Pronunciation problems with names with a hard "t" sound?

[southlondongirlie]

Expecting a girl in September...

We've almost agreed on Etta but I am worried again about pronunciation issues where people would drop the "t" sound altogether and it would become E--a .... IYSWIM?

With names where the hard T sound is as the end I don't think it sounds as bad (like Matt, Harriet, etc) but do you think that most people would drop the hard T sound when pronouncing Etta?

Should I be worrying this much?!!!!!

I say "worried again" because I've already had to drop my favourite name, Thea, from the list as someone pointed out on another thread it's likely to become "Fear" with certain accents!

I think Etta would be fine, as the hard t sound is the main part of the word if you see what I mean. In a name like Harriet it's easier to drop as the t isn't the core of the name and isn't the only consonant... I'm not sure how to explain myself. I use the old glottal stop ever so liberally and am not ashamed to do so, but I'd definitely pronounce the t in Etta.

If you live in London many people speaking local accents will drop the "t"s. My American husband wanted us to call our 2nd dd Verity but in America most people pronounced it Veri-dee, the "t" totally disappeared so we abandoned the idea.

I think its a lovely name, and I don't think it will be a problem. Go for it!

This is exactly why I didn't call my DD Etta in the end. It is my favourite girls name ever and I didn't use it because I could not stand how other people pronounce it. It ranged from a complete lack of T to a very faint T sound. Drove me up the wall.

It sounds awful without a very strong T and so many people, even those who pronounce it properly at first tend to relax and slip into poor pronunciation of it. DD had 4 weeks as Etta, then it was changed because it totally spoilt it for me when everyone relaxed into the name and stopped making an effort to say it correctly.

We live in London btw, if thats relevant. Although a few of our northern and scottish family members were exactly the same.

My dad is a real Londoner and he wouldn't drop the t in Etta. They don't just randomly ditch letters! My dd is Harriet and yes, the t does go from her name sometimes as well as the H but Etta wouldn't become E'a

Thanks for the comments - I didn't want to share the name with friends and family before she's born but I think I might have to, to see how they would say it and decide if that annoys me!!! I didn't think choosing a name would be this difficult!

I think people more don't pronounce the t at the end of a name. With etta it's like the central part of the name - think people would pronounce the t

Who are "these people"?

Randoms that you might come across, or people who are close to you & you know that they won't be able to say it?

(Really not able to even if they tried iyswim?)

Sorry, just seen your pp & realise that you are talking about F&F.