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Original poster

Baby names you wouldn't choose because of regional accents

114 replies

bez91 · 13/11/2020 09:22

Just for fun really... no offence intended!

Is there any names you think sound better in a certain UK accent and if you'd avoid using them because they sound awful in some accents?

Example. We live in the midlands and did quite like the name Leo, it would just be that pronounced short and sweet however in-laws are from West Yorkshire who stereotypically like to hold onto their o's. So it would be Lee-oooooooooooooo

I also think Rafe sounds the best in a north east accent!

Interested to hear more!

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BatleyTownswomensGuild · 24/11/2020 08:14

My Aunt is called Heather. It gets brutalised by a family friend with a Humberside accent (where the H gets dropped and the vowel sounds battered.) 'Ethur'. Yuk!

Marcipex · 22/11/2020 16:17

I know a Tal.
The rest of the class pronounce it Towel.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 22/11/2020 00:27

Pearl - pronounced like "peril" in some parts of Scotland. Not a nice word for your name to sound like.

I remember a thread from some time ago where the OP had a DD called Pearl and was considering calling her second DD Beryl. A number of Scottish posters pointed out that, in their accents, they pretty much sound like the same name!

I wanted Etta for a girl but my husband is from London and drops his t’s so it sounds horrendous.

Am I so weird that I instantly heard your DH speaking like a Tellietubby in my head?! Grin

I used to know a man from NI who had a friend (from elsewhere) called Darren. Every time he said his name, he sounded like a farmer from Kansas avoiding very mildly swearing Grin

Twobrews · 21/11/2020 20:14

Where I live there's a lot of dropped H's and there's a horrible pronunciation of the 'a' sound when it's 'ay' or 'ah' in names like Grace or Charlie. So lots ruled out there.
Have family in East Yorkshire which put me of Theo after hearing my Auntie saying Theeyeeeerrrrr..

CosyQueen · 21/11/2020 19:41

I wanted Etta for a girl but my husband is from London and drops his t’s so it sounds horrendous.

cheapskatemum · 21/11/2020 19:23

I love these😂! Great thread, OP

WaxOnFeckOff · 18/11/2020 13:49

@Terriblecreature

I am Scottish and cannot say Carl properly at all. In fact all my work mates are the same - we work with a Carl whom is based down south. When we say it l, it sounds like Carol lol
Yes,

and Pearl = Peril
Dawn = Don

AlexandraB2021 · 18/11/2020 08:54

Lewis is completely butchered by the Derry accent. Ends up being pronounced- Luhssss

Marcipex · 18/11/2020 00:54

Tabifa, Fea, Arriet, Arry, Feo, Luker, Ugo.

Heartofglass12345 · 17/11/2020 23:34

I have family from the South Wales valleys and my cousin is called Hope, most of them pronounce it Orpe lol (same as Thorpe)

cheapskatemum · 17/11/2020 22:54

I remember parents who were travellers telling me their baby girls name was Evva, I thought Eva, but no. It was Heather. That was a while ago, she’s probably in her 30s now.

Changechangychange · 17/11/2020 22:26

CeeceeBloomingdale oh that reminds me of my DM’s favourite joke (Doncaster):

Knock knock
Who’s there?
Esther
Esther who?
‘Ast tha ‘ad tha tea? (Have you had your tea?)

Incomprehensible in a non-Yorkshire accent. Pretty incomprehensible if you are from Yorkshire and don’t speak as broad as that. Esther was also not a particularly common name in the 1980s, so as children we were just completely baffled by it.

CeeceeBloomingdale · 17/11/2020 22:06

@ArthurShelbysTash

I love Hester. I live in the north east but am not a native. They drop their "h". I do not love Ester.
Geordie born and bred and have never heard a native drop their Hs, that's stereotypically a Yorkshire thing. North Easterners would say Hester or more likely Hesta.

However the name Natalie (as already raised by a fellow north easterner) is a huge issue as it loses the T.

TerribleCustomerCervix · 17/11/2020 22:00

My sister liked Peter for a boy, but her (English) DH vetoed it on the basis of how it’s pronounced by us in NI.

Peedur.

CharitySchmarity · 17/11/2020 21:49

What's the accent where "Clare" sounds like "Clayer"? Is that Liverpool? Normally when people pronounce names differently according to their regional accent (e.g. whether they pronounce Alexander with a long or short A) I just think of it as their accent and not a problem, but that one does grate on me a bit - and I'm not even called Clare.

Have to agree with the people who said they pronounce Tanya with a short A even in the south. "Tahnya" sounds well pretentious to me.

Circusoflove · 17/11/2020 13:40

Harper is particularly bad in a West Country accent

‘Arrrrpurrrr!’

WhatKatyDidNxt · 17/11/2020 13:28

@mintich exactly!

WhatKatyDidNxt · 17/11/2020 13:25

Theo. I live in Essex but lm not from here. The majority of people would say Feo Hmm

Whatthebloodyell · 17/11/2020 13:24

I saw an old cockney called Harry on ‘ambulance’ (or ‘24 hours’/similar) and he said “my names ‘arry - A.R.R.Y”

cushioncovers · 17/11/2020 13:15

I always loved Scarlet for a girl I had boys but with a West Country accent it would have been scarrrlut

mintich · 17/11/2020 13:15

I'm in Essex so no names with a "th" !!!

TyroTerf · 17/11/2020 13:13

This thread's reminded me, my mum pronounced my name differently to everyone else - she wasn't local. There's an et in there. Locally it's said as an 'it', but she always said it more like a non-rhotic urht.

And I knew an Irish Ciara once, who found my very local 'keee-eh-reh' pronunciation both hilarious yet oddly endearing.

rc22 · 17/11/2020 13:01

I live near Hull. Sophie is Serphie. DH is terrible at dropping his aitches. I have a friends called Hannah and Helen who he refers to as Anna and Ellen.

Original poster
bez91 · 17/11/2020 08:47

@cheapskatemum

I also had a colleague from East Yorkshire who called my friend Curry. Her name is Kerry
😂 yes and on the opposite, my west Yorkshire in-laws call curry, Kerry

Do you fancy going for a Kerry?

OP posts:
cheapskatemum · 16/11/2020 21:06

I also had a colleague from East Yorkshire who called my friend Curry. Her name is Kerry

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