Opinions on Sorley?

[DoveDave]

Thanks!

Somhairlie

so like "sour" with a lee?

sour isn't much nicer than sore though is it? it's probably worse

It's lovely but you will have trouble with it. Or rather your son will.
My daughter keeps telling me what a pain it is to have a tricky, ie Irish, name. All our Irish relatives are fine with it, but we live in England, where it is frequently mangled.

Just to be clear....

When you say FOR and FORE do they sound the same too?

Yes?

When you say FOR and FORE do they sound the same too?

yes
For, Fore & Four all sound the same when I say them

Which is quite different to "sore"

No it isn't, it's exactly the same.

It's "aw" not "oh"

Yes, Saw. Not Sew,

Aren't accents tricky! :o

Sorely - the first syllable is identical to the first syllable of "sword"

Which is quite different to "sore"

Sore and the swor part of sword sound exactly the same to me.

sword is not pronounced with an "aw" or an "oh"

sword sounds exactly the same as sore but with a "d" at end

Sorley you sorely need a spanking for pointing that sword at me.

Sore, Soar, and the first part of Sword all sound exactly the same

Im scottish and never come across it.

Well there's McSorley's pub off Jamaica Street in Glasgow

And they all sound the same! :o

Sword has an entirely different vowel sound from sore/soar

There's this thing called 'accents that sound different to yours'...

Bath, grass etc are prime examples of different accents and pronunciations.

Me again, trying to help.

As a previous poster said way back up thread, the first syllable does not rhyme with 'saw' or 'sore' or even the first part of 'sorrel'. It's closest to the English-accent 'gone'. But - and this is important - with more of a softer, sighing, breathy sound: Sohrr-uh-lee .

The 'uh' is a tiny pause or an even smaller breath, NOT a voiced sound.

A similar sort of pause goes thousands of years back to the Indo-European roots of the Gaelic language (Gaelic belongs to the same family as Latin and Greek etc). There is even a special name for it:

"... a Gaelic peculiarity, not generally found in English, is the Svarabhakti (or ‘helping’) vowel (the term comes from ancient Sanskrit). This is a vowel sound which is not written but generally repeats (approximately) the preceding vowel. Alba, for example, is pronounced approximately ‘Al-uh-puh’."

www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=4568&printable=1

And when it comes to Scottish names like Sorley, perhaps the Scots might know how Scottish pronunciation works?

And what about sword. Do Scots have the last word on how that's pronounced too?

Yes'm, but what you don't seem to grasp is that the things you're saying sound the same as each other in many English accents.

Lord knows that that 'm is doing in there.

And when it comes to Scottish names like Sorley, perhaps the Scots might know how Scottish pronunciation works

fine if the kid only ever mixes with native scots

There are gaelic sounds that some non celts struggle to pronounce and not for want of trying, so if it's said in their accent it'll sound as posters have said it'll sound