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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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Sakura7 · 13/11/2020 15:59

Sharon in Dublin - Shardden.

Scarlet's not a good one here either.

lalafafa · 13/11/2020 15:49

CorianderLord certainly not in my area

MikeUniformMike · 13/11/2020 15:33

I know someone scottish whose surname is Carle.I thought it was Carroll unil I saw it written down

weebarra · 13/11/2020 15:31

The Dundee thing - 'Emma fan of a peh - I'm a fan of a pie'

Yes, Carl is a difficult one. Also, where I am an A at the end of a name could be pronounced uh. So Freya could be Frey-uh.

emmathedilemma · 13/11/2020 15:26

@1940s I've worked with a lot of people from Dundee and not one has ever called me "I am"

NC4Now · 13/11/2020 15:23

Sarah is pronounced Suuuurrruh in my accent, which isn’t as pretty. And Sophie is Sorpheh.

EssentialHummus · 13/11/2020 15:22

London here. Anything ending with -er is out.

SuperbGorgonzola · 13/11/2020 15:18

I went to school with a few Na uh lees.

And a few Smamfers Confused

SuperbGorgonzola · 13/11/2020 15:17

@CountFosco it's similar to Scottish in that way but with longer vowels like the north east so it would just sound like a nasally quack in my accent. Caaaaa'rruh.

Yamashita40 · 13/11/2020 15:09

I'm from the North East. Natalie would be pronounced Na a Lee here which put my mam off using it (as well as the baby being a boy!)

Also certain areas pronounce Ian as Een.

Tootsietoot · 13/11/2020 15:08

Anything ending in a. It becomes "uh".
Ella = Ell-uh. Like a guttural stop

CorianderLord · 13/11/2020 15:06

@lalafafa

anything beginning with H in Yorkshire, would be dropped.
Maybe if the only people speaking are 60+
CountFosco · 13/11/2020 15:02

I really liked Cara or Cora for a girl but in our accent, broader speakers roll their Rs and I wouldn't have liked the sound of it.

I think Cara and Cora are prettier with rolled 'r's. As a Scot living in England I avoided names with an 'r' after a vowel because I knew the English would mangle them. So, e.g. we avoided Kirsten (which I adore) because I hate how it becomes KUHHH-sten like they are shitting themselves.

serialreturner · 13/11/2020 14:54

DD has a BFF called Natasha and she totally rocks her name and she's the most dotey child ever. I couldn't think of a bad word to say about her. She's cheeky, smart, big reader and a great cook plus really polite and engaged.

But we are from Belfast and it sounds totally shite in a Belfast/Milly accent. So rough. Not where we live now phew... NAAAAITAIIIISHAAA - yuck.

MikeUniformMike · 13/11/2020 14:53

Wanted Mary but didn't use it as my side of the family would have said it as Merry

1940s · 13/11/2020 14:49

@MyNameIsAlexDrake

As someone has already mentioned Carl in Scotland. Impossible for most of us to say without calling the poor bloke Carol.

Also in Dundee Emma would be an unfortunate name to have as it sounds like "I am" in the Dundee accent.

How can Emma sound like 'I am' that's totally baffled me!
lalafafa · 13/11/2020 14:17

anything beginning with H in Yorkshire, would be dropped.

TyroTerf · 13/11/2020 11:43

I met a woman who regretted calling her daughter Hope, because in the local accent it sounds like Urp. Her own name had a T in the middle and she hated people replacing it with a glottal stop.

MyNameIsAlexDrake · 13/11/2020 11:36

As someone has already mentioned Carl in Scotland. Impossible for most of us to say without calling the poor bloke Carol.

Also in Dundee Emma would be an unfortunate name to have as it sounds like "I am" in the Dundee accent.

1940s · 13/11/2020 11:29

Londoner and couldn't use Ottilie or Otto as the T's are a big risk of being dropped and would butcher the name!

Also Cockney rhyming slang renders some names useless like Toby (Toby Jug- Mug)

1940s · 13/11/2020 11:28

@bez91

Tania/Tanya

Up north it would be Tan-ya and south Tarn-ya

They are two separate names though?
Hoppinggreen · 13/11/2020 11:10

We are in West Yorkshire
We didn’t go for names with a T in as these tend to get lost but our surname ends ter and is often “uh” instead . DS has an ar at the end of his name that tend to be an “uh” too

Mammyloveswine · 13/11/2020 11:05

Hubby wanted Lucas... we live in Newcastle... Loo..cuus is often bellowed in the park Grin

BlackLambAndGreyFalcoln · 13/11/2020 10:14

Also not UK, but I can't stand the US pronunciation of Astrid with the strong emphasis on the first syllable.

DryIce · 13/11/2020 10:14

More national that regional, but i always loved the name Helena (hell-ay-na), but couldnt use it here where the default pronunciation is Helen-a.

Similarly Eleanor which I would say Elen-ore, rther than Elen-a

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