What do you think of Clara?

Love it. Have always liked it since I was about 8 and did the story of The Nutcracker at primary school. I have a DD but DH didn't like it when we were choosing names unfortunately.

To be fair, I'm not keen on the 'ai' sound in either of them, but it's just personal preference.

That's probably because of the Scottish island, so people have used the Aaron spelling but kept the Arran pronunciation.

That's funny, Footle as my great-aunt Clara pronounced 'Clair-a' was also from Yorkshire! I don't think we can be related though, as I think mine was born around 1890.

You chose a lovely name, and how nice to honour your grandma like that. It's a shame your little one feels she is forced to spell it wrong though. Surely if she just tells people they'll remember?

In a similar way, everyone pronounces Aaron 'Arron' now (not sure why), forgetting it always used to be said 'air-on' (in the UK, at least). What bugs me a bit (and I know it's not really important, but still) is how they will all vehemently deny there is any other way to say it. That is all they know, so they are right and they won't entertain any other possibility. I may be a touch overinvested in this.

NadiaWadia, you are a breath of fresh air. As I said further back on the thread, we have a young Clara pron Claira like her great grandma who was born 1912, and we also know an old lady and a young one called the same ( rural NW England ). Our little one has taken to spelling it Claira at school. It seems odd to me to pronounce it Clar-a in UK.

Sara prn sah-ra is Welsh

Sara prn sair-ah is the anglicised pronunciation.

I've heard Sara (without an h) pronounced both Sair-ah and Sah-ra.

Dame Clara Butt, a once hugely famous singer who died in 1936, was definitely "Clair - ah".

Love it and would have used it apart from the fact it's virtually identical to my name and I have two boys!

Clara is lovely.

I'd only pronounce it Klar-ah, strongly dislike Claire-ah.

Not English though.

Actually no, we say Cla-rrra but with a shorter ah, not Charrr-ah.

In Clare the a is changed because of the e. It is a split digraph. cage shame share etc.

I'm wondering if Sarah counts as a tricky word because it doesn't follow the rules.

Yes, Scottish people tend to use a shorter ah.

You mean you say it like 'clarr-ah' with a short a rather than clah-ra? I think I have heard that.

Well, as you are not English, the 'klah-ra' sound is naturally the one you will use. It's appropriate for you. And I do like it! Just not as much as the 'clair-ah' one.

Apologies if I got it wrong, but you seemed to be saying there is no other way to pronounce Clara apart from 'klah-ra'. As many people seem to think.

As for your phonetics comment, well, what about Sarah, then or Clare (both pronounced with the 'air' sound, but with the same 'ar' spelling)? English doesn't really have consistent spelling rules as we all know.

So I'm not 'quite wrong' as I didn't say anything about it being the traditional pronunciation.

And we're not English so say the ah sound in a far softer way.

My point was that phonetically it just doesn't work so it's not surprising that people are confused. And obviously I prefer the ah pronunciation as it is my daughter's name.

PrimalLass you are quite wrong, actually. 'Clair-ah' is the traditional English pronunciation for this name, and the one used over here last time it was popular (late 19th/early 20th century). I had an ancient great aunt called Clara, pron. 'Clair-ah', which was the norm. I think they still pronounce it like this in the US. Most people only knew Clara pron 'Klah-ra' as the little girl in 'The Nutcracker', which is from mainland Europe of course.

For some reason, the recent surge of popularity for Clara has taken up the 'Klah-ra' pronunciation, as used in many European countries, eg. Germany, and most people seem now to not realise there is any other way to say it. Doctor Who doesn't help! (But then, they did have a female character called Ambrose once, so what do they know?)

Although I do quite like the 'Klah-ra' pron., I have to say I really prefer 'Clair-uh' as it has a softer sound. Anyone hoping to name a daughter Clara pronounced the proper English way would face an uphill battle getting people to say it right, as most people in the UK seem quite ignorant about the former normal pronunciation, even though it is in living memory.

Clara would go beautifully with our surname, but we never got to have a DD - quite wistful now!

Ignore the Doctor Who reference too - that's like saying anyone with a DD called Rose is a Doctor Who fan. At least a name like Clara is timeless and won't age, unlike a LOT of the now popular names from shows like Game Of Thrones.

I love Clara, It is classic and pretty but not overused. I like it Another reason, because it is either way still a cute girl name ages well.

Love Clara and Cara

Clara is LOVELY. More sophisticated than Claire/Clare, somehow, but not snobby sounding. Strong yet feminine.

No wonder inthisdayandage - it is a bit like calling someone Sam and pronouncing it Saim.

I like it . How will it be pronounced though. My friend is a Clara pronounced Claira and is always continually correcting those who pronounce it klar a .