Accent ruining all our name choices.

[mangoespadrille]

DP and I, and both our extended families, are Manchester born and bred and speak accordingly (think The Royle Family, Gallagher brothers, Coronation Street etc.) DD1 is on the way in January and we're trying to think of a name. The problem is the huge number of names around at the moment ending in -ee -ia and -a sounds. We like a lot of them but, when said aloud in our accents, they sound terrible; for example, at the antenatal clinic yesterday there was a lady with girls called Lexi (Lex-eh) and Olivia (Olivi -uh).

We don't like the current trend for "old lady" names (I have one despite being born in the 80s and have never liked it). Any ideas? Do you think our accent matters or am I over thinking this?

What accent is that, Mrsdevere?

I was in a supermarket once wondering why a woman had given her son a name she couldn't pronounce (it was Christian but came out as Chrisssshhhhjun)

I really think you're overthinking this.

Although, my friend has a cat who I thought was called "Garden". Turns out he's actually "Gordon". I thought " garden" was a cute name too

^Catsmamma Forgive me, but I don't understand your post. You're not telling me that you have relatives that go by 'obert, 'achel, and 'osie - are you?

Can't think of a single Mancunian that drops Rs at the start of names. Could you be thinking of Hs?^

Saintsandpoets - think she means they're all referred to as " our Rachael", "our Tommy" etc, would sound like " R Tommy"

Here's some suggestions of some pretty safe manc-proof names...

Girls...

Caitlyn
Autumn
Amy
Katie/Kate
Ivy
Eve
Isobelle
Grace
Darcy
Phoebe
Emily
Elise
Eloise
Scarlett
Charlotte
Alice
Erin
Jasmine
Evelyn
Annabelle
Niamh

Boys...

Jack
Thomas
Sam
Ben
Joseph
Josh
Dylan
Alfie
Luke
Lucas
Harry
Jacob
James
George
Max
Leo
Freddie
Theo
Adam
Lewis
Bobbie

Cloudy - I'm sat here remembering my (sadly no longer with us) granny, and how she'd say various names.

Mary is a fabulous one, as there was "Mareh from down street" who I used to hear about.

I'd rule out Judy too as it doesn't pass the granny test (Joo-deh).

oh. I love accents, they fascinate me, but I can't get Wendy to Widdy in my head!

that Manc-proof list is flawed - Emily is on it, which is Emil-eh

OP, how fastidious are you about the Manc L sound? Or does that not matter? I think Emily is a perfect storm of Mancitude in fact.

"I'm Noel Gallagher. Emily."

Did you hear that? "Emilllllleh"

(I don't know how to write the Manc broad L, it is similar to one of the Russian ones - although the Russians also have a slender l)

wingcommandergallic

Ah yes, that I am familiar with! Dad's sister is Our Cath!

My daughters were born in Croydon and I didn't consider an Ivy type name (with the long I sound), although it would have been an interesting little time capsule experiment as at the beginning of their lives a lot of people would have been saying Oyvy, and as all the OI people grow old and died it would be replaced by the west indies influenced young people's I sound (london multicultural english).

I did but a few ending in 'ie/y' but I don't think the ie/y names are too bad but it does depend on which part of Manchester u live in.
I think in Emily the L makes you pronounce the Y nicely.
Where I live A's are pronounced really strongly but Y's not so much. I know a few Emily's and I always think it sounds nice but when I hear ''Sar-ahhh come eeeyaaa, I need yaaaaa'' arrghhh it goes right through me.

There are different accents within Manchester so it does depend on the exact area as to how bad a certain name sounds in that accent.

MrsDeVere, I wonder if it was South African maybe?

Rose would not get Roseh.

It's Rose not Rosie.

I've spent this entire thread saying all the names out loud in my best Gallagher-ese.

Avoid any names ending in a vowel sound and it will be fine.

Middleton - but pretty much every Rose gets Rosie at some point, unless you are very strict about it!

It's hard to avoid a vowel or y ending to a girls name and not go 'old lady name'!

Imogen
Megan
Caroline
Amber
Gabrielle
Claire
Carys
Eve
Alice
Juliet
Corrine
Tamsin
Scarlett

They avoid the vowel sound but don't sound too grannyish.

What maryw said. Also, the 'o' is pronounced unusually in Rose as well (this is just based on Coronation St I admit). Kind of like 'ROUWSE"

My Yorkshire friends have a Lola, or should I say Lorrrr-Larrrr

saintsandpoets, I think she means the Manchester pronunciation of 'our'. As in R Kid

Oops, didn't spot the second page

yes...the our/r thing

and then apparently I'd get irate as MY brother could not possibly be their Jim

:o

Where I live (rural East Anglia) if you're called Molly it's Marley, Holly, Harley etc.

Mind you, I watched the entire series of Damages thinking that Patty Hughes was called Paddy, due to the Americans mispronouncing it like that.

Oh you have my sympathies... In laws are from one of the areas mentioned already and apart from not understanding them (married 9 years and still don't get the mil) the way they pronounce names really get to me.

Never thought about it this way but we have named both our kids with names on the Manc-proof list!!

We initially liked Victoria... And fil said 'oh yeah nice name... Vickeeeeeyyy'. I dropped that immediately.

When I was at uni, one of my friends had a SA friend come to stay with them. He introduced himself as Ben. One of friends housemates thought his name was Bin, because of his accent. Poor lad never had the heart to correct him either and just let him call him Bin for an entire weekend.

I live in Essex and had to avoid all names with a 'th' in them as round 'ere they are all pronounced with an f instead so I feel your pain!