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?

Ork.

Ir grive urp.

It'rs jrust mre whro doersn't gert ther nreed fror the silernt/vroiced, vrisible/invrisble R.

Ars yrou werrrrrrrrrre!

I am aware that whoever created that image can't spell pronounced...

@ShowOfHands

Yes!

Thank you!

Helpimfalling
Sharnn

Classic mumsnet that you still get replies like this amongst a 5-page derail about people putting an "r" in it.

Seeing, is the need for it not explained by:

A any of the explanations on here
B a basic acceptance that some people have different accents
C knowledge that many English people are taught it in school
D the linked YouTube video and worksheet
E a cursory google

People are different to you.

BTW this post contains several silent R's. Please see the following words:

for
here
words
worksheet

... as just a few examples

It'rs jrust mre whro doersn't gert ther nreed fror the silernt/vroiced, vrisible/invrisble R.

Yep. I’d put it down to insularity and unwillingness to acknowledge that other people transcribe sounds differently from the way you do. And that many do it as naturally as you would do an /a/ or /ah/ for the same sound. It’s how they’ve been taught since childhood, after all.

But you may have another reason.

(BTW, all but two of the /r/s you put into your terribly witty post are preceding vowels, so totally irrevant to a discussion about rhotic and non-rhotic pronunciations. One was at the end of the word, so also irrelevant.

Well done on ‘silernt’ though. You’re right, for non-rhotic speakers that would sound the same as ‘silent’.)

It'rs jrust mre whro doersn't gert ther nreed fror the silernt/vroiced, vrisible/invrisble R.

Well judging by that post you clearly don't understand the purpose of it, which is to indicate what vowel sound you make.

Lorna is exactly the same. In received pronunciation you don't pronounce the R; its function is to tell you that the O should be flat ("or"/"aw" sound) rather than an "oh" sound. So it's pronounced like Law-na, rather than Loh-na.

There are countless other words in the English language where the silent R serves exactly that purpose. To change the vowel.

So now you know.

I've learnt a lot from this thread. Not least that due to my accent I have been pronouncing Siân incorrectly, so I will make the effort to overcome my accent and try to pronounce it the way it should be.

I'm not changing the way I pronounce barn/car/harm etc though

Well done on ‘silernt’ though. You’re right, for non-rhotic speakers that would sound the same as ‘silent’.

Actually on reflection it would be subtly different in my accent! But the /r/ could still serve a purpose to modify the vowel.

Fucking Hell...I bet Jane doesn't get this much angst... Where should the silent R in Jane go? JaRne??

Seeing R in a sharn serves exactly the same purpose as the second h serves in shahn, provided you are in a non-rhotic area.

Jane is a split digraph a_e, where the e demonstrates that the a is not a short a-sound but the other long a-sound in English, ay, as Kay, away, and so on.

So really it's a silent e in Jane.

This is why I have no friends...

R in a sharn serves exactly the same purpose as the second h serves in shahn, provided you are in a non-rhotic area

This!

😞😢😢

R in a sharn serves exactly the same purpose as the second h serves in shahn, provided you are in a non-rhotic area

I made this point three whole days ago!

I like the silent e in Jane. My name is Rhonda. It has a silent h and a non-rhotic er. In an American accent, I'm willing to argue that it has an additional non-rhotic ar. I'm going to start spelling it Rharnder.

Beautiful name Rharnder
My name is Aisling, even the Irish fail to say it right.. They can't be bothered to spell it right either!

I read a Maeve Binchy novel when I was 12ish and the main character was an Aisling. There was a guide to pronunciation on the title page...

Really showofhands I've never known an author to do that.
Irish names can be particularly difficult though.
I was once called Ass lin in Manchester

I think we should discuss the beautiful capital of Austria, Wien, pronounced veen because that's the sounds those letters make. More or less. Lovely city, full of architectural sights.

The French call it Vienne and we, the bloody English, call it Vienna, and the Welsh call it Fienna!

Think how confused German speakers must be when they first realise. "But Wien doesn't have a V in it! Or an F! How did this happen?" I like to imagine young Austrians saying (in German, naturally)

Of course, in every single one of those languages, the initial sound has remained the name- it's just written according to local rules. German W, French V, English V, Welsh F? All the same sound.

Lorna is exactly the same. In received pronunciation you don't pronounce the R; its function is to tell you that the O should be flat ("or"/"aw" sound) rather than an "oh" sound. So it's pronounced like Law-na, rather than Loh-na.

I say Law-na and Loh-na the same . But the function of the r is not to lengthen the a sound because Lorna is a name from a book set in a rhotic speaking part of the world and derived from a male name from a rhotic speaking part of the world. So it should be pronounced like a pirate would say it.

I made this point three whole days ago!

In three days' time, someone else will make it again. It's the beautiful Circle of Life!

How are we pronouncing circle?

I was referring to YeTalkShiteHelen's post -

My friend Lorna, who spent a lot of time on the phone with non-rhotic speakers would definitely tell you there is such a thing .

The lack of r in Lorna when said by non rhotic speakers really irritated her.

I'm a non rhotic speaker and if I try to say the R it's really clumsy. It almost adds an extra syllable