babynames | (no subject)

Lara = lar-uh (lar to rhyme with car)
Laura = law-ruh

thats how i would too
For some reason I like Lara over Laura

I would pronounce it like that too.

the same. LOOR-ah (loor like floor)

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It depends really. I have two friends both spelled LARA. ONe is pronounced LAR-UH, and on is pronounced LOOR-UH. Its really personal preference bc LARA works as both an alternate spelling for Laura and as a completely different name. I like both :)

Tara is sometimes pronounced Teh-ra, like a tear in paper. I don't think Lara rhymes with Sarah either.

I like them both too, but I prefer Lara (with the lar like far sound).

I think you mean Sara rather than Sarah. They are pronounced differently. :)

I would pronounce Lara as "lahr-uh" - with that hard R sound.

Laura = "lore-uh"

I've head Lara pronounced "Lar-uh", (Lar being pronounced as car), and rhyming with Sara (Lair-uh).

I don't like it, either way :(

I really think it depends on how you, personally, pronounce either name. Some people pronounce Laura as lore-ah and therefore generally pronounce Lara as lawr-uh.

I pronounce Laura as lawr-uh and Lara as lah-ruh, which isn't too much of a different other than that Lara is almost...lighter is sound? I agree with pmegan in that Lara would rhyme with Tara.

But yeah- it seems mostly a personal preference thing. I think, to some, it could be interchangable.

I would say Lara "Lar-uh" and Laura "Lor-ah"

I most definitely prefer Lara!

My sister's name is Laura and NO ONE pronounces it "Lore-uh". It is pronounced "Lar-uh". LOL, where are you people from? ;)

where are you people from?

HAHA! (That just made me laugh, and I wanted everyone to know. :-P)

It made me laugh too! My boss is Laura, pronounced more Lore-uh than Lar-uh, but really something in between I think. Because there IS such a name as Lora.

I am from the West Coast. :)

Same :-)

haha it's funny reading this and seeing so many different answers. :) i'm from wisconsin and lara is lar-uh and laura is lore-uh. i've never heard lara pronounced like sara before! or laura pronounced lar-uh. ;)

Yup, those are how I pronounce them. Laura is lore-uh and lara is lar-uh. I'm in NC and I've known numerous Laura's, all pronounced like that.

Yeah I am in NC too and thats how i have heard it :)
thats why i asked opinion's :)
I prefer Lara over Laura :)

Btw, we're from the South. Georgia, to be exact. :)

lara - laa-rah
laura - law-rah

I pronounce Lara like (LAA-RUH, "a" as in "apple") and Laura is like "LORE-UH."

I'm from central New Jersey, that's probably why my answer is different than everyone else's. LOL

My name is Dara and I pronounce it with an "a" as in "apple," so my version of Lara would rhyme with my name. And I know a couple of Laras and they both pronounce it that way too. They're both from my town, too.

I hate when people pronounce my name with an "a" as in "car." That is NOT my name! But when I meet people from other places who call me "DAIR-UH" I understand that that's just their accent so that doesn't bother me.

When I try to say your name the way you say it, it comes out Dare-uh. lol. I can't get it right. I've been saying it out loud for like, 2 minutes. At work. LOL

hahaha you are awesome =D

most people who call me dare-uh sound funny when they try to say it the way i do, because it's just not their voice/accent, you know?

but when people insist on saying dah-ruh, then we have a problem. lol

where on the west coast are you from?

Laura - lore-uh
Lara - lare-uh

I think lar-uh (as in car) sounds really pretentious.

woot!

I knew a guy named Lara. I hated him. I think it was pronounced Lar-ah or something. It was soo long ago,, elementary or middle school, I think.

The same, Lar-uh (rhymes with car, uh). I'm from Virginia. It's probably a Southern thing.

Lara = lar-a (rhymes with car, bar, far...) Definitely not like Sarah!
Laura = lor-a
Lora = sounds like Laura
Sarah = sair-a (rhymes with bear, fair, hair...)
Sara = usually just like Sarah. More like sar-a sometimes, the ones I know like this are hispanic.

I'm from the south, and I know a Lara and two Lauras.

Lara says her name like "Lair-a"
One Laura says: Lore-a
The other says Lar(rhymes with car)-a

I've always heard Lara pronounced 'Lair-uh'...I really HATE the way it sounds.

Laura is lore-uh to me, just like Laurie is lore-ee (I know a girl who insists that you pronounce it Lar-ee (Lar as in car), which I don't like at all)

As a Lara, I think I've got some authority on the topic.

You pronounce the name however the person whose name it is pronounces it. It's called mimicry. Parrots can do it. Arguing with them over the pronunciation of their own name is endlessly frustrating.

Lara and Laura have different origins and meanings, and are not, imho, interchangeable.

I love my name, (which is pronounced simply, phonetically, Lah (as in do re mi fa so LA ti do) - rah (as in Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah) and which my mother picked from Dr. Zhivago, but the constant mispronunciation has been a thorn in my side for my entire life.

It's not that I think that her name should be pronounced a different way (sorry if it sounded that way :/). It's more that it bothers me when someone says it the wrong way and are snapped at/ridiculed because they mispronouce it one time. I try to avoid said Laurie at all times, because she tends to be obnoxious if you don't say her name EXACTLY as she wants it, even on meeting her for the first time.