Accent ruining all our name choices.

I didn't mean to imply that this is only something that happens in Britain. It's just that the sheer variety of accents in the UK is amazing to me.

I went one fitness weekend and there was a girl from Northern Ireland called. ...... "E M I"
That's how she said it

E
M
I
Took a day for someone to twig and say "are you Amy?" "Yay us" she said
"E .. M .. I"

Ha, I remember having this debate with names before DS1 was born. All my family are Glaswegians, DH's are proper Brummies and we live in the heart of cockney East London. DH and I would sit on the couch and repeat the names we liked in three accents

E.g. Margaret

"Magrit" (Glasgow)
"Maaaawgret" (London)
"Maurgred" (Brummie)

T'was a difficult task to name poor DS1!

it's the idea that there is one "proper" way of pronouncing something and other pronunciations/accents are less than, that bothers me

It isn't that at all. You pick a name because you like the sound of it, so when that sound is changed by an accent it becomes a different name.

We moved from the SE to the SW. Our DDs name has a long A sound in the first syllable - the same as we say grarss, carstle, barth. Here the accent shortens the A - which has changed her name completely. I hate it!

I meant to say it's not just a UK thing.
Obviously the UK takes it to a whole new level, but I think it's a fairly global phenomenon?

thecaroline That's hardly a UK thing, though. Plenty of that goes on in the US and even here in Aus.
Our last Prime Minister's accent was widely considered to be far inferior to a more rounded, educated sounding accent, and we're just talking within the limited scope of Australian twangs!
Lots of people in NY and Boston sneer at southern and mid-western accents.

I know South africa has similar because I've been asked more than once by a new arrival to help them understand the differences so they can more effectively judge and rank the people they meet!

It's not snobby, really - it's the fact that different accents mangle names that sound pleasant to the ear of the beholder in others. The pleasant sounding accents are not necessarily accents of wealthier people, just people who pronounce their vowels or their THs, etc, differently or without regard for the phonetic conventions of standard English or whatever language a name is from. As an example, I cringe a little when I hear the name Orla pronounced Awla or when I hear the vowels and one particular consonant in my (Irish) name distorted by a London accent. It's a matter of correct and incorrect, not less than.

I'm from the south, so no. It's not the "names sound better in one accent than the other," it's the idea that there is one "proper" way of pronouncing something and other pronunciations/accents are less than, that bothers me.

thecaroline I'm Australian and we have a similar sort of problem. Some names sound lovely until you throw in a strong Aussie accent and then they sound dreadful!

In the US I would think there are names that sound nice in one accent but not another.

Not sure where you're from, but it must be somewhere with a very uniform accent.

Wow, this is bizarre to read as a non-Brit.

Pronouncing something "properly," this idea is so ludicrous. This thread is bafflingly snobby.

It strikes me that Rachel (suggested by pp) might be ideal.

Sympathise - my name is Heather and I've had a lifetime of people pronouncing it 'eth-uh', which I absolutely hate. I think you'd be doing DD a favour to steer away from names ending in 'ie' or 'a'.

How about:
Madeleine
Alice
Kate
Rose
Camille
Louise
Megan
Imogen
Isobel
Fern
Wren
Beth/Elizabeth
Caitlin
Niamh (Neve)
Eve

Sorry -- posted on the wrong thread - ignore...

Actually it would be Beffan-aye. That would be a double jeopardy name.

fingernails, obviously

And in same said crap part of Kent anything with an ee sound on the end could sound like aye.

Vick-Aye

Kayl-Aye

And-Aye

Anything with a th sound would automatically become f

Ethan = Efan, Beffanie, etc.

And anything with a T would get the dreaded glottal stop. Not too bad at the end of a name, like in Margaret = Margare 'uh'

but fucking grim in the middle of a name, like Peter = Pee 'uh'

I had to move in the end. My children's vowel sounds were becoming like fingers down a blackboard.

When I was PG with DS2 who is 19 I said if it was a girl I would call her Xanthe. I lived in a particularly crap part of Kent at the time, and everyone said 'Zampfy? What kind of a name is Zampfy?'

Thank God I had a boy.

How about
Alison
Jocelyn
Marianne
Carmen
Eden
Erin
Mirren/Merryn
Robin
Saffron

As a child, I moved from the Manchester area to the home counties. My new teacher was reading the Rosemary Manning dragon books to the class. I couldn't understand why the dragon insisted the little girl (who had just met him) referred to him as 'our dragon'. I found out years later he goes by the name R. Dragon.

Could still end up as Jehssseh though...

Ann is pretty clean in terms of pronunciation, or other single syllable names like Pam, Claire (although that could come out as "Clehrrr", I suppose)

Jessica would be nice imo - goes down well everywhere. You could use Jess as a nn.

Watch out for Gabb-eh as a nn for Gabrielle.

I can confirm that they can pronounce Grace although they do extend it, to Gracie.. (With the 'uh'....).

I think Anais was probably chauffeur driven through Manchester once, tinted windows and no touching of the locals. 'See where Daddy grew up Anais'.........and she was then promptly shuttled back to Primrose Hill.