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Baby names

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

Original poster

Anna

37 replies

SuedeEffectPochette · 04/03/2014 13:39

Is this name pronounced different in England and America? I would say Anna rhymes with spanner but watching Frozen it seems to be more like "Arna" in that film....

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squoosh · 04/03/2014 14:49

It's all accent dependent, to me Anna and spanner sound nothing alike. I pronounce Anna as ann-a, I pronounce spanner as spa-nurr.

Pasta is pronounced poh-sta in America, maybe some people do the same with Anna.

looki · 04/03/2014 14:49

Def a regional thing. Everyone I know pronounces Anna as An...na except for cousins on Manchester. I've never ever heard it pronounced to rhyme with spanner.

CaipirinhasAllRound · 04/03/2014 14:41

Anna def rhymes with spanner, tis my sister's name and never pronounced an-na, always an-ner

looki · 04/03/2014 14:09

I don't pronounce spanner as spanna though. Maybe it' depends on accents.

thegreatgatsby101 · 04/03/2014 14:07

It's the sound that makes it rhyme!
You say Anna in the same way you say Spanner (it just so happens that it isn't spelt Spanna)

Btw, gorgeous name!

looki · 04/03/2014 14:05

I'm totally lost. How does 'a' rhyme with 'er'?

Original poster
SuedeEffectPochette · 04/03/2014 14:01

Ah - I see from the Anya thread that N Americans tend to pronounce "An" as "Awn" so I guess that's just how you say Anna in N America.... I quite like it said that way, but I guess in UK you'd just spend all your time correcting people if you insisted on this!

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Original poster
SuedeEffectPochette · 04/03/2014 13:55

Are you joking looki?! Anna does rhyme with spanner!

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theowlwhowasafraidofthedark · 04/03/2014 13:54

Ana is from the Norwegian setting I think

Original poster
SuedeEffectPochette · 04/03/2014 13:54

I was wondering if they used "arna" to make it sound scandinavian or if that was the usual way to say the name in N America.....

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looki · 04/03/2014 13:53

Anna doesn't rhyme with 'spanner'.....how could it. It doesn't end with 'er'. Are you joking?

NadiaWadia · 04/03/2014 13:45

Well only in as much as most words are pronounced differently in an American accent?