Am I pronouncing this name correctly?

[Maybree]

Our daughter is due on December 6th and we’ve decided to name her Alana. We will pronounce the name “Ah-lar-na”. I haven’t come across many people with this name so I just wanted to check.

Nope, we pronounce banana as ba-na-na

There is no r in Alana/Alannah

Just as there is no r in Hannah

Alana is dd's middle name. We say A-lah-na with the stress on the second sylable

So back to the bananas. When you say, ba nar na, do you actually mean narrr? Or is it more
ba naw na?
So, A laaaaw na?
I don't think I've ever heard anyone actually say ba nar na.... 🤨

It’s ‘ba nah na’. A long ‘a’.

I've known two, one pronounced A-lan-a and the other A-larn-a, both from the same sort of area so not convinced it's an accent/regional thing, just the parents' preference

@Margotshypotheticaldog

So back to the bananas. When you say, ba nar na, do you actually mean narrr? Or is it more ba naw na? So, A laaaaw na? I don't think I've ever heard anyone actually say ba nar na.... 🤨

The difference is that non rhotic accents don’t pronounce a hard ‘r’ at the end of a word. So no, it’s not ‘ba narr na’, because we don’t pronounce the ‘r’. The presence of the ‘r’ just elongates the ‘a’.

Nope, we pronounce banana as ba-na-na

Isn't that how the minions pronounce it

m.youtube.com/watch?v=PknA7nmNVfM

Thanks @thepoisonousmushroom

Rhotic vs non rhotic is done at least once a week on here!

Rhymes with Ghana.

As in, the country.

Yes, I say banana with all short 'A's because I'm in Scotland and that's a common way of saying it here.

Same, I can’t imagine what “ba-nar-na” sounds like. Is it a proper “rrrr” sound or the strange non-existant English “r” that makes the word “air” sound like “ehhh”?

@Margotshypotheticaldog

So back to the bananas. When you say, ba nar na, do you actually mean narrr? Or is it more ba naw na? So, A laaaaw na? I don't think I've ever heard anyone actually say ba nar na.... 🤨

I certainly don’t say ba-naw-na. That would sound very strange as I would say naw to rhyme with gore.

I say ba-nar-na.

But would say Al-lan-ah!

Same, I can’t imagine what “ba-nar-na” sounds like. Is it a proper “rrrr” sound or the strange non-existant English “r” that makes the word “air” sound like “ehhh”?

It’s the ‘strange’ non-existent English ‘r’… ie a non rhotic accent.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhoticity_in_English

It’s really quite a simple distinction, and is part of the beauty of the English language .

Its pretty common irish name.

AH LAN A

You are correct. It's A-larn-a

My daughter is called Alana, and I pronounce it the same way you do like this “Ah-larn-a”

It's from the Irish "a leanbh", which means child - it's a gorgeous name. In Ireland it's pronounced like the name Anna with an "al" in front. I can see why in an English accent that would be "Al-aw-nah", which is fine.

I say ba-na-na as I’m Scottish, I have known a few Alannah’scabd it definitely not pronounced with an r sound. It’s pronounced similar to Anna unless you say Arna

@ThePoisonousMushroom

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhoticity_in_English

It’s really quite a simple distinction, and is part of the beauty of the English language .

That link doesn't help, it's comparing FARMER with FARMER, a word containing 2 R letters

Alana/Alannah does not have any R, silent or otherwise

Yep, this thread is now about accent, because guess what, accent affects how you pronounce things (including baby names)

The link explains the fact that non rhotic speakers don’t pronounce the ‘r’ sound as a hard ‘r’.
Which means when they say something like ‘I say ba nar na’, they don’t mean that they pronounce the hard ‘r’ in the middle.
So ‘alannah’, to many, would be pronounced ‘a lar na’. That doesn’t mean they pronounce the ‘r’, it just means that the ‘a’ sound in the middle is elongated.

I think the ba-na-na/ba-naw-na example is spot on - if you say "ba-na-na", then pronounce Alana rhyming with Anna. If you say "ba-naw-na", then pronounce it with the non-rhotic r (Al-aw-na). Both are correct, just using your own accent.