To ask how you would pronounce this name?

[Notss]

Hi all,

Sorry if this is the wrong place:

My little sister is expecting her first child and if it is a girl wants to call her “Sian”.

She sent it to me in a text and I replied “What - like See-Ann?” And she told me I was being daft.

So how would you pronounce such a name?

jamievardys Is that how it's taught in uk schools? that ar makes a long a sound?

Is that how it's taught in uk schools? that ar makes a long a sound?

In Scottish schools as well? Somehow I doubt it.

I don't know how it's taught in schools, I'm afraid. I've simply observed that people with the same non-rhotic accent I have who haven't been explicitly taught otherwise (e.g. shorthand course or learning other languages, where pronunciation guides always use ah) mostly seem to go to ar when they need to describe a long a-sound. Probably because of words like car and barn.

Although I also have wondered whether if you're not used to breaking words down that way, ah looks too exclamatory?

Sharn

It’s Siân. And sounded out as Shaan.

Shan

I'd pronounce is Sharn, but a girl I went to school with had that name and she pronounced it 'See-Ann'

I knew s Sian pronounced See-Ann because her parents didn’t know the correct pronunciation. It was massively cringe for her

Is it only me that's heard sharn used as another word for dung?

@JamieVardysHavingAParty here's an example of an English schools resource on the "ar" sound:

teachphonics.co.uk/ar-sound.html

Never heard it. I'm guessing that'll be a regionalism. Are you Scottish or from North England, Kate?

I know a Sian who spells it ‘Sharn’, and pronounces it Shaan/Shahn/Sharn obviously!

Hmm, interesting, Beauty. I predict that the "Wha? How can you pronounce that with an R-sound?!" debates are going to continue on the internet for another generation yet!

It's Sharn

JamieVardy, I'm from the far north of Scotland.

That might be it then. I speak southern English with a touch of estuary.

Hi there, just thought I’d pop by to clear this up!

It’s
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Shaahn, to rhyme with Khan. But I’m a very nice person, so I wouldn’t get all humpty if somebody called me See-Ann or Cy-Ann, cos I’m dead nice, me.

The random r thing that I see in threads on how to pronounce thinks really confuses me.

It’s not random. Some accents pronounce (almost) all letter ‘r’s (rhotic). Some accents only pronounce the letter ‘r’ if it’s followed by a vowel (non-rhotic). Non rhotic speakers pronounce the ‘r’ in camera but not in barn; in giraffe but not in platform.

I sometimes think the confusion is a bit put on, tbh. All of us have heard accents that say ‘r’ differently from the way we do, as I doubt you could find a person who hadnt heard both an American, Irish or Scottish accent and a majority English, Australian or New Zealand accent. All it takes is a moment of ‘I wonder if that person has a different accent to me’ before typing ‘THERE IS NO R IN THAT WORD.’

This is bizarre. There are thousands of Sian's. It's like asking how to pronounce Louise. How old are you?

It’s pronouced Sharn. It’s my name. Not ‘shan’ it doesn’t rhyme with ‘can’. Definitely Sharn

All it takes is a moment of ‘I wonder if that person has a different accent to me’ before typing ‘THERE IS NO R IN THAT WORD.’

Sure, but it's just a slightly snarky way to point out that MN is a very non-rhotic-centric place. And there are other ways to render the pronunciation that wouldn't depend so heavily on non-rhotic accents.

jassy I'm confused sorry!
I would pronounce the r in camera and barn. And the r in giraffe and the r in platform. I'm Irish and say hiatch though

Personally, I motion we have done with the whole ah/ar feud and switch to using the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). A short bedding-in period will be necessary, but after that, all these discussions will be so much clearer and more streamlined.

See-arn
I kind of know that it's not pronounced that way, but can never remember how you actually do pronounce it.