Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Baby names

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

Name spelling rules

170 replies

AngSam · 21/02/2020 17:06

I have a question. Are there any rules on spelling and pronouncing names? How about correcting people on how to spell and pronounce names, would you bother?
Example, girl named Joan (general pronouncing sounds like John) but her is Jo An?
Or Laura not Lora but LAUra
Your thoughts?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
SoupDragon · 25/02/2020 17:24

Draw a picture becomes drawra picture

It really doesn't.

SayNoToCarrots · 25/02/2020 17:11

Many do, and so do lots of Northern accents.

Laura Adams becomes LaurarAdams
Draw a picture becomes drawra picture.

You don't notice you are doing it because it is a normal feature of your accent.

SoupDragon · 25/02/2020 16:51

Southern accents don't add in Rs

WaxOnFeckOff · 25/02/2020 16:39

I think it's to do with Rhoticity. Some south accents remove Rs that are there and add them where there aren't any. In Scotland and the North we don't. It's just the way it is, so for example Draw up here would be like saying drop without the P (not exactly, but close enough) whereas Drawer is like drop without the p and finished with err or urr (again, not exact but close enough for an example).

Which is why people get confused when someone writes, "i put it in the draw".

steppemum · 25/02/2020 14:04

apologises to the Scottish mn.

I was going by this in the previous page:

So, (me being Scottish), Elena is Eh lay nah and Eleanor is El en or

and trying to distinguish it from the English pronunciation

No it’s pronounced Elinor, the same as in standard English.

that's the point, in southern English there is no 'or' at the end it is Elener or Elena, we don't say 'or'

so, Elena and Eleanor are said exactly the same. (unless the person uses the Russian etc pronunciation of Elena)

FuckADeeDooDaa · 25/02/2020 13:25

sow as in a female pig

dementedpixie · 25/02/2020 13:14

Is that sow as in to sow seed or sow as in a female pig?

FuckADeeDooDaa · 25/02/2020 13:11

Lau - To rhyme with Sow, in case anyone wonders how they pn Lau.

FuckADeeDooDaa · 25/02/2020 13:07

Depends where they are from. I live in Spain. Joan is a boys name here pn Jo-Anne. Laura is pn Lau-Ra

dementedpixie · 25/02/2020 12:26

I'd say it more like Elenor (I'm scottish)

Double3xposure · 25/02/2020 12:19

The Scottish version of Eleanor is pronounced Elle -ee- a- nor (have I got that right?)

No it’s pronounced Elinor, the same as in standard English.

steppemum · 25/02/2020 12:10

Elena is only the same as eleanor as people pronounce it wrong

Er no!

So the German Elena is pronounced Elle- e -na
The Southern English accent Eleanor is ponounced Elle -e -na

The Russian etc versions of Elena is pronounced Elle- lay- na

The Scottish version of Eleanor is pronounced Elle -ee- a- nor (have I got that right?)

The point is, the same name can have different pronunciations in different countries. It isn't 'wrong' it is a different accent or language.

None of which applies to Joan and Joanne though!

SleepingStandingUp · 24/02/2020 22:38

Definately own 😂😂😂😂

NatashaAlianovaRomanova · 24/02/2020 22:32

Ah but is it:

Scone to rhyme with own, on or spoon (possibly only Scottish folks will get the last one Grin)

SleepingStandingUp · 24/02/2020 17:06

Just a rhyming poem to suit the thread

I own
A scone
It's all my own
I took a picture in my phone
Please don't moan
Or heave and groan
Because the scone
I own
Is my own

Corneliawildthing · 24/02/2020 16:45

We always laugh at law and order being pronounced as Laura Norder as if it's a person Grin

LizzieAnt · 24/02/2020 15:39

And Joan rhymes with cone/phone etc.

LizzieAnt · 24/02/2020 15:35

To me too. I'm Irish. And Dora aounds like Dough-ra and nothing like Laura in my accentGrin

dementedpixie · 24/02/2020 15:16

Well yes, they both sound the same to me

SleepingStandingUp · 24/02/2020 15:11

So the same pronunciation as if you were saying the person drawing was the drawer?

dementedpixie · 24/02/2020 15:10

Being scottish, I sound the 'r' at the end of drawer

SleepingStandingUp · 24/02/2020 15:04

How do you pronounce drawer to sound different to draw?

WaxOnFeckOff · 24/02/2020 13:35

Also depends on your uk accent (but not in the case of Joan prn Jo-Ann, that doesn't work in any accent!). Elena and Eleanor would never in a million years be anything alike in areas where we don't add an R at the end of words.

So, (me being Scottish), Elena is Eh lay nah and Eleanor is El en or.

Then we get to the Draw/Drawer debate - too completely different words in my book, but millions insist they are pronounced the same.

BrokenToys · 24/02/2020 13:00

My full legal name is unusual both in pronunciation and spelling (it is a proper name, just unusual).

I hate people mispronouncing it and just spelling it incorrectly (are you sure it doesn't have an "E"?, yes I'm sure, it's my name Hmm).

Therefore I just don't use it. I go by the common shortened version. Easy to pronounce and spell. As PP have said, life is too short.

Everyone is happy.

CalleighDoodle · 24/02/2020 12:49

I used to know a karen pronounced keir-un

Swipe left for the next trending thread