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How would you pronounce Emer?

87 replies

D0ni · 19/07/2016 08:33

How would you pronounce the Irish name Emer?

Just wondering if it would be mis pronounced a lot from the spelling?

OP posts:
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MrsJoeyMaynard · 19/07/2016 09:02

Eee- mer.

And there's other names starting with a long eee rather than an eh as in eggs. Edith anyone?

bluebloom · 19/07/2016 09:03

Ee-mer. And I would spell it Eimear. Lovely name.

Lindt70Percent · 19/07/2016 09:03

I'm a southern English person and would pronounce it Eeemer. Lovely name!

Mov1ngOn · 19/07/2016 09:04

It is a lovely name :)

2nds · 19/07/2016 09:06

It wouldn't be mispronounced a lot because of the spelling, rather it would be mispronounced a lot because people couldn't be bothered to pronounce it properly even though it's one of the easiest female Irish names there is.

Personally I prefer the Eimear, but that's only because I've known a few Eimears and no Emers.

Those of you who would say Emma, would you say Emmagency instead of emergency?

2nds · 19/07/2016 09:06

I don't know where the word spelling went lol.

BertrandRussell · 19/07/2016 09:07

I have a friend who Anglicised the name to Ima- and people call her
Eye-ma................

BertrandRussell · 19/07/2016 09:09

I do!'t think emergency works- that is sort of "emmergency"!

treaclesoda · 19/07/2016 09:09

2nds funnily enough, i would say 'eh-mergency', not 'ee-mergency' and I was bemoaning people not being able to prounounce Emer further up the thread Grin

But as a previous poster said, people can pronounce Edith ok, and Elaine, and Evie, so I don't understand why when they see Emer they wouldn't know how to pronounce it.

notquitegrownup2 · 19/07/2016 09:11

As a secondary supply teacher, I have to read loads of names every day with no context, so I have to guess by looking for cultural clues or simply finding a link to find words I know. So I would pronounce it like Elmer without the l or like the beginning of Emetic.

Eimear would give me more of a starting point.

Mov1ngOn · 19/07/2016 09:12

Emergency sounds like "em" as in Emma to me. I've never heard it E-mergency. I think most words starting with "em" do.

It's nothing to do with not pronouncing "properly". Accents are all different. In real life once someone says "it's E-mur" that's what I (anyone?) would use I imagine and of course pronounce properly!

DulliDulli · 19/07/2016 09:13

My son is called Eli, and it is mispronounced constantly by teachers, doctors, dentists, health visitors etc etc. I really didn't think it was a tricky name, but everyone tries to say it with a phonic 'e'.

NeedACleverNN · 19/07/2016 09:15

Ee-mer here too.

Soon as I saw it and I'm in Lincolnshire

RastafarianTargaryen · 19/07/2016 09:20

Emma Confused Hmm

It's Eee-mur. I would spell it Eimear though.

CodewordRochambeau · 19/07/2016 09:23

would you say Emmagency instead of emergency?

Um, yes. I know how to pronounce Emer but that is close to an RP pronunciation - more like 'eh-MERgency'.

Natsku · 19/07/2016 09:23

I'd pronounce it Em-er but clearly I'm wrong.

Mov1ngOn · 19/07/2016 09:30

Emma = emmer in my southern accent so yes emmagency is emergency. Can't at the moment think how to say it differently!

I can say eee mur rather than emmer/Emma so once corrected I'd know.

ExcellentWorkThereMary · 19/07/2016 09:31

I would pronounce it Ee-mur but if spelled Eimear I would say eye-meer as I've never seen that before.

gingerboy1912 · 19/07/2016 09:31

Em er

Primaryteach87 · 19/07/2016 09:36

Okay I see what you're saying about the magic e. It's a nice name and I'm sure Irish people will province it properly! Us English types might get it wrong, so you'd need to (patiently) correct us. If you don't mind doing that, it's a pretty name.

Primaryteach87 · 19/07/2016 09:36

^pronounce not province!

disappoint15 · 19/07/2016 09:38

The confusion is because the first e can be pronounced two ways. It is a short eh sound in Elaine ( it's not Ee-lane) and Elizabeth and emergency.

I didn't know Emer was Irish, thought it was a Turkish boys' name (don't know why) and that therefore the English rules wouldn't apply. Actually if I'd known it was Irish I would not have applied English pronunciation rules either, though they are inconsistent anyway as the examples above show.

2nds · 19/07/2016 09:39

My question was would you say EMMAgency? Lots of people are saying that they would pronounce the name as Emma yet Emer is closer to the emer at the start of emergency and I've never ever heard anyone say Emmagency, so surely the ma part of Emma wouldn't even come into it, besides Emma is a different name.

LokisUnderpants · 19/07/2016 09:40

If you're going to spell it Emer you need the fada over the first e. Émet to make it eeemer otherwise it's em mer.

LokisUnderpants · 19/07/2016 09:41

Jaysis Émer not Émet...

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