To tell my friend she is pronouncing her (future) DD's name wrong?

[ThatIsJustNotCricket]

More of a what would you do but friend is due next month and she has the name picked out.

It's a nice name but here's the thing, it's not a common name and the way she is pronouncing it is wrong.

Would you tell her?

Why would it be pronounced "Darna?" Where does the "r" come from, when there's no "r" in it?

The a is pronounced with an ah sound. I think Lana is similar or have I just opened a whole new can of worms?

The Irish singer is indeed Dah-na, think that's why I favour Day-na! It puts that awful woman out of my mind.

Dana Andrews is day-na according to Richard O'Brien :)

But "ah" doesn't sound like "r," either.

Depends on your accent steff.

I would say Day-na because of X-files but I know it can also be pronounced Dah-na, both are valid.

It's funny, there was an AIBU not long ago about someone who was sad her friend was so negative about her planning to use the name Dana, that couldn't be your friend could it?

I'd think it was pronounced Dah-na too but I do know an American who's name is pronounced Day-na.

Don't like either version myself but then it's not my baby!

I've seen two recent threads about this name. Either it is gaining in popularity with this pronunciation (Dayna) or your friend is on MN!

If I saw the name Dana I wouldn't know how to pronounce it. I would guess it was Dar-na and I have spent a lot of my life in the US and the UK so I should be bilingual

Steff It's because in many British accents, the "r" would not be pronounced in this instance so "Darna" would be a phonetic rendering of what to my rhotic-speaking (and I assume yours) American ears sounds like Donna. It took me a while on MN to figure this out. Many mumnetters use this "r" to lengthen/broaden the "a" sound. I would use "ah" to do that.

Scottish, Irish, American, and Canadian accents tend to be non-rhotic.

MN is very non-rhotic-centric.

Oops, I meant Scottish, Irish, American, and Canadian accents tend to be rhotic.

I met someone whose daughter was called Siobhan. They pronounced it SEE-OH-BAN. That poor girl.

Tara can be pronounced 'Terra' as well. I remember reading all the Sookie Stackhouse series years ago and reading the character Tara as Tahrah. Was quite thrown when I watched the TV series and they pronounced her Terra.

Dana (Dayna) was also the stroppy teen in Homeland last year. Loved the name then actually but the character was irritating.

Oh the poor girl Down. Years of correcting people. My brothers boss calls him Thag. His name is Tadhg.

Does making the ah sound into an ar sound not make phonics really difficult?

HERE IS the recent Dana thread. Weird to start a baby name thread when you are not even pregnant.

There was a girl in university who was called Meghan but pronounced her name as Meaghan (sounds like me-gan). She used to get really annoyed at everyone who "mispronounced" her name (and of course EVERYONE did say her name as Meg-gan.) One brave person did actually ask her why she didn't just spell her name as Meaghan since it is the spelling for the girl's name that is pronounced the way she was pronouncing her name. They also pointed out that it's hardly surprising that people think her name is pronounced meg-gan when it's spelt as Meghan.
It turns out her DM had told her the "h" after the "g" in Meghan made the pronunciation sound like "mee-ghan." Which I'm pretty sure is a made up grammar rule. A bit Hyacinth Bucket really... As the other posters have suggested, just mention that you've never heard the name pronounced that way before and that you have heard it pronounced "this" way. At least you'll have alerted her if she is making a mistake. otherwise she might just like the way she pronounces it.

I think Meghan/Megan is sometimes pronounced Mee-gan in America.

Is she your friend or someone who scares you? I mean, why not just tell her when she told you the name "Oh I thought it was pronounced that way" ... It's not such a big deal

I met someone whose daughter was called Siobhan. They pronounced it SEE-OH-BAN. That poor girl.

Now, I thought that name was pronounced "Sha-vonne." Right or wrong?

OHH, and another Dana thread. It's like Groundhog Day It looks like the answers on this thread are similar to the ones on the earlier threads so it's nice to see MNers are consistent.

How would you pronounce Tadhg?

Tara in True Blood ( and in the US generally) is not Terra or Tare-ra. The "a" is the same a as in cat or fat.

Siobhan is shuh-vaughn.
Tadhg is thuh-eye-guh said quickly together.

I don't know if it's an American thing but I've noticed in a few US programmes that the name "Craig" is pronounced like "creg" it sounds really weird.

How would you pronounce Tadhg?

I've never seen that name before, but according to babynamesofireland.com, it's "Ti-gue" The pronounciation (by Frank McCourt!) sounded like "Tie-g" with a hard "g."