AIBU for pronouncing the name Brooke as BrOOKe rather than Bruck

[MoserRothOrangeandAlmond]

I’m a Geordie and pronounce words such as Book, Look and Cook with an oo sound rather than the uck sound.
A family who are from about an hour a way said that her daughter is sick of everyone pronouncing her name incorrectly.

I explained that it’s an accent thing as we pronounce those words with an oo sound rather that uck so it wouldn’t occur to most people to pronounce it that way and they wouldn’t deliberately mispronounce her name!

Just as if I go another part of the country or different country they pronounce my name differently depending on their accent.

AIBU?

I understand now, it's just the way it has been written. I have a moderately Southern accent but have lived in the North for nearly 40 years and taught phonics here. I never thought to rhyme Brooke with fuck in a Yorkshire accent 🤣.

Yeah, you're not wrong there. I'm going to read a fookin' bewk.

Your pronunciation sounds naff to be honest. Especially as you’ve been told the correct pronunciation.
I had an auntie like this. Eg she pronounced Harrogate as Arry-Gate, the gate bit rhymed with late.
she sounded like a nob and she showed herself up.

The rule is that you pronounce a child’s name in the same way that the parents do. As a teacher I have come across a variety of names, some that I’d not heard before and always ask to make sure I don’t upset anyone. Your own regional accent has no bearing on this.

I can't think of any English accent that would say Bruck for Brooke. There are two ways of saying the phoneme 'oo' (long as in moon or short as in the way most English people say book) - in some accents the longer of the two is always used but not an 'ugh' sound.

Right? I know people keep insisting it's so on the thread but I've literally never heard this.
Book pronounced Buck? I'm going to need evidence.

Completely different name but I had a similar situation in the nursery I worked at. I assumed Isaac was pronounced 'isack' not 'isuck' (sorry can't figure out how to write this without being confusing) wasn't till the parent corrected me that I realised🤣 names confuse me but once I found out I did just mentally remind myself each time how to pronounce it, haha

There are lots of English accents that do. Because in some accents buck and book sound exactly the same, therefore Brooke would sound like Bruck

Of course it has to do with spelling, if OP had been TOLD her name was Bruck, she would pronounce it like Bruck, Truck, Luck etc, she can easily say the UCK sound, she just chooses not to (or was unaware she should).

It's only because she knows her name is Brooke that she is elongating the ooo sound as she usually would for normal words with double O spellings, if her name was spelled Bruck.. she would pronounce it Bruck with no problems??

I get what you are saying but OP is perfectly capable of saying the UCK sound, so it really has nothing to do with accent, she wouldn't have to change her accent to pronounce the word/name Bruck correctly!

No I wouldn't say Andy back to him in an american accent, but I wouldn't pronounce it as a different word altogether like OP is.

Someone has actually done this, go to page 11, about 6 comments down.

I uploaded a video on page 3 of me saying Brooke. I realise now I forgot to say book but I did say look muck and fuck and book is pronounced the same in my accent.

Evidence only of me saying it but evidence nonetheless

It's not a different word altogether though, it's how's it's pronounced in her accent. If you wouldn't pronounce Andy in an American accent then why are you expecting her to pronounce Brooke in a different accent? It's the exact same concept.

You've obviously never been up north then. Book is buck to me, but that's my accent. Brooke would be Bruck. If someone corrected me I would try and say it with an oo sound but would probably think they were being rude to me

A lot of the confusion in the thread seems to be that people don't know how "truck" is pronounced here. Are we meant to think of Bob Hoskins, Hugh Grant, Vernon Kay, or Billy Connolly? I'm not quite sure what the Geordie pronunciation would be.

Ditto "book" - I know that in Liverpool the "oo" is more or less the same sound as in "pool", but again I can't immediately think what the Geordie version would be.

To me, thinking in RP terms, "Brooke" rhymes with "book", however that's pronounced locally. I wouldn't object if my child was named Brooke and someone said it in the same accent as they say "book". That could also be a Vernon Kay-style "truck", I guess.

On the other hand, if the parents are claiming that "Brooke" should rhyme with Hugh Grant saying "truck" (or more probably "fuck fuck fuck 😉) then they are going to be spending a lot of time being disappointed.

I have a southern accent and all of those sound the same when I say them! Book/brook/buck, look/luck.

I’m obviously aware some accents pronounce “look” more like “Luke”, “book” more like the -buke in “rebuke”, etc.

I uploaded a video on page 3 of me saying Brooke. I realise now I forgot to say book but I did say look muck and fuck and book is pronounced the same in my accent.

Can you post it again and tag me? Despite me changing the settings, I can't get my multipage view back and im genuinely fascinated now.

Here it is. @ArtTheClown

https://youtube.com/shorts/7nxLCgZtZCs?si=pQ83ovhCywL9dy6

I want my (parents) money back, I want RP!

im off to google as I need to hear the differences.

Here in Yorkshire, Book, Luck, Look, Rook, Cook, Snuck, Tuck and Brooke all rhyme.

I think the important distinction however, for people not from around these parts is quite subtle and it is that the "K" in these instances is more just a "Glottal stop"

As in " Trouble at' mill." or " 'moff t' shop"

it's not quite a letter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop

North easterner here...
Book is b-oo-k not Buck (do you all say c-uck rather than cook...)
Brooke is br-ooke like cook and book haha.
My other half is North Westerner he's an uck man...
But it's an accent thing so I think they need to deal with it. My Sunderland living family say K-urry for Kerry (and interestingly Kerry for curry.... )

Interestingly, or perhaps not... I do say L-uck each way rather than L-ook. Unless of course you're talking about Luke and that is L-oo-ke. Local dialects are brilliant things 🤣🥴

Yes mine! East Lancs. I am totally mystified by this third way that’s not brick or brewk. And I hear all different accents I’m not stuck in a Lancastrian bubble.

I'm not sure because it's an accent but you could easily say "Bruck" I'm guessing

If I named my son Hugo, my friends in Yorkshire would pronounce it differently from my family in London, but I wouldn't expect them to change an accent and I can't decide whether what you're proposing is different

That isn't the rule. Accents make everyone pronounce names slightly differently. I can't roll my Rs, it would be ridiculous of someone with a name from an accent that does roll their Rs to expect me to pronounce their name the exact same way as they do.

If you met an American Graham would you be happy calling him Gram?

Are you saying “oo” like ( to use Read, write inc’s phonetics) “ poo at the zoo” or “ look at a book”?
I’m a southerner living in Yorkshire, and we can get a bit hung up on this sound… but, I would ( and do for a child with that name) use the “look at a book” version! 😊

I think you should pronounce someones name how they telll you to.
I have a very unusual name and it winds me up when people get it wrong.

Saying that, i ain't calling nobody Creg.