How would you pronounce Dahlia?

[Whatsinagirlsname]

I love this as a girl's name, but in pronunciation I prefer "Dar Lee uh" to "Day Lee uh". Do you think this would cause too much confusion?

People with non-rhotic accents - dar
People with rhotic accents - dah

This dar/dah-type thing comes up all the time on here. To anyone with a non-rhotic accent (including most English-speakers from England), dar and dah sound totally and utterly identical!

I know a Dahlia ( adult) - pronounced Day lee uh. She’s very unflowery as person both visually and personality !

The way it's written: Dahl i a.

The Dahl is like Ronald Dahl

If Dah isn’t Dar then what is it?

Dah is like Ah

Dar is like Star. You pronounce the R.

Dah is like Ah

Dar is like Star.

Both are exactly the same.

You pronounce the R.

No I don't. Because I don't have a rhotic accent.

”This dar/dah-type thing comes up all the time on here. To anyone with a non-rhotic accent (including most English-speakers from England), dar and dah sound totally and utterly identical!”

I know, and the way some people go on all disingenuously saying “oh but so-and-so word hasn’t got an r in it” you’d think they’d never heard a non-rhotic accent in their life.

It’s clearer to use ‘ah’ when describing pronunciation, rather than ‘ar’, obviously. But it takes no imagination at all when someone is describing how they pronounce Dahlia to work out that when they write dar it is because in their (very common, on telly all the time, not at all unheard-of) accent, the two sounds are interchangeable.

Give the child a break and call her something she won't have to correct half the time.

Imagine star in a London accent though. It's stah. I know a few Alistahs, when in Scotland they would be Alistair with the r pronounced properly .

So, when people say dah and dar are exactly the same, they're right, but only for some English accents. In some West country, Lancastrian and all Irish and Scottish accents, the r is pronounced.

Other English speaking countries have these differences too. I. Australia star is stah. In America star is star with the r pronounced.

"So, when people say dah and dar are exactly the same, they're right, but only for some English accents. In some West country, Lancastrian and all Irish and Scottish accents, the r is pronounced."

The difference is when someone who has a rhotic accent pretends they have no idea why someone uses an r to describe pronunciation. I have a non-rhotic accent but I am perfectly aware that some English and Irish/Scottish etc accents, the r is fully pronounced.

Irritates me when someone comes on saying all disingenuous "Why are you saying you pronounce bath as barth, when there's no r in it?".

It's a flower name so Day-lee-ah.

I read it as day-lee-ya even though when I read your OP I can see how Dah-lee-ya makes more phonetic sense.
Think I just autocorrected in my mind to the flower.
For the record I really like the proncounciation you have. It’s pretty. Think there was a vampire with this name in Buffy 😂 Don’t worry that is a niche connotation though!

People pretending they have never heard a non-rhotic accent:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/a3085438-How-would-you-pronounce-this-name#73328317

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3369183-To-ask-how-you-would-pronounce-this-name

@flowery

I remember a thread where someone was discussing the names Safiya (pronounced sa-fy-a) and sapphire. One poster was hopping mad and adamant that they were clean exactly the same name "how can ANYONE say differently? What are you talking about? They sound exactly the same". But obviously, when a lot of mumsnetters; people not from England, some people with west country accents etc were saying they are not the same.

The op on this case is trying to spell out the name phonetically, so it would make more sense not to include the r as many people will read that as darrr Lee ah! Which clearly isn't right.

To you it's obvious what the op means. To others it may not be.

Dahlia to me is always pronounced like the Indian lentil dish Dhal.

I’ve taught a few Dahlia’s and have never come across a Daylia. I’ve only heard that pronunciation when pertaining to flowers and I don’t like the sound at all. Dahlia as in the Ah sound is much nicer.

A rotic Darlia would be horrendous.

The Indian lentil dish darl you mean 😂

Day lee a

I know the name of the flower is pronounced 'DAY-lee-uh', but almost every time I've seen it used as a name it's been pronounced 'DAR-lee-uh'. Despite the name of the flower, if I met someone with the name I would naturally say 'DAR-lee-uh'.

Surely it's that people with rhotic accents pronounce rs that are there, which non-rhotic speakers don't? Like the Alistair example mentioned above. Not that rhotic speakers put an r in a word where there isn't one?

That's the 'intrusive r' which is often a feature of speech in the SE, hence that well known character Laura Norder, often mentioned by newsreaders and politicians. And the children's fictional character Ameliaranne.

Op I think it's a beautiful name but also automatically think of the murder. It's very famous and gruesome

I'm a rhotic speaker and I remember being utterly flummoxed the first time I saw people sticking random Rs in the middle of words. I genuinely wasn't being disingenuous I just didn't get it.

I finally worked it out when I tried to pronounce things with a put on English accent and realised to me it's like an enlongated A sound

It's a flower name, so it's pronounced like the flower.

I have a feeling flowery is having a go at me here as I asked about the 'r'. I'm Irish and it didn't sound right to me. I'm not trying to insinuate anything!

I agree with Fatkins:

But obviously, when a lot of mumsnetters; people not from England, some people with west country accents etc were saying they are not the same.

The op on this case is trying to spell out the name phonetically, so it would make more sense not to include the r as many people will read that as darrr Lee ah! Which clearly isn't right.

A rotic Darlia would be horrendous.

Rhotic speakers don't add extraneous Rs

Rhotic speakers don't add extraneous Rs

Thanks for the education. I am a Rhotic speaker. I stand by what I said, the word Darlia, as the OP wrote it, pronounced by a rhotic speaker would sound horrendous.