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?

*Is there any other way to pronounce Dah other than Dah?

Yes, it could rhyme with hah, which has a short vowel sound in my accent.*

Really? I'd have thought dah, hah or bah are always long.

This is why we need phonetics 😂.

fəˈnetɪk

Yes @Fullmoons, it has the same vowel sound as happy in my southeastern English/Essex accent. Ha could be long though, just to confuse things...

Maybe a phonetics course should be mandatory before joining Mumsnet to avoid these sorts of situations

Ah but rhotic British accents tend to only have one sound for ha and hah. So in SE English accents, hah is a bit like the start of hard. Almost like an o sound, close to the start of the word hold. So Dahlia (unless pronounced day lee a) becomes almost doll-ee-a and hah is a bit like haw. Whereas ha in this accent is ha like hahaha.

In rhotic accents, like for example Edinburgh or Belfast accents, hah, dah etc are always ha and da. The a sound is always an. a, like apple. So Dahlia, (unless pronounced day lee a), becomes da-lee-a or maybe daa-lee-a. In Bristol ha is always a like apple, but sometimes elongated, like haaaappy. It's still an a sound though, rather than the SE English almost o sound. So I think it would be Daa-lee-a in Bristol too.

Phonetics course definitely needed!

Sorry, weird paragraphs there. I'm on my rubbish phone!

”I have a feeling flowery is having a go at me here as I asked about the 'r'.”

Nope. Not “having a go” at anyone in particular at all.

This, though: ”Yep, I'm totally baffled that there can be rhotic-speakers who aren't aware of non-rhotic pronunciation, and vice versa. How can anyone live in the British Isles and not be aware of it? I mean ok, maybe you might not have given it any conscious thought, but when the 'r' issue comes up, surely you just imagine the word as pronounced by a Scottish or RP English person and all becomes clear?”

Absolutely.

Might be some people who genuinely haven’t noticed the difference, but honestly pretty few and far between unless they never put their telly on or venture outside their own region.

Almost like an o sound

flowery Have you actually read the responses to those points?

What @soupdragon? It is ALMOST an o sound. Somewhere between o (as in ox) and aw (as in trawl).

It happens in rhotic accents too. Doll and call, ball and bawl are a lot more similar than ball and pal.

So Dahlia unless pronounced day lee a becomes doll / dawlia in SE English accents. Not in Irish for example.

Like glass and father in an Irish accent tend to keep the a like apple.

Like another poster said, the only Dahlia I’ve heard ever heard of is the Black Dahlia. Don’t google it if you’re set on the name :(

What @soupdragon? It is ALMOST an o sound. Somewhere between o (as in ox) and aw (as in trawl).

I've been sitting here muttering to myself and it isn't anything like an o sound.

This is why pronunciation threads are a waste of time 😂

So Dahlia unless pronounced day lee a becomes doll / dawlia in SE English accents.

No it doesn't. I really really don't get this. Daw is door to me.

(Obviously not with a rhotic R at the end though)

Yes and door rhymes with pour which is an o sound!

And door has two os in it anyway.

I'm sure someone can tell us the phonetics for it though. It must have a proper name.

Problem is, @Fatkins, this is all still subjective. In my accent, the A sound in Dahl doesn't sound remotely like the O sound in doll, to me.

Obviously that's how it seems to come across to you, but the long A and O are two very distinct vowel sounds to those of us that use them, as distinct as the sounds in till and tell, or pal and pall. I can see other southeasterners finding the idea that the long A sounds like O confusing.

I imagine in other accents, they might sound more similar, which is where the confusion comes from.

Maybe we should just ban all pronunciation threads. They seem to confuse more than they help.

And somewhere between doll and dawl is Dahl. I did say somewhere between the two but just didn't repeat myself every time I said doll / dawl whatever.

There’s always one...
Non-rhotic accent
I would say Dah and Dar the same

See this always annoys me, yes people with a rhotic accent would pronounce dah and dar the same, but surely they know you don't actually write it down with an R?

I see what Fatkins means. In most English accents it wouldn't be a flat 'a' sound and does resemble the sound in 'doll'.

Again, goes to show how differently we all perceive these things.

This thread reminds me of an incident I had working in Australia when I was 21. I was a temp receptionist and was spelling an email address to a caller, and naturally for me I pronounced the 'r' (rather than saying 'ah'). My Aussie colleague told me I shouldn't do that as it makes me sound common. Of course I ignored her as that would have sounded weird and unnatural in my accent.

Non-rhotic

I have an Irish accent but also lived in Scotland for years, the south west of England for years and now live in the SE England. Obviously that doesn't make me a phonetics expert, but having lived in all these places that is what I have observed. It isn't EXACTLY like doll or dawl, but it's somewhere in between to my ears.

Pronunciation threads are totally subjective though and I'm offering my observations based on my experience. But I'm not silly enough to think that because I say something one way, there is no other way to say it. I'm pointing out the differences and explaining why people might be confused by the op.

And really, even if you disagree on my explanation, my point is that in an Irish accent like mine for example, dah, like the a sounds in glass and father, sounds completely different to the SE pronunciation of those sounds.

Like another poster said, the only Dahlia I’ve heard ever heard of is the Black Dahlia. Don’t google it if you’re set on the name

The child would no doubt eventually google her own name and discover the gory details herself though! I wouldn't choose this name for that reason

In most English accents it wouldn't be a flat 'a' sound and does resemble the sound in 'doll'.

Not in my South London accent 😂

These threads always leave me muttering words to myself. Thankfully i am alone,