Debate this question

[pythianlegume7.livejournal.com]

Do you think spelling a name differently can make it more feminine or masculine?

Comments

[mamakimi.livejournal.com]

Sometimes.

For example in the case of

Boy - Aaron
Girl - Erin

Boy - Jesse
Girl - Jessie

Then there are names like Noel which can be two different names.

[mamakimi.livejournal.com]

Erin & Aaron are the same name to me.

I am not looking at meanings just how the name sounds.

[mamakimi.livejournal.com]

They are both "air-in" to me.

I live in MN and have a midwestern accent. If you have ever seen Fargo, people say I sound almost like those people. lol

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

I'm in California, which is known for having no regional accent, and everyone I know pronounces them the same.

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

Everyone has a regional accent. Californians have a Californian accent. It's not as pronounced as, say, a Kentucky one, but it's there.

[pythianlegume7.livejournal.com]

I pronounce them the same, but at the same time I know that they are obviously two completely distinct names

[chocklit-frog.livejournal.com]

Toronto, Canada, and I would say them both air-in.

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I totally have to agree with you, I don't know how people are saying them differently. They're both air-in to me too :) I can't get my mouth to say them any other way, and certainly not to say them differently than each other.

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

I say them the same way too, but here's a way to see the difference ... try to imagine Donald Trump or Regis Philbin or someone like them saying those names.

Erin should sound close to how you say it, but not exactly (at least compared to how I say it). To me Erin begins like "air", whereas with certain accents the vowel is more like that in "let". And then Aaron will begin with a really different vowel sound, like the vowel in "hat".

[politicking.livejournal.com]

I say them both Air-in, too... the way that others are talking about is: Aaron = AH-run and Erin = AIR-in

[krosp.livejournal.com]

And that is why I have removed Aaron from my boys' names list :p

I say them so incredibly differently and I really like Aaron in my own accent but hate it in everyone else's lol. Even though most other Australians say Aaron like I do, some say it more like air-on and that's enough to put me off the name. Like another of my favourite names, Anna, could be more like Eeeynna but I haven't been put off that one yet.

How do you say "apple" in your accent? Is it kind of like air-ple? (without the R, I mean). Although it's one of those things that I suppose you can't necessarily tell because the way I phoneticise something might be different to you etc and then impossible to compare our accents by text.

[rubytitania.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in the UK they would sound totally different.

[murderprotocol.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this one. Here in Australia, they're two very different pronunciations and therefore, two different names.

I can see how people consider them to be the same, though.

[politicking.livejournal.com]

I don't say them differently, but I can if I try. But normally, I don't.

I grew up in Central PA and NJ... in PA where I grew up there was no real distinction between the sound of Erin and Aaron.