AIBU to think my son's name isn't that hard to pronounce?

[SailorByTheSea]

Or is this an acceptable pronunciation!?

We live in London, so 'fear' is 1 syllable (this is relevant!)

My son is called Theodore... You know, 3 syllables, 'The-uh-door'?

All he gets is 'fear-door' please tell me that this isn't an acceptable pronunciation? It makes me regret his name massively

nancy have you heard Aberdonian? Even other Scottish people can't understand that! It's like CU Jimmy! 😂

I grew up in London and I have trouble with my F & th sounds. Reading this thread reminded how I felt embarrassed before when I've been called out on how I pronounced some words and sometimes laughed it because of it. Mainly happened at school & university and it made me feel ashamed of my working class roots because that's how we all spoke. Sometimes I wouldn't want to speak at all. I've tried to change how I speak was successful with some words but others (tree/3) I still can't do.

It's my accent it's how my family talk I wouldn't dream of telling someone from another region how to pronounce their words as it is really judgemental. Names I understand you want to sound the same as you hear it, just make your child can say it & they will correct people if needed.

SIL is Catherine. She pronounces it Caf-rin, again in London. I know it's her name but she's definitely saying it wrong!

How do Londoners pronounce 'there', 'their' and 'they'?

This thread is baffling. How can anyone think feardoor and Theodore, or even more baffling, Paul and pool, sound the same?

I don't think regional accents are THAT baffling?

Paul/pool sound exactly the same to me. What about pore/pour/poor/paw!?

I wouldn't pronounce Theodore as Feardoor as I don't swap th/f but I would probably say 'Theardoor' rather than thee-oh-door!

Evil

I used to live in Aberdeen and never struggled too much... do you mean the Doric? That could be a little harder to understand sometimes, but I loved hearing it.

What regional accent calls people called Paul, Pool. I've honestly never heard that before and have lived and worked in quite a few places in the UK

It's not just London / the South!

I have a six-year-old Mancunian Theodore. He generally is called Fee-yow (like oh but with an audible w). I have notes home from school saying Fea Doors had an accident today (written by lunchtime organisers, not his teachers), and I have had grown up humans think his name is Feuh because they have never heard of Theo.

Slightly different (but more on the 'Frahncis topic), when we first moved to North Yorkshire from the south, my DS was invited to his first birthday party. He'd only just started at the school. So I sent him along with a card and present, to 'Lara', only for him to come back and inform me that I'd spelled her name wrong at it was 'Laura'.

They are both pronounced exactly the same up here.

I don't think regional accents are baffling at all. I would just expect that even if you had a regional accent you would still be able to tell the difference between different, distinct sounds. I've just never realised that this wasn't the case

Paul, pool, pull are all said Kind of like 'pawl' with a soft 'l'

Paul and pool sound very similar here too- sort of "pauw"

I have a Theo and we have had lots of notes from school, birthday cards etc addressed to Feo or Fio

When he was learning to read and write he used to ask me when spelling "which 'f' is it?" - no, there's one 'f' and one 'th' and they are different! Luckily at 7 he has grown out of it.

Ds is well spoken but can't say th. partly London and partly as he's surrounded by Italian speakers who don't have th in their language (I don't think). I've tried but ds really cannot do it- he overstates the th and ends up with spit flying out of his mouth.

Children often struggle with 'th', and pronounce it 'f'.
Of course it could be the dialect, or a combination.

But a short a is acceptable regional pronounciation.
F instead of th is wrong even if it is a common dialect

According to whom?

As another Anglophone immigrant who's acquired a not-quite-RP accent in my years living here, I'm often baffled that in a geographically small country with an unusual diversity of accent and dialect, people are so surprised and even shocked that people elsewhere in the country pronounce words differently.

My DCs grew up in London and all pronounce TH correctly.

Never realize pronouncing TH as F was considered dialectic.

I'm from south London and use th not f

But having a souf London accent is fashionable at the moment and it has changed from when I was growing up and sounds more exaggerated

the f for th is used by many in the se just not quite as pronounced I think it's something you will have to get used to

I live in South London. My original posh RP has acquired more London vowels, the occasional "we/you was" and liberal use of 'innit'. My th remains intact unless I'm doing it on purpose. MrNC sounds generic Midlands plus innit, unless he's spent the day dealing with builders and other tradies when he starts sounding all sarf laahndan.

Ds can code-switch perfectly between London-accented RP (the T and TH sounds exist) and local accent where it's glottal stop and F for TH. In Reception they learnt how there are different ways to spell sounds, like F can be f or ff or th like in one two free. I got a lovely Mother's Day card saying 'I luth you'!

Spent ages choosing names that would survive American and German family and local attempts. Some names.there are.multiple pronunciations - in their school with kids from across Europe and beyond there's Davids and Adrians and Gabriels - day-vid vs davvid, AY-dree-un vs Adri-ANN, GAY-bree-ull vs Gabry-EL... Even names like Adam sound odd if the stress goes on the second syllable, but the boy who does.it can't tell that he's saying his name.differently to the English Adam.

As someone born & brought up in SE London I can honestly say I have never used the word innit & I never say we /you was. There is a difference between having the accent and actual grammar

He'd be Tee-eeer-daw where I come from.

Sadcat, I'm laughing at the idea of the horror on ops face a she reads that pronunciation!

They do not Dame ?! :o I can't get over it. I keep trying to say them so that they rhyme but I can't. They're jahw and dore to me.

Speaking of fear though, to me it rhymes with mirror. They're both one syllable unless I say meer-or very carefully.

Fear rhymes with mirror?? I don't understand!

Some Americans will rhyme fear as mirror- sort of miir and fiir.