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Baby names

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Original poster

How do you pronounce

80 replies

DeStijl · 10/01/2018 19:58

Alistair?
Our 9 week old is Alistair and there's been some real variation in how people are saying it.

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LemonysSnicket · 11/01/2018 17:40

Alista - Yorkshire

mirren3 · 11/01/2018 17:33

I would say Alice ter, without the gap. Argyll here and it's quite a popular name here, we would also say it quite quickly.

MaisyPops · 11/01/2018 17:26

I'd pronounce it how you say it. It's your child.
I do to a point.
There was someone I went to university with who was called megan. Simple right? Nooo. She was a right stroppy cow who would get annoyed that people mispronounced her name because 'ugh it's CLEARLY meeee-gan'.

You might pronounce it meeee-gan but your name is megan. Obvoously corrext people but don't be pissed off and a stroppy thing that people pronounce megan as megan to start with.

MrsTiggyWinkle3 · 11/01/2018 15:58

I definitely don't say stair at the end.

The ending for me is almost 'st'.

MrsTiggyWinkle3 · 11/01/2018 15:58

Al-ist-ar

Notreallyarsed · 11/01/2018 14:56

This thread has been playing on my mind and I’ve realised I don’t say stair at the end at all. Stur is closer to how I’d say it.

HoratioNightboy · 11/01/2018 14:47

I'm finding this thread hilarious for some reason! I have heard that Alastair is considered fairly posh in England, but definitely not so in Scotland.

Alasdair is the Gaelic spelling, anything else is a Scots or anglicised spelling but they should all be pronounced the same - ALLIS-tir. The 'i' in the 'tir' ending is often a schwa. Pronouncing the ending as "stair" to rhyme with care is just wrong - the "ai" is a Gaelic spelling, not an English one so it's not pronounced as in English. Here's a link to the Learn Gaelic dictionary with an audio clip of the sound: learngaelic.scot/dictionary/index.jsp?abairt=alasdair&slang=both&wholeword=false

combatbarbie · 11/01/2018 12:48

Al-is-star East Coast of Scotland

DonnyAndVladSittingInATree · 11/01/2018 12:36

Or rather Alice-tur.

DonnyAndVladSittingInATree · 11/01/2018 12:36

Alicetur

strawberrypenguin · 11/01/2018 12:32

Al-is-stair

Not drawn out on the ‘stair’ part though. I’m South East too.

whywontteenswearcoats · 11/01/2018 12:17

Alister rhyme with Mister

deptfordgirl · 11/01/2018 11:57

Al-is-stair (South east)

Raisinbrain · 11/01/2018 10:18

Alista
I'm from the SE too

duckponds · 11/01/2018 10:03

Alice-stuh.
Long drawn out stair sounds rather irritating

YouCantBeSirius · 11/01/2018 09:44

Ah list urr

pipilangstrumpf · 11/01/2018 09:37

Al-is-stair, as it is written.

TheDailyMailIsADisgustingRag · 11/01/2018 09:11

Or sorry it’s more like Ali-staaaaaaiiii the the little Alistair I know seems to get; no r at end due to non-rhotic accent!

TheDailyMailIsADisgustingRag · 11/01/2018 09:10

Ugh I hate the Ali-staaaaiiiirrr pronunciation @op! I know an Alistair in the SE and this is what he gets from one of his own gps. It isn’t right to me.

I say Ali-sturr (rhotic accent).

marywasneeavirgin · 11/01/2018 07:35

More importantly how do you pronounce it and then just correct people by saying oh we know there's a few ways to say it but we'd prefer it if you called him ....

Allthecake · 10/01/2018 23:47

I'm NE Scottish and pronounce it 'Alistur' but would pronounce the variant Alisdair as it's spelled, although some Alisdairs pronounce it 'Alistur' too. It's not posh by the way, at least not here.

wooster16 · 10/01/2018 23:26

Ah-liss-tur

Scotland

katonic · 10/01/2018 23:21

I'd probably say Al-is-stuh for Alasdair, and Al-is-stair for Alistair, think the d makes a flat 'uh' sound but the st is sharp and I'd sound all the vowels out.

Mrsknackered · 10/01/2018 23:10

God, this is gonna sound awful but I made a 'mum friend' when I was pregnant, and she let me know she had had baby Alistair via text. I have avoided using his name in person EVER as I never know if it's Alis-tur or stair.
She calls him by a NN that I cannot use (it's a long the lines of lovey) so it would be weird if I used it.
I should've asked straight away, as now he's 9 months and it's far too late to ask Blush

FrancisCrawford · 10/01/2018 22:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.