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

it is bloody regional, more to the point people can't help it. Like many English people can't roll their 'r' sounds, therefore unable to pronounce Welsh names like Rhys and Rhiannon (not that it stops them giving Welsh names to their kids)

well, yes it IS regional. but its not a case of 'cant' pronounce /th/ or /rh/ sounds, its just harder/not natural to do so. there is nothing structurally about their mouths that makes it impossible, its just not how they would do it automatically. it can be learned, if you are willing to try.

I feel your pain, OP. I also have a son with a Th name and ILs whose regional accent can't say it.

I'm really confused by th being pronounced as f. I'm from up north and have a very regional accent and I can't hear it in my head really. Like free for three?

Because I know how it should sound I am saying it with 3 syllables, but I know I'm conversation it would probably become feardoor ( I'm saying it out loud now!)

also didn't see the other thread but Frances is my nans name. it is definitely pronounced frahn-sis xxx

I'm saying it to myself and I definitely say it with 2 syllables,3 sounds too much of a mouth full

Greatf
Dd and Dh cannot say th.

As someone brought up in London I'd like to say I (and all my friends and acquaintances!) most certainly can pronounce the TH sound. Not sure where this belief that everyone in the SE says it as an F has come from?! Too much Eastenders perhaps

Seren 3 & free sound exactly the same

my brother does this too and our surname is Smith. Well to me it's Smith. To him it's Smiff 😢

I'm really confused by th being pronounced as f. I'm from up north and have a very regional accent and I can't hear it in my head really. Like free for three?

Yes and fink for think.

Can't see why anyone would call him anything other than his name. As you say it is not that hard .

Someone in my office pronounces th as f. I'm in Manchester. It annoys me.

What monf would you like that to start.

Do you want free or four payments sending?

I fink you might want to do x y z.

What I don't understand is how they can say this, that, their etc but other words they change to an f.

I'm from the SE and have to make a conscious effort to pronounce f and th words differently.

But I would say "thee o door" / "fee o door" so definitely 3 syllables.

Have to agree with GreatF, Bruffin. Your DH and DD are choosing/have learned not to pronounce TH correctly, if they practised they would be able to.

If you're not bothered about the F then I can't see the problem

Thear-door sounds the same to me as The-uh-door

'also didn't see the other thread but Frances is my nans name. it is definitely pronounced frahn-sis xxx'

Without wanting to get into the whole Frances thing again, I'm sure lots of Northern nans called Frances pronounce it with a flat a. Nans are not evidence

I have a story for you.

The first day I took my Theo to reception the head teacher was stood at the entrance welcoming the children. She asked him 'What sound does your name start with?' as she was 'guessing' which child was which (not guessing at all as they had timeslots).

He proudly said 'Fffffffff' and I had to correct him as to his OWN NAME! This is thanks to all of his nursery staff and friends in pre-school calling him Feo. If you'd asked him to spell his own name he'd have got it right but he was so used to being called Feo.

For some daft reason I gave DS2 a name with 'th' sound in the middle too and regretted it until we left SE London!

It's the syllables though. Not just F/th. Fear is either fee-yuh (2 syllables) or feer (1syllable)

Thee-uh-door or Feer-door.

'Oh don't,I'm still having flash backs about that thread !'

Painful wasn't it?

Most people in London don't pronounce 'th' as 'f'. Some people do, but the standard SE pronunciation would be Theodore, not Feardore. My husband's from the South West and a lot of his family don't pronounce 'th' so they'd probably say Feodore. 'Th' is one of those sounds you have to learn to say as a child or you'll never get it, but it's also one of the later acquired sounds.

In my head they don't sound different enough to get worked up about. The th/f would annoy me far more than the amount of differentiation between the first two vowel sounds. The second is a schwa anyway, so it's not surprising it's lost in some people's accents.

bruffin yes, they can. unless they have a structural abnormality with their mouths, they can. they've just never learned how because its not a future of their accent. the same as most people can't pronouce an welsh /ll/ or make the clicks and trills that are part of many tribal languages, because they've never learned how to. but they aren't physically incapable. it just takes practise.

Theo (or Fee-Oh, as it's probably pronounced in London.

Absolutely. Because all of us Londoners sound like they have parts in Eastenders.

I think you should have named him Hodor!

I pronance it as Fee-Oh-Door I have no accent though moved around to much