Opinions on Sorley?

[DoveDave]

Thanks!

Thank you Yes, good to know before I come to read the book to my children! (Camerons at the Castle - Somerled is a hunky young red-haired Laird as far as I remember.)

Maroon

Would you pronounce Somerled the "Scottish way" or with a (admittdely modern) Scandi/Swedish pronunciation? I love the name and this thread seems to suggest that it isn't this out there... (But the Scottish pronunciation is a tongue breaker for me personally...)

awful, sounds like they are in pain

I don't know! I might have to get Scottish DH to read it, I don't have the "R"s.

Maroon

Yes, DH is also able to roll the r the right way (I actually do roll my r but it's a throaty one... R's are complicated things....)

BUT; according to some sources Somerled is apparently not related to the name Sumarliði and I maybe therefore have no good reason to just be like... "eh, I use a modern Scandi/Swedish pronunciation"? huh. confusing stuff. (the namebook we have from MIL would contain wrong infos, in that case )

Sorry, Sorley sounds like the name of a grey, depressing mid-sized market town.

I still can't work out how to pronounce it. It definitely doesn't work well with a Home Counties accent. Poorly Sorely .
I actually didn't spot that it was in baby names at first and opened the thread to find out where in the UK Sorley was. It sounds like a place name.

It is a place name too - Sorley Square in Portree, Skye.
Pronounced Sorrlee. Why is that so difficult?

It's not difficult to understand that things may be pronounced slightly differently in different accents, especially names that may be common in one area and unheard of in another.
I live near a town called Morley, pronounced more-ly so having never met someone called sorley (or heard it pronounced) I would assume it was pronounced similarly.

I think the problem definitely stems from whether or not you have a rhotic accent. I can't seem to pronounce it any other way than rhymes with Crawley/sawley no matter how many times it's been explained it's apparently different?? I'm in the southeast and saw and sore are pronounced the same.

See for me with my Essex accent Sorrlee sounds exactly the same as Sorely. I regret my lack of Rs but I simply can't make them happen.

Sorrlee and Sorely sound the name to me too.

They sound nothing like each other if you're talking properly!
I honestly think some of you must struggle to be understood!

I'm struggling with this too and I'm considered to be pretty much "RP" in my speech. I can only get Sorrly to sound radically different from "Sore-lee" if I attempt a poorly executed Scottish accent,,,,!

But if you live in the SE and several other areas you don't roll your rs so you don't pronounce them in the middle or at the end of words. Sawley, sorely and Sorley are all pronounced exactly the same way if you have my accent, just like paw and poor or raw and roar. I can make a rhotic r sound but I still don't understand the difference between Sorrrley and Sorrrely.

Yes, even with a rhotic accent I can't understand the difference?

No especially if you are in the habit of referring to family members as 'r' Peter, 'r' Steve, 'r' Sorley.

Anyone still struggling, try this:

Sohrr-uh-lay or Sohrr-uh-lee

The 'uh' is a a tiny pause or breath rather than a sound.

I've never heard of it (English) but just said 'sorrly' out loud and I like the sound.

flora. Got it. Thank you!

Too similar to Sorely and presumably pronounced the same.

Thanks natalia !

llangennith, with respect, can I suggest that you read the whole thread; there have been 4 pages so far, mostly about pronounciation....

We guess I depends where you live and what the local accent will make of it....

DD is at school with a girl round this way called Niamh - pronounced by the mum as Nigh-EE-mah 😬😬😬

muthafunka why isn't there a facepalm emoji!?

That way (with the little vowel gap) it sounds like Sorrowly, which isn't a real word, but sounds sad rather than painful. I know it's a real name though, but the English language associations aren't great to me.