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Baby names

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

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Original poster

Cora pronunciation?

104 replies

crabette · 06/02/2022 21:46

Think I love the girls name Cora... how is it pronounced / how would you pronounce it as default though?

From looking online, advice seems to vary between CORE-ah (rhymes with flora and dora, where the first syllable is pronounced like apple core); and C-OR-a / Cawr-a (where the first syllable rhymes with for!)

Not sure if this is an accent / regional difference or not... votes please!

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Original poster

crabette · 11/02/2022 16:20

And @ZoyaTheDestroyer - fair enough, though I did to be fair mention accents / regional differences in my OP! Just didn't specify mine til asked.

OP posts:

Original poster

crabette · 11/02/2022 16:17

I really didn't mean to cause such a fuss! 😂🙈

@dementedpixie I've never heard of Corra Linn waterfall... have now googled it though and realised it's also some kind of cheese?!

Irritatingly middle name would be Lynne after DH's late mother. So Cora Lynne? Which after all that might be a deal breaker 😩

OP posts:

annlee3817 · 08/02/2022 11:58

@dementedpixie fair, didn't think of that 🤦

One of my bosses calls me Co raaar
Drive me nuts, I do correct him, and his accent isn't dissimilar to mine

ZoyaTheDestroyer · 08/02/2022 09:58

Very true!

lottiegarbanzo · 08/02/2022 09:58

Yes, though similarly, there is an oblivious little-Englander-ishness about so many posts, where posters don't consider that some people in the UK do pronounce 'r's, so using r to signify an 'ah' or 'uh' sound makes no sense - unless you qualify it by stating you speak with some version of English accent.

ZoyaTheDestroyer · 08/02/2022 09:51

I enjoy the posters who pretend they don't know how virtually the entirety of England and Wales speaks because they are themselves rhotic speakers.

'Where are you getting the 'r' from?'

lottiegarbanzo · 08/02/2022 09:48

Yes, I always find the lack of awareness of ones own subjectivity extraordinary in threads like this (well, most threads on MN actually but that's another story!). Just state what accent you speak in, so people can understand the examples you're giving in that context.

My favourite ever was one about the pronunciation of 'Sue', posted by someone with a Welsh accent, living in Wales among similarly accented people, who didn't think to mention this for some pages. Instead getting in a huff and telling us that of course we all knew Sue was usually pronounced Siw and to stop being so obtuse! That was fun.

ZoyaTheDestroyer · 08/02/2022 09:34

You needed to mention your accent in your OP. In non-rhotic accents (most of England and Wales) there is no difference between those pronunciations.

Salamander91 · 08/02/2022 08:46

My DD is Cora. We pronounce it Core-rah

dementedpixie · 08/02/2022 08:37

@annlee3817

I'm a Cora and pronounce it Core Ah, rhymes with Laura :)

Cora doesn't rhyme with Laura in my scottish accent.

annlee3817 · 08/02/2022 06:05

Actually Core-rah would be more accurate, this is messing with my head now 🤣

annlee3817 · 08/02/2022 06:02

I'm a Cora and pronounce it Core Ah, rhymes with Laura :)

Bortles · 08/02/2022 01:58

All those sound the same to me. Even when you clarify further, still the same.

MrsDrSpencerReid · 08/02/2022 01:45

Aussie accent input

Core-a

Cora, Dora the Explorer, Flora, Laura, Bora Bora all sound the same.

Core, door, floor, war, paw, poor, pour, score, law, lore, boar, whore, store - all the same.

I think the name Cora is lovely by the way!

runningoutofnewnames · 08/02/2022 01:26

So, if I only heard the words "Paw Patrol" in my accent, I'd need to see the context to understand that it was about animals, and not meaning "poor patrol", "pour patrol" or "pore patrol"

runningoutofnewnames · 08/02/2022 01:05

I speak RP (ish) and would say 'poor' very like 'pour' or 'pore' but not quite, just with a very slightly longer 'or'

You speak posher than me

Certainly when I went to a private school for a couple of years, they were keen on teaching us to announciate "properly" i.e. speak in RP. I dare say if I'd stayed there I'd say poor and pour differently.

But I left, and slipped straight back into my London ways

runningoutofnewnames · 08/02/2022 01:01

Poor does not rhyme with pour.

Poor has a double oo sound like look, book or Scots "soor" (sour)

Pour is the same as pore or oar.

Yes, you're right for some accents. Certainly my Scottish ILs use these pronunciations and find the way I say it odd.

But it's not odd for large areas of South East England - we don't really pronounce our Rs if they're at the end of a word, nor our Ws. And we ignore the double oo sound in poor.

So paw and poor are said the same - with an awe sound at the end. Or like "or" but no stress on the R. No strong R or W.

All the following rhyme exactly in my accent:

Poor, pour, paw, pore, or, awe, oar, core, law, claw, for.

SiobhanSharpe · 07/02/2022 22:50

Lady Cora in Downton isn't Lady Corra! If you say it as you spell it with the double R it would shorten the vowel sound. Her name is pronounced Core-a, with a long 'ore' sound.

SiobhanSharpe · 07/02/2022 22:41

In south and southeast England and London the word poor is not pronounced the same as look, book or sook.
That sounds like a Scottish pronunciation to me - puer, luke, buke.
I speak RP (ish) and would say 'poor' very like 'pour' or 'pore' but not quite, just with a very slightly longer 'or' . But certainly not with an 'oo' sound.

Laureatus · 07/02/2022 22:18

@strawberrie I'm from East coast of Scotland I would say that's not a common trait of Scottish accents at all!

Laureatus · 07/02/2022 22:17

I'm from East Coast Scotland, I have to say I can't follow what you mean about the different pronunciations. Cora rhymes with Flora for me: Cor-ra. As others said, same as in Downton Abbey if you just find some clips of that.

KimikosNightmare · 07/02/2022 21:26

@Flyingbymypants

Poor and pour sound different to me, with poor being more drawn out

But yes Core -ah

Poor does not rhyme with pour.

Poor has a double oo sound like look, book or Scots "soor" (sour)

Pour is the same as pore or oar.

Chichimcgee · 07/02/2022 15:16

Poor and pour rhyme but
Pour and sour don’t
Sour and power do but
Power and lower don’t
Read and lead do but
Read and lead don’t

Flyingbymypants · 07/02/2022 15:09

Poor and pour sound different to me, with poor being more drawn out

But yes Core -ah

Chichimcgee · 07/02/2022 15:01

Accents are funny, I dislike the Leicester accent because names ending in an ‘-ee’ sound get mutilated into an ‘-eh’ Nick-eh, Sall-eh, Luce-eh. And forget it with a H, Hallie would be Al-eh.

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