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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Names that are bad with regional accents.

108 replies

NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 25/04/2013 16:52

Where we live Violet become Vaa'let which doesn't sound very nice at all. DH is Aussie so some names were a no go...such as Esme....became Is-My.

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hazelnutlatte · 26/04/2013 09:53

My Welsh friend Claire liked her name until she moved to Wigan and it became Clurr instead - now she has us in the habit of switching to a Swansea accent when we say her name as it sounds so much nicer!

Jaskla · 26/04/2013 09:50

My Granddad can't pronounce any name beginning with H, so Harry becomes 'arry, and Hannah is Anna which is problematic considering we know one of each and never know who he is referring to!

I also know a Carole that changed her name as she couldn't stand how it was pronounced by people with a broad Yorkshire accent (she said people called her Cad-ull).

SantanaLopez · 26/04/2013 09:50

I can't say Lily in my Glaswegian accent. It's the 'i'. Lully!

LinghamStyle · 26/04/2013 09:42

Oh yes, Pearl! Can't say that either.

LinghamStyle · 26/04/2013 09:41

A former colleague was called Graeme and I pronounce it Gray-am. Other people said Gray-ham, Grame and Gree-am.

Graeme called himself Gray-am so I was right!

littleginger · 26/04/2013 09:23

forgetmenots I've always said Orla the wrong way I had no clue it was wrong! I'm intrigued now as to how the Scots/Irish say it. Is it like orrrola???

PeterParkerSays · 26/04/2013 09:01

Nina, in an Estuary / Essex accent - Neenaw, bit like a child're version of a police siren Smile

oinkment · 26/04/2013 08:55

My inlaws from Manchester call my nephew Willy-errrm.

AThingInYourLife · 26/04/2013 08:51

Fleur is nice in a French accent.

WellJustCallHimDave · 26/04/2013 08:48

Try Katie with a Durham accent. It sounds something like Ke-air-tee. Awful.

NotTreadingGrapes · 26/04/2013 08:43

Someone I know had 3 children whose names all ended in -y. She was black country and the -y was just turned into -oy (think Barry from Auf Wiedersehen if you're old enough)

forgetmenots · 26/04/2013 08:41

Another one here who can't say Carl. Or Pearl. RLs at the end must be the issue.

Agree with BOF about Clare/Claire in a Scouse accent, but I'd extend that to a lot of English or non-rhotic accents, and to names with an R in the middle! I will love hearing dc1 being called Orla if she is a girl in Scotland and Ireland, but awwluh, like a lot of my English pals have pronounced it, is awwwful!

LadyFlumpalot · 26/04/2013 08:40

Doesn't matter what accent you have, never call your son Mike if your surname is Hunt...

freerangeeggs · 26/04/2013 08:23

"Carl in (my) Glaswegian accent, I physically cannot say it, I can't get my tongue around it.
Fortunately you don't get many Carl's here (cos it's unpronounceable?) but my head office is full of them, I dread having to speak to one of them!"

This! I had to teach one and the kids thought it was hilarious because I kept calling him Carol.

badtime · 26/04/2013 07:59

I am another one who loathes how 'Fleur' sounds in most accents. I always do a double take when anyone here says how pretty it sounds.

Where I am from (NI), the 70s had a particularly rich harvest of dreadful sounding names. 'Karen', 'Sharon' and 'Darren' are generally pronounced Karn, Sharn and Darn (although you should bear in mind NI is a rhotic accent, and the 'r' is pronounced).

TheFillyjonk · 26/04/2013 07:20

Valleys - Joseph became 'jaw-seff'

West London (not the posh bit!) - names like Amelia become Uhmeliahhh

TheUnicornsGoHawaiian · 26/04/2013 07:07

In the black country, these always amuse me:-

Andrew = Androooo (massive emphasis on the ooooo)

James = Jayams

Karen = Karrunn

Sharon = Sharrunn

Smile
VinegarDrinker · 26/04/2013 06:48

Arlo really doesn't work in East London/Essex. Unless you mean the town.

stopthinkingsomuch · 26/04/2013 06:48

Apparently teachers are always correcting the children when saying my child's name as they like to drop letters. Dc has now been in 2 areas in different countries and only her family say her name properly. Prefer how they said it in the other country than here.

motherofvikings · 26/04/2013 06:42

Anything that ends in an a gets butchered by bristolians. They have a weird thing of dropping the a adding an l on the end.
Eg local area becomes local are-l.

This works badly on Noah which becomes Noel. But worse on Eva who becomes evil! Shock

JollyPurpleGiant · 26/04/2013 06:41

Pearl. Pronounced Peril across Scotland.

chickensaladagain · 26/04/2013 06:36

Anything ending in an a if you live in Manchester

Em-O
may-O

OneFingerSjupesUpTheYoni · 26/04/2013 06:31

Nooooo! Sirah is not sarah! It'd be so strange to hear i'd probably not answer it'd sound so different in my local accent (to my ears at least)

K8 with my accent sair-rah is the same as say-rah Grin just to be confusing you understand

I spent years getting called 'sara' by a friends mum can you tell it's gave me a complex Wink

BOF · 26/04/2013 00:48

I was going to be called Clare, but my parents decide that as a scouser, I'd be Clerr, and it wasn't pretty.

littleginger · 26/04/2013 00:43

Fleur for me with end up as 'flare'

Not pretty