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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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littleginger · 26/04/2013 00:42

Um ive never know a Sarah pronounce their own name Say-rah. It is more sir-rah surely?

Apparently my pronounciation of Claire is a bit horrendous since I no longer live with my natives (in Liverpool).

'Cliiiiiiiiiiiire'

K8Middleton · 26/04/2013 00:39

Actually I think Sarah should be Sair-ra.

Fleur sounds bloody horrible in nearly any accent but especially one that elongates the vowels.

MrsSlocombesPussy · 26/04/2013 00:35

Ptolemy in a broad Lancashire accent.

Hugh in a Suffolk accent (pronounced Hoo)

OneFingerSjupesUpTheYoni · 26/04/2013 00:31

Any accent that renders sarah (say-rah) to suh-rih/suh-rah.

Bloody hate it Angry

It is say-rah not suh-rah or even worse soo-rah!

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 26/04/2013 00:19

So glad I'm not the only Scot who can't say Carl. My tongue just doesn't work that way.

But I can pronounce the "ch" in "loch". Wink

recall · 26/04/2013 00:16

George in a broad Essex accent ( although I love hearing it, quite sweet )

LinghamStyle · 26/04/2013 00:09

I can't say Carl either! It's either Cal or Carol.

1944girl · 25/04/2013 23:48

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clattypatty · 25/04/2013 23:25

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Gerrof · 25/04/2013 23:04

Kimberley in northern.

Makes me think of Victoria Wood.

Gerrof · 25/04/2013 23:03

Harper in Bristolian

Kai in scouse

Courtney in broadest Devon

seeker · 25/04/2013 23:01

Ah. I see I have been beaten to the Esturine "f"!

seeker · 25/04/2013 22:59

I loved Lily- but only in my posh voice, not in dp's Yorkshire. He wouldn't go to elocution lessons, so we didn't use it!

Where we live, anything with a th becomes f. So my ds wrote "Happy Birfday, Efan" in a card when he was little!

doublecakeplease · 25/04/2013 22:56

Summer - my DH is broad Geordie so it comes out as summa.

colditz · 25/04/2013 22:53

Yes, Memphis! Melton, actually, but v similar accent.

Glitterkitten24 · 25/04/2013 22:51

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!

RegularVoltaire · 25/04/2013 22:46

Gallicgirl, any name with a broad Wigan accent is pretty bad Wink

Bearandcub · 25/04/2013 22:44

Ruth in broad Estuary English is "roof!"

ThatGhastlyWoman · 25/04/2013 22:42

I used to work in a school down in England where some of the children had that sort of... how to describe it? Posh, lazily enunciated Southern English accent. So Hugo became He-gay, Sophie was Safie, that sort of thing. I seriously misunderstood folk a couple of times.

Off topic, but I was once really confused by a woman who was being interviewed on Women's Hour about ads on the underground for cosmetic procedures, and she said 'Well, I'm always up for a good feminist pray test'. She carried on talking about pray tests, and it took a good five minutes for the penny to drop...

memphis83 · 25/04/2013 22:41

colditz are you in Leicester? Sounds like where I live.

colditz · 25/04/2013 22:39

Of course, don't forget the the apparent inability of anyone to pronounce 'th', so we get maffyew, jonnyfun, caffy, caffrin, beffneh etc

colditz · 25/04/2013 22:37

Round here, anything with a 't' in it, or ending with a ee or a sound

So, Laura, Donna, Natalie, all out.

Mind you, a sufficiently nasty accent can ruin nay name.

Fallenangle · 25/04/2013 22:33

Anythin with a hard t in or near the middle, e.g. Natalie becocomes Nahalie, or anything with a th which becomes ff. Matthew becomes Maffew. Shortene,d the t survives?: Nat and Mat.

elQuintoConyo · 25/04/2013 22:26

Ethan = eef'n on the Isle of Sheppey.

forgetmenots · 25/04/2013 22:16

Lots of names sound awful to me in my own accent (Scottish) - particularly French names like Natalie, Amelie, Aurelie.

But I'm not keen on a lot of names with Rs in most English accents as they turn to vowels, like Claire, Laura, etc. (and my favourite, Orla)....

All a matter of taste!

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