To say baby names sound better with some 'accents' and not others.

[HJWT]

Basically having a debate with DH about how baby names sound different/better depending what part of the country you are from.

When my DH (from london) says a name, for example Hallie, Koby they sound nice but when I say them (from 'up north') they sound quite tacky 😂 he thinks they sound the same either way where as I don't

Whats your opinion ?

I used to work in Leicester, it made me want to cry when people said my name (it ends in y)

My friends have a DS, with a name pronounced differently depending on the accent. They are northern, so say a short 'a', while I say it a bit more like 'ar'. I try to mimic their pronunciation, but ends up sounding a bit forced. I'm not sure what's worse, really - sticking with my accent or making it sound awkward whenever I say his name!

There’s a hike up here in Liverpool about some pronunciations of Zara Larson. I can’t even write it down but it’s an extremely Scouse way if pronunciation the “ar” sounds in both.

Joke!

I have an Alexander, pronounced with a short a as I'm northern, but living in Cambridgeshire, he'd get Alexaarrrnder which sounds awful to me. So he's an Alex - much easier!

Agreed. Best to avoid names with T’s in the middle or at the end if you’re in Yorkshire .

Definitely! I always liked Zoe for a girl. DH (from Hull) pronounces it Zerr-eh. We gave dd a different name.

I discounted any name with an Ay sound in the middle eg Charlie, Grace, Kate because of the way they would be pronounced locally. Same with names beginning with H.

My Grandma used to tell the story of meeting a neighbour with a newborn, Grandma asked the baby's name, as you do. "Ellen" was the reply, "oh lovely" said my Grandma "my friends baby is Elenor"
"Not Ellen" said the mother annoyed
"'Ellen with an H"

I think it’s your perception of the accents rather than the sound. I have a southern accent and people in the north often think it is quite posh or the right way to say things so is nice. So I say Joseph Jo-ziff. Where as a lot of northerners will say something along the line of Jaw-zeff and often they perceive the northern accent as sounding ‘worse’ because they don’t value it.

In London my accent is seen as Estuary English and a bit common and people who are posher than me say something like ‘jer-ziff’. And they see that as a higher value accent than mine.

I think it’s a lot to do with making value judgments based on accents than it has to do the actual sound.

Agreed. Best to avoid names with T’s in the middle or at the end if you’re in Yorkshire grin.

Oh yeah. I know a few little girl ‘Scarlers’ around here.

I'm from Yorkshire and a friend of mine had to persuade family from 'down south' not to call their kid Saul as northerners always put 'our' (pronounced Arrr) in front of the name it would end up sounding like the poor kid was called Arsehole

Most Yorkshire people don't drop the T's in names it's the 'rough'ens' that do it, not the entirety of the county.

I've live in West Yorkshire my whole life (and from a working class family) and wouldn't dream of not pronouncing a T!

I agree! The name Ottilie is a lovely name, but in Essex the T's would very likely be dropped and ruined the name!

My daughter gets really annoyed when people don’t pronounce the ‘t’ in her name - think Katie. She actually corrects people which is sometimes met with raised eyebrows!

I agree.

Romeo, for example, sounds dreadful in a South Wales Valleys accent.

Koby is a dreadful name irrespective of accent though.

I was quite (horrified) surprised by how people from Leeds pronounced my name. Never in my 30 years have I heard it rendered “Hailer” before

Aurora in 'Scouse'. Just no.

"Auruura-ah" ... fuxache. (& I'm scouse and loved that name 😭)

@CurlyhairedAssassin - tzarah larhsan 😂

I'm South Yorkshire, but work predominantly on the other side of Yorkshire. I absolutely love the name Arlo, until a new colleague said "oh yeah luv ma lad's got serme nerme (same name)" and then pronounced it AHHLORRRR. Luckily we all take the mick out of each others' accents but it ruined it dead for me. DH and I had recently agreed on name if DC due July is a boy, until DSD and her much stronger S.Yorks accent turned Arthur into Aaarfur! 😁 Very cute but.... nope

treaclesoda - County Antrim right?

powershower yes indeed.

Not a baby name but the breeders we got our dog from had another dog and we never did work out if it was called Fleur or Flair.

Agreed. Best to avoid names with T’s in the middle or at the end if you’re in Yorkshire .

Off topic but I feel for nursery teachers in Yorkshire now reading and writing is all based on phonics, the word 'couldn't' must be hell.

OP

I totally agree, my family is spread out so names are said differently by different relatives.

I like Esme for our baby due this year but can’t use it as my husband pronounces it EsME rather than EsMAY as I would.

Wellnob dnglish makes sound awful when said in an English accent. One of the reasons why we chose English names (English speaking country and all that).

Yup. Several girls names on our list got crossed off when practised in my MiL's and my accent. Different places, so different names off the list for each accent!