without the O actually pronounced. Kind of like paintin', peet'n... you know what I mean! You're from 'Bama!

Shudderific.

[the-good-ship.livejournal.com]

Er, can't think of any pronunciation of NAMES that are affected by my accent (the word "couldn't," however, suffers badly - I drop the "d" out of it!).

Being from the north of England, if other people are going to drop letters out of names then the "t"s and "h"s are the first to go. As well as "-er" and "-a" endings sounding exactly the same.
Eg. Heather (I have no idea why my friend's Mum bothered giving her a name that begins with a "H") becomes ev-va, rather than hev-ver.